ST. PETERSBURG…

Governor Vladimir Yakovlev has been showing off plans for a new parliamentary center. He is pumping up a suggestion by State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznev to move Russia’s legislative capital from Moscow to Petersburg. Yakovlev’s right-wing opponents dismiss the idea as so much fluff, but in Russia’s Northern Capital citizens want to take the notion seriously…. Yakovlev is expected to win an easy re-election on May 14. The Kremlin, which considered opposing Yakovlev until polls showed he would be hard to beat, has essentially endorsed him. Putin, a Petersburg native, met with the governor in Petersburg and will do so again before election day…. Right-wing parties staged Russia’s first primary on May 4. Twenty thousand voters turned out, and, in a bit of yuppie New Russian razzle-dazzle, Internet voting was permitted. Despite the effort at unity, two right-wing candidates who did not participate in the primary will maintain their candidacies, ensuring a divided opposition.