MOSCOW, June 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to the lower chamber of the Russian parliament a law on establishing a new member of the Russian Federation, the presidential press service said.
The new member unites the Krasnoyarsk territory, the Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) and the Evenki autonomous areas.
The president wrote a letter to State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov, saying he would like the bill to be considered by the chamber as a top priority.
On May 31, Alexander Khloponin, Oleg Budargin and Boris Zolotaryov, the respective governors of the Krasnoyarsk territory, the Taimyr autonomous area and the Evenki autonomous area (all regions are in Central Siberia), signed an address to the Russian president on the results of a recent referendum on uniting the regions.
Copies of election commissions' decisions were enclosed.
Khloponin told journalists that the territorial merger aimed to raise the living standards. After the unification, he said all decisions on the three territories would be made jointly by the three governors.
