MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. The Russian Communist Party’s parliamentary faction will abstain from voting on the president’s candidate for prime minister, Federal Tax Service chief Mikhail Mishustin, party leader Gennady Zyuganov said, following a faction meeting that involved the candidate.

"We will abstain from voting but will see what kind of program and what kind of team Mishustin and the president will come up with," he stated.

"We cannot vote now because we don’t know what his team will be like and we also don’t know what program he will put forward, so much will depend on the policy course that the president will choose," the Communist Party leader explained.

"We did not vote on Medvedev when Putin nominated him [for prime minister], we openly expressed our position on the government," Zyuganov added.

The Russian government led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev resigned after President Vladimir Putin had delivered his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly on Wednesday. Medvedev pointed out that he considered it the right thing to do in light of the constitutional amendments proposed by the head of state. Putin accepted the cabinet’s resignation and instructed the government to continue to carry out its duties until the establishment of a new cabinet. The president also nominated Mishustin to be the country’s next prime minister.

The State Duma is expected to vote on the candidate for prime minister on Thursday.