Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 917 - 859: Wild Ideas_2

Chapter 917: Chapter 859: Wild Ideas_2

Even if he qualified for the position, he couldn’t just employ people from a single faction to hold government positions; instead, he would take a comprehensive measure, selecting outstanding individuals from various factions to take up important roles.

Even, most of the time, the heads of various departments in the government were not easily changed and would only be replaced when needed.

Put simply, Russia’s top political structure was like "The West."

And its middle-to-lower structure was like "The East"...

...

"You this... it’s too late to join the Duma now, otherwise..."

As he spoke, Wang Ye had a flash of inspiration, and he thought of a brilliant idea!

However, this matter was somewhat complicated to handle and required careful thought...

"Otherwise what?" Khodorkovsky was still waiting cluelessly for him to continue.

Wang Ye grinned and mysteriously said, "It can’t be confirmed just yet. You go ahead and participate in the election for now. After a while, I’ll see what the situation is like. When it’s almost settled, I’ll tell you."

Khodorkovsky shook his head helplessly, but it wasn’t as if he had to do something.

He could just continue with his public welfare career.

Honestly, the reason he had such a high support rate a while ago was absolutely inseparable from his commitment to philanthropy.

Of course, it was also because many media outlets were relentlessly promoting what he had done for philanthropy...

Wang Ye didn’t tell him right away because this operation was rather troublesome, and moreover, the initiative was not in his hands; it all depended on the Kremlin’s thoughts.

So he simply chose not to speak of it for now. When things were almost set, he would inform Khodorkovsky.

...

Time moved into July, and the General Election officially kicked off.

Khodorkovsky indeed took Wang Ye’s advice. Since there was very little hope of turning the tables, he didn’t resist anymore.

So, quite unusually, the final phase of the election saw the two competitors become amicable toward one another.

Though they didn’t go as far as to praise each other, at least they stopped attacking each other.

They even occasionally uttered a few words of appreciation for the other.

For example, Khodorkovsky couldn’t praise the Kremlin’s recent Great Infrastructure Project enough, especially the Moscow affordable housing project, considering it a project that truly solved the most basic housing problems for young people and had a profound impact on public welfare!

And the Kremlin also mentioned that Khodorkovsky had standardized the country’s crude oil industry, introducing the world’s most advanced technology for oil extraction, processing, and transportation.

As a strategic resource, crude oil had also gained the country considerable diplomatic leverage...

This left many people puzzled.

Everyone had been waiting to see the fireworks, expecting a fierce offensive from both sides at the last minute, hoping for a battle where both would come out bruised...

But what they got was this outcome?

Without a doubt, continuing down this trend, the Kremlin’s victory was virtually guaranteed!

The most disappointed were the members of the Moscow Faction.

"What are they playing at! Weren’t they fighting fiercely before? How come suddenly they’ve become as close as brothers?" Krov angrily said during a Faction core member meeting.

His recent times had been rather unsatisfactory.

Although Krov still holds the position of Vice Speaker and seems the same as before,

the issue is that he lost the most important committee chairmanship!

Moreover, the Moscow Faction has regressed from the Second Faction to now the Fourth Faction, with its seats sharply reduced to only fifty.

This has significantly decreased Krov’s influence in the Duma.

For someone who was once close to the peak of power, suddenly plummeting into the abyss is certainly the cruelest punishment for him!

So even Krov, a wily old fox long accustomed to the battlefield, has been somewhat mentally unbalanced lately...

Another core figure within the faction, that is, Moscow’s Governor Luzhikov, noticed Krov’s loss of composure and slightly frowned.

Nevertheless, he didn’t show it but calmly stated, "Isn’t it simple? You’ve seen the results of the latest polls from a few days ago, haven’t you? The Kremlin is leading by a significant margin, and Khodorkovsky knows he has no hope. Since there is no point in trying any longer, he might as well curry favor with the opposition, thus gaining goodwill from the Kremlin. Isn’t the current situation confirming this?"

An old politician is indeed an old politician, seeing through the ins and outs at a glance.

Yet Khodorkovsky and his lot weren’t thinking of deceiving anyone—it was a "bright conspiracy" in plain sight!

Could it be that the people of the Moscow Faction could still jump out and attack somebody...

"So what should we do next? Are we supposed to just watch our faction decline?! You know, our current situation in the Duma is quite bad, and pushing forward any new bill is extremely difficult. Only fifty seats, sigh, that’s too few!" Krov said, unwilling to accept this.

Luzhikov smiled faintly and said unhurriedly, "The Duma elections are over, and no one can change the current state of affairs, so we must accept reality. We can’t keep complaining about what has already happened; we have to look forward. Since our influence in the Duma is waning, let’s concentrate our energy and resources on the government side. Moscow State has been firmly in our control, and in the past two years, quite a few people from Petersburg have come over here to develop. Maybe we should consider infiltrating Petersburg a bit..."

Krov’s eyes lit up, and he clapped his hands excitedly, "That’s a great idea! But... that’s their traditional sphere of influence, and they almost never let people from our faction transfer over there; it seems a bit difficult."

"Heh, why use our own people? Why not directly dig out some who are temporarily out of favor from the opposing faction. We first select some suitable targets, secretly make contact with them, give them some support behind the scenes, and after they gain a certain degree of power, we can reel them in!..."

There they were, plotting in secret, completely unaware that their "hometown" was about to be taken from them!

......

It was still the same small restaurant in the Kremlin, the same people—Wang Ye, Rossiyana, and Gavriil... the four of them.

Today Gavriil was in high spirits, his face full of joy, his voice unconsciously louder.

No wonder, for the nationwide elections were nearing their end, and based on the current count of votes, Rossiyana’s father-in-law had secured the election!

Even to say that there was no need to count the remaining votes...

"Haha, Misha, did you communicate with Khodorkovsky? His behavior has changed compared to before, he’s become much friendlier," Gavriil asked with a laugh.

Wang Ye smiled slightly, "He figured it out for himself. My uncle thinks he does not yet have the ability to steer such a large country—far from it! Also, our series of measures that were recently rolled out have been approved by my uncle. He has finally realized that we actually get some real, good things done; we are not just idling away our days, haha..."

A light-hearted laughter filled the restaurant, although the joke Wang Ye said wasn’t that humorous...

Gavriil spoke cheerfully, "It’s great that he came to this realization. After all, he is your real uncle, one of our own. It would indeed be troublesome if he were to stand against us, and it would give Krov and his people quite the show. By the way, after his election loss, what does he plan to do in the next few years? Continue with that Public Welfare Fund?"

This touched upon a critical point. Wang Ye sat upright and said earnestly, "Actually, I have an idea. Luzhikov of Moscow State has been Governor for several years now, right? Under his control, it’s very difficult to implement many policies at the lower levels. So I was thinking, should we get someone else to serve as Governor?"

Gavriil and the father-in-law were both startled; they had not expected Wang Ye to make a move against Luzhikov!

That was a true "local villain"!

Since the Former Soviet Era, he had been involved in politics in Moscow State, and over the decades, he had forged it into something as solid as an iron barrel under his leadership!

The Kremlin had considered taking action against him, but after weighing the pros and cons, it abandoned the idea.

Because they feared chaos...