Russia's ruling 'United Russia' party has sought dismissal of Speaker of the Upper House Sergei Mironov for criticising economic policies of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In a programme telecast by the state-controlled Channel 1,Mironov attacked the Russian strongman for his economic policies and the anti-crisis measures adopted by his government. Mironov,who as the Chairman of the Federation Council holds the third most powerful post after the president and prime minister,is also chairman of the opposition left-centrist "A Just Russia" party. "Since Mironov represents St Petersburg's legislative assembly (in the upper house),where we have the majority,I believe it is logical and necessary to initiate the procedure for dismissal," head of United Russia's central executive committee Andrei Vorobiev said. Another senior party leader Vyacheslav Volodin accused Mironov of dishonesty and inconsistency in regard to Putin. Demanding resignation of the chair,another leader of the party,Andrei Isayev said the criticism "reflected his (Mironov) personal and moral crisis". Responding to attacks on him by senior office bearers of the "United Russia" party,Mironov said under the present laws it was next to impossible to dismiss him and underscored that he would continue to criticise the unpopular economic policies of the government. "Putin and I would mutually settle the issue.. I don't need referees," Mironov told Interfax. The government has introduced a set of unpopular measures in 2010,including higher communal services bills,increased prices for food and medicines,and higher public transport fares. These measures came under strong criticism from the opposition,including the Communist Party and A Just Russia party. Mironov said that at several occasions he had publicly criticised the anti-crisis budget of the government and his "A Just Russia" party had voted against it along with the Communists in the State Duma. "Moreover,I had personally conveyed my stand to Putin," Mironov said. Mironov gave his controversial interview to Channel 1 in the wake of a mammoth weekend rally in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad that asked for Prime Minister Putin's ouster sounding alarm bells in the Kremlin and "United Russia",which sent official teams to investigate. Except for the "United Russia" all the opposition parties putting aside their differences attracted at least 12 thousand people to stage the biggest anti-government rally in the country since Putin came to power in 2010.
