On May 10, the governors of the Republic of Mari El, Kirov, Ryazan, Saratov and Tomsk regions announced their decision to leave the post ahead of schedule. Putin accepted their resignation and appointed interim officers
Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed decrees appointing interim heads of the Republic of Mari El, Kirov, Ryazan, Saratov and Tomsk regions.
- Chairman of the Government of Kalmykia Yuri Zaitsev has been appointed acting head of the Republic of Mari El.
- Acting Governor of the Kirov region— referent of the Kremlin Department for Ensuring the activities of the State Council Alexander Sokolov.
- Acting Governor of the Ryazan region— head of Rosstat Pavel Malkov.
- Acting head of the Saratov region – Chairman of the regional government, Vice-Governor Roman Busargin.
- Acting Head of the Tomsk Region— Deputy Head of the Kremlin Department for Internal Policy Vladimir Mazur.
In each of the documents, the President accepted the resignation of the previous head of the region with the wording “at his own request”.
On May 10, five governors announced their early retirement. These are the governor of the Kirov region Igor Vasiliev, the head of Mari El Alexander Evstifeev, as well as the heads of the Tomsk, Saratov and Ryazan regions Sergey Zhvachkin, Valery Radaev and Nikolai Lyubimov.
After leaving office, Vasiliev said that he intends to continue working at the federal level. Radaev said that he plans to focus “on another area of work”, without specifying which one. Zhvachkin recalled that he turned 65 not so long ago and that the law limits governors to two terms of work. Lyubimov expressed hope that he would be able to “be useful to the country in this difficult time” in a new position, without specifying which position he was talking about.
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Earlier, two sources familiar with the discussion of the issue told RBC that Alexander Sokolov, an assistant of the Kremlin Department for Ensuring the activities of the State Council, could be appointed to the post of Kirov governor. Prior to joining the presidential administration, Sokolov worked as vice-governor and first vice-governor of the Kostroma region.
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In addition, RBC sources reported that the head of Rosstat Pavel Malkov, a native of Saratov, is the main candidate for the post of governor of the Ryazan region. Malkov headed Rosstat in 2018, before that he worked in positions in the Ministry of Economic Development, including as director of the Department of Public Administration of the Ministry, and also worked in various positions in the government of the Saratov region.
Acting Governor of the Tomsk Region Vladimir Mazur is a native of this region, from 2004 to 2007 he worked as Deputy Mayor of Tomsk for information policy, head of the Public Relations and Information Policy Committee. Later he held the positions of Vice-Governor of the Tyumen Region, head of the Tobolsk administration, Vice-Governor of the Kaluga Region. The fact that Mazur may become the acting governor of the Tomsk region, RBC reported in February.
Mazur, like Sokolov, has in recent years worked in the Kremlin’s internal political bloc, whose work is supervised by the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko.
Acting Governor of the Saratov region Roman Busargin can be called a person close to the speaker of the State Duma and a native of the region Vyacheslav Volodin.
Little is known about the new acting head of Mari El, Yuri Zaitsev: he was born in 1970, a former military man. He held the position of CEO of PJSC IDGC of the North Caucasus, in 2019 he became Chairman of the Government of Kalmykia.
Graduates of the “School of Governors”
Four of the five acting heads of regions have passed the “School of Governors” program of the management reserve of the Higher School of Public Administration of the RANEPA. These are Vladimir Mazur, Yuri Zaitsev, Pavel Malkov and Alexander Sokolov.
Roman Busargin in October 2021 reported in his Telegram channel that he took part in the final selection of the management competition “Leaders of Russia”.
There is a common logic in the appointments of the acting governors: they all have experience in the executive power of the regions, most have been trained in the “School of Governors” and thus “received a certain quality mark”, says the expert on regional policy Vitaly Ivanov. In fact, this is a continuation of the logic of appointments, which has been applied since 2017, when representatives of the technocratic generation, who passed the School of Governors, of young age, were mainly appointed to gubernatorial posts, the expert summarizes.
At the same time, the very question of whether direct gubernatorial elections will remain or they will be canceled, according to Ivanov, remains open. “It does not follow from today’s resignations and appointments that the acting ones will be elected in direct elections, just as the opposite does not follow,” the expert believes.
All the new heads have good managerial experience, political scientist Rostislav Turovsky noted in a conversation with RBC. According to him, some of the acting ones are directly affiliated with the Kremlin and its internal political bloc, which will provide them with “all possible assistance”. “There are still a lot of Varangians, but the practices of their promotion in the regions have long been worked out. At the same time, there is an example of a smooth transfer of power, as in the Saratov region,” Turovsky said.
According to the political scientist, against the background of the special operation and sanctions, the new heads may have a question about the formation of an image. By autumn, they will need to offer anti-crisis programs to the regions, taking into account the dynamically changing situation, the expert believes. “Apparently, this will be the image of a patriot and an anti-crisis manager in one person. And taking into account the problem field of each region,” Turovsky noted.
He added that appointments are held exactly at the time when it is possible to launch election campaigns and “promote new heads”. Therefore, there is a chance to keep direct elections of governors, the political scientist believes.
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