In the freezing fog of central Murmansk, where temperatures have already plummeted to minus 10 degrees Celsius, many voters said Friday that Kozyrev had helped them through tough economic times. They liked his pro-Western politics.
"I voted for Kozyrev and will vote for him again. He did a lot for this town," said Nina, a street sweeper chasing dust from the central Ulitsa Lenina. "We will replace [President Boris] Yeltsin, though, because everything is in chaos. There is no order."
Kozyrev, 44, has been Yeltsin's foreign minister for five years and is held in high esteem by the West as a democratic reformer. He represents Murmansk in the State Duma lower house of parliament.
Ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said last week that his sister Lyubov, a 52-year-old engineer, would stand against Kozyrev in the Dec. 17 general election.
Some voters in Murmansk said they were disillusioned with Moscow leaders, including Kozyrev, for failing to preserve Russia's superpower status after the Soviet Union broke up. But they stopped short at voicing support for ultranationalists.
"It's all politics in Moscow. They themselves don't know what they're doing," said Vasily Kazhmyak.
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