Four governors resigned on the same day. They didn’t have time to “reset”
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The governors of the Tomsk, Kirov and Saratov regions, as well as the head of Mari El, announced their resignation. This is the first structure of spring 2022. Another governor announced that he would not run for another term in September. This year, the president has noticed that the war he started with Russia against Ukraine has been overshadowed. The media reports that the gubernatorial elections are canceling or suspending the bank due to war and collection. Until this happened. There are four months left until Election Day.
Tomsk region
“On January 20, I turned 65. Although all men are boys at heart, I am still one of the oldest governors in the country. And, of course, you need to give way to the young,” story in the candidacy of the governor of the Tomsk region Sergey Zhvachkin.
Zhvachkin has been governor since March 17, 2012. Prior to that, he worked in the structures of Gazprom.
The Governor President said that Vladimir Putin “supported him.” Putin is 69 years old.
Putin has regularly turned down proposals from governors in recent years, and they have always written about proposals of their own free will, even if they stipulated rejections beforehand. There were usually autumn and spring waves of gubernatorial resignations. There were no resignations this spring – on February 24, the Russian second invasion of Ukraine began.
Kirov region
Following Zhvachkin’s resignation was headed by the head of the Kirov region, Igor Vasiliev. He is 60 years old.
Acting Governor Putin Professor in early 2016. The following year, he was elected to this post in the elections. Vasiliev replaced Nikita Belykh, who was detained as governor of Kirov in a corruption case.
In his Telegram channel, he wrote that he resigned “due to the approaching deadline” and was going to “continue work at the federal level.” Earlier, Vasiliev met Rosreestr. Like Zhvachkin, he reported Putin’s support for his decision.
Saratov region and Mari El
The third was the head of the Saratov region Valery Radaev. He is a year older than the Kirov governor and has covered the last regions for 10 years – since the spring of 2012.
Radaev did not explain their motives, saying only through the press service that in connection with the approaching election campaign he was not going to put forward his candidacy and “focus on another embodiment of the work.”
The fourth was the 63-year-old head of Mari El Alexander Evstifeev. He also said that he decided to leave the post of head of the republic, which he had held since September 2017. He said even less about the reasons for early resignation than the rest: in connection with the expiration of the term only (they expire in September enough).
No reset yet
Also on Tuesday did the 50-year-old governor of the Ryazan region Nikolai Lyubimov. He did not retire, but said that he was not going to be nominated for a new term (like Evstifeev, he had been governor since 2017).
The powers of all three governors should end in September, when elections of various levels, including gubernatorial ones, will be held in Russia in the near future. In September last year, a draft law on power was submitted to the State Duma, including the adoption by governors of more than two consecutive terms. The bill has so far been adopted only in the first reading.
Experts drew attention to the fact that this initiative allowed the governor to “zero”, who was following Putin, got the opportunity to remain in the presidential chair after 2024 thanks to changes in the Constitution adopted on his initiative.
The final decision is likely to be estimated for a third term, including for Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov, whose term expires in 2023. In addition, the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov and the president of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov are usually named among the leaders needed to preserve the environment. Kadyrov’s security forces are taking part in the war against Ukraine.
For what?
Zhvachkin Revolutionary amendments did not have time. “There is a law that limits governors to work for two terms. Vasiliev was governor for only one term and had the right to be re-elected for a second.
It is still unknown whether there will be direct elections of governors in September this year. At the end of April, three publications at once – Kommersant, RBC and Vedomosti – citing sources that they can be transferred or even downloaded. An Interfax source said that “the situation in the country is non-standard” due to the invasion of Ukraine and “tough events” followed it. “Spending effort and money on the constituency,” according to his meeting, “inappropriate.”
Putin was expected to announce a freeze on the gubernatorial elections in the council of legislators on April 27, but he did not say a word on the subject. However, the next day, Vladimir Mazur, deputy head of the Kremlin’s internal audit department, confirmed that recommendations and decisions on the use of procedures for electing governors could be made “in the coming days.”
At the same time, the media called Mazur the most significant candidate for the post of governor of the Tomsk region. The fact that this 55-year-old official can lead the region, RBC wrote back in early February (that is, even before the start of the invasion in Ukraine).
As the reasons for the expected resignation of Zhvachkin, RBC named his age and the unsuccessful results of the elections to the City Duma of Tomsk in 2020. Then, in 19 out of 27 districts, the candidates detained by Alexei Navalny won. In particular, Ksenia Fadeeva, who was the coordinator of Navalny’s district headquarters (recognized as an extremist affiliation, their activities are prohibited in Russia), became a deputy.
As for Vasiliev, the Kremlin blamed the governor of Kirov for poor governance in the region and a “catastrophically low rating,” claimed Interlocutors of RBC back in October last year.
Radaev political technologists also predicted resignation. The Saratov governor himself admitted that he would refuse to be nominated for a new term. 10 years ago, Radaeva supported the speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, who heads his political association in the Saratov region, wrote “Vedomosti”. The interlocutor of the publication said that Volodina’s opinion would be accepted when searching for a candidate for a new governor.
About the possession of Mari El RBC sources turnedthat Evstifeev “categorically does not want” to continue his work as governor, so the probability of his resignation is “closer to 100%.”
“These are planned resignations, they have been on the table since autumn”
“The wave of gubernatorial resignations, which were previously perceived as hints of possible changes and greetings of the population, in detention can be perceived as observable situations of collapse,” political scientist Abbas Gallyamov comments on the wave on his Telegram channel.
These are planned resignations, which have been on the table since autumn. All five-year plans end in September. And for a good replacement, they should have been in a meeting in April. But delayed due to the scope of events. In reality, out of five, it’s not even more work now, ”political analyst Alexander Kynev wrote in the telegram channel. “So we can say that the center began to remember the detainees.”
“Everyone has their own reasons, common ones – that the rotation was delayed,” he added. “The special operation has nothing to do with resignations, and this is not a demarche.”
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