Chief of Russian presidential staff interviewed on coming election.

Text of report by the website of government-owned Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta on 23 November

[Interview with Sergey Naryshkin, chief of the Russian Presidential Staff, by Mikhail Barshchevskiy, member of the presidium of the Russian Jurists Association; date and place not given: "Sergey Naryshkin: rumours originate with people who want to seem well informed in the eyes of those around them"]

Chief of the Russian Presidential Staff Sergey Naryshkin has stated that the state will keep the country's social development as a priority.

In 10 days' time the people will go to the polls, and who will end up in power? What ministers will the new prime minister choose - young or old? And if oil prices suddenly fall, will the social sector and pensions collapse? People are worried about many things. It is all the more important to learn the opinion of a person who works at the very highest stage of power. Mikhail Barshchevskiy, member of the Presidium of the Russian Jurists Association, interviewed Sergey Naryshkin specially for Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

[Barshchevskiy] Sergey Yevgenyevich, to what extent are the rumours that were circulating prior to the [United Russia] party congress, about a standoff between the Presidential Staff and the government apparatus, justified?

[Naryshkin] The sources of the rumours are people who want to …