MOSCOW, June 09. /ITAR-TASS/. A list of president-appointed candidates who will join the Federation Council upper chamber of Russian parliament on recommendation from the Russian president is being prepared but the candidates are not being named, Russian president’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Izvestia daily on Monday.

“The president has got the right to nominate candidates to the upper chamber. He’s going to use this right but we are refraining from any comments so far,” Peskov said.

Presidential candidates to the Federation Council, according to Izvestia, may include the experienced leaders of three parliamentary factions: Vladimir Zhirinovsky (has headed the LDPR since 1994); Gennady Zyuganov (has headed the Communist Party of Russia since 1995) and Sergei Mironov (the leader of A Just Russia party since 2006); as well as Vladimir Kozhin, presidential aide for military technological cooperation and the former presidential property manager; and the former State Duma speaker, Boris Gryzlov.

The Federation Council has approved a constitutional amendment that allows the head of state to appoint up to 10% of the total number of senators in the upper chamber. It now has to be signed by President Putin.

The Russian Federation Council is being expanded by inclusion of representatives from Russian regions and the federal center. The president has the right to delegate 17 senators to the Federation Council to represent Russia. The so-called ‘‘presidential” senators may include prominent public figures who have served their official terms in office established by the law and who have the status of former prime ministers, ministers and deputies.

At the same time, the Russian Constitution fixes a provision that a senator is vested with his powers only for a period of functioning of a regional state power body, which delegates him to the upper chamber of Russian parliament.