A leader of the ruling United Russia party, which dominates the State Duma, proposed at a party congress over the weekend immediately passing the bill in three readings, and to start electing Federation Council members as early as March 2007.
"Such hasty moves by our colleagues in the State Duma and their counterproductive response resemble score settling," said Vasily Klyuchenok, head of the Federation Council's Defense Committee.
He said current procedures, where Federation Council members were appointed by regional governors and legislatures, were effective enough.
Sergei Shoigu, the emergency situations minister and a co-leader of the Kremlin-backed United Russia party, made the move in response to Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov's accusations during a talk show that Duma members were dragging their feet on a proposal to make the formation of the upper house a more democratic process.
But on Monday, Mironov said elections to the upper house would not begin in March, as he had not sent the relevant bill to the State Duma yet.
"All of United Russia's plans for March are absolutely unrealistic," he said, adding that senators were still working on the document and assessing whether it complies with the Constitution.
The popular Russian daily Kommersant suggested Monday the "party of power" might be seeking to challenge Mironov, who heads a new political party that announced plans to defeat United Russia in parliamentary elections next year, by nominating a strong candidate in elections to the Federation Council.
Experts, however, have dismissed A Just Russia, which emerged through a merger of three left-leaning parties, as another Kremlin project designed to poach votes from leftist political forces. Mironov's party describes itself as a new-leftist party, but strongly supports President Vladimir Putin.
Mironov's fellow house member, Vadim Gustov, who heads the CIS Affairs Committee, echoed the speaker, saying elections to the Federation Council could not be held any time soon for technical reasons.
"Before switching over to a new system of forming the Federation Council, we should put forward a philosophy of the new system."
Gustov proposed trying out elections in 12 regions in March 2007, when regional elections are to be held.
