RUSSIA’S far eastern Kamchatka peninsula is a world apart from the standard oligarch hangouts of London, Milan and the Côte d’Azur.

Last winter thousands of people here endured months without heat or light in temperatures of minus 40C (minus 40F). Yet for one Russian billionaire, this desolate spot nine time zones from Moscow could soon become a regular haunt. The Kremlin appears to have earmarked Viktor Vekselberg, an oil and metals tycoon, to take over as governor in 2007.

Konstantin Pulikovsky, President Putin’s representative in Russia’s Far East, said that he had proposed the idea directly to the tycoon. “In the course of our one-on-one meeting, I proposed that he apply as a candidate to run the united region. He answered, ‘Why not?’,” said Mr Pulikovsky, who is drawing up a list of candidates.

Mr Pulikovsky has also proposed that Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, serve a second term as Governor of Chukotka, another remote far-eastern region.

Analysts now believe that the two tycoons are the targets of a new Kremlin ploy to coerce the oligarchs into paying back some of the fortunes they amassed in the privatisations of the 1990s.

“It’s one of the Kremlin’s tricks,” Sergei Markov, a political analyst and Kremlin adviser, said. “They’re unable to build a really well-functioning administrative system, especially in depressed regions, so they have decided to use the oligarchs’ resources.”

Having poured money into Chukotka for four years, Mr Abramovich had said that he would not run for another term.

But under controversial legislation introduced this year, governors are no longer elected but directly appointed by Mr Putin.

Even the most powerful oligarch is unlikely to refuse such a post after Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the oil tycoon, was jailed for nine years in May.

Mr Vekselberg, 47, therefore, chose his words carefully when he responded. “Mr Pulikovsky’s statement was as flattering as it was unexpected, seeing as it is still only 2005, and this question is not on today’s agenda,” he said.

Forbes magazine rates Mr Vekselberg as Russia’s third-richest man with a fortune of $5 billion. Access-Renova, his company, has mining interests in Kamchatka.

Mikhail Mashkovtsev, the current Governor, is a Communist and is stepping down in 2007. He said: “I can’t say anything about him personally, but these are new times and if he can achieve things and do business well, then it’s not a bad idea.”

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