St. Petersburg, 3 October 1996 (RFE/RL) -- Vadim Gustov, the new governor of the Leningrad Oblast, is to be sworn in today.
Gustov, a communist-backed, independent candidate and the former speaker of the Leningrad Oblast Soviet, won a surprise victory over the favored incumbent Alexander Belyakov in voting last weekend.
Gustov has said his program is based not on political divisions in Russia but on economics. He says his priorities are to draft the 1997 budget, prepare the oblast for winter, and to form his government.