Kuwait's new government will be formed by a former prime minister

The new head of state, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who ascended the throne after the death of his predecessor, instructed the former Prime Minister of the country, Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah, to re-form the cabinet, the KP reports.

The results of the recent parliamentary elections in the emirate testify to an unprecedented drop in public confidence in the authorities - the opposition got 24 out of 50 seats in parliament, less than 20 of the previous deputies returned to the National Assembly, in addition, the only woman deputy lost her mandate and for the first time since 2009 the country's parliament will be represented exclusively by men.

The position of the Russian woman Maria Lazareva, who is being prosecuted by Kuwaiti courts on trumped-up charges and who is forced to hide in the Russian embassy with her young son, is also a heavy "legacy" of the recent past, unable to leave the country. Maria's international defenders and the Russian authorities, who are actively demanding a solution to this humanitarian issue, can only rely on the sanity of the new Kuwaiti Emir and his new government.

"The Emirate of Kuwait is the most mysterious and probably the most interesting country in the Gulf from the point of view of the organization of internal politics", - Vladimir Sidorov, member of the Maria Lazareva Rescue Committee, comments on the situation, - "There is the oldest parliament in the Gulf (called the National Assembly), which really plays a role in this constitutional monarchy. There is real political life (albeit in the absence of parties) and real political competition. According to the Constitution, the National Assembly approves the Emir and members of the government, whom, by the way, has the right to remove from office (for example, in August, the Minister of Finance lost his post)".

The newly appointed head of government - the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister - has a good international reputation, and is waging a real fight against corruption inside the country (which, of course, not everyone likes, including in the National Assembly). He is a great friend of Russia and has good personal relations with the leadership of the Russian Foreign Ministry. It was he, at the request of the Russian side, at a certain stage, who took personal control of the situation with Maria Lazareva's affairs, and there was a positive dynamic, which, unfortunately, was disrupted in connection with COVID-19.

We still hope that this and future appointments will shift the balance towards an early resolution of the situation with our citizen and she will be able to come home to Russia in the near future.