Putin accepted Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov’s resignation at a Kremlin meeting.

He later nominated the head of the country’s financial regulator, Viktor Zubkov, for the post of prime minister.
The lower house of parliament could vote in the new premier on Friday, State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said.
Zubkov heads the Federal Financial Monitoring Service, and comes as an unexpected candidate following widely circulating rumours that First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov would take the post. First Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Oleg Morozov said the new premier could later run for president.

“It would be logical if the prime minister became a presidential candidate,” he said, adding that other scenarios should not be ruled out.

Fradkov will continue on an acting basis in the post until the new premier is named and confirmed by the State Duma (parliament). Elections for the Duma are scheduled to take place in December.

“We all have to think together how to build a structure of power so that it better corresponds to the pre-election period and prepares the country for the period after the presidential election in March,” Putin told Fradkov during the meeting, which was carried on Russian television.