Five-year plan for three mayors – Newspaper Kommersant No. 206 (7407) dated 11/08/2022

The former head of the legal department of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), Artem Molchanov, who has been deputy chairman of the government of the Yaroslavl region since January 2022, became the new mayor of Yaroslavl on Monday. The deputies of the municipality (city duma), as expected, supported his candidacy with an absolute majority of votes. The new mayor is the creation of the Yaroslavl governor Mikhail Evraev, who for a long time served as deputy head of the FAS. This is the third mayor of Yaroslavl over the past five years, and both predecessors of Mr. Molchanov did not finish their first term.

The favorite of the competition for the post of mayor of Yaroslavl, deputy chairman of the regional government Artem Molchanov, received a new position without any problems. Last week, his candidacy was unanimously approved by the presidium of the regional political council of United Russia, which controls 34 out of 38 mandates in the municipality. In total, seven candidates were allowed to participate in the competition: in addition to Mr. Molchanov, this is Anatoly Kashirin, the deputy of the City Duma from the party “Fair Russia – For Truth”, Alexander Simon, the former head of the Yaroslavl “Yabloko”, the head of the territorial administration of the Kirovsky and Leninsky districts of Yaroslavl, Alexander Trudonoshin, engineer- mechanic Vladimir Dumkin and two former officials Andrei Golovin and Sergei Pavlovnin.

Oleksandr Simon, who participated in competitions for the post of mayor of Yaroslavl in 2017 and 2018, and also ran for this post several times before the cancellation of direct elections, criticized deputies for appointing previous mayors Vladimir Sleptsov and Vladimir Volkov. Alluding to the past of Artem Molchanov (he started his career in Kirov), Mr. Simon suggested that “the Kirov gang will come to us soon and, therefore, they will rob Yaroslavl.” “The deputies of the Yaroslavl municipality will give anyone, as always, the keys to the city of Yaroslavl. The Varangians look at our city like a cash cow, but what is needed for a cow to eat less and give more milk? She needs to be fed less and milked more,” the candidate said. At the end of his speech, he announced that he was withdrawing from the competition: “I will not give you the pleasure of voting against me.”

Vladimir Dumkin did not appear at the meeting of the City Duma on the election of the mayor. Anatoly Kashirin, confident in Artem Molchanov’s victory, suggested that he create an “extraordinary economic commission” to analyze city assets, find ways to increase tax collection and study the activities of municipal enterprises. “The previous city authorities did a lot of deeds harmful to Yaroslavl, and in general, the change of mayors, and they, colleagues, we have had five in ten years, and this will be the sixth, only contributed to the collapse of the economy, theft and corruption,” Spravoross said .

Artem Molchanov, parrying the accusations against the “Varangians”, in his speech emphasized that he moved his family to Yaroslavl, and his son went to study at a local school. “Practically all the questions that we meet with you, going out into the street, concern me in the first place,” he assured. Speaking about his plans as mayor, the official noted that he would primarily deal with the financial support of the Gorzelenkhozstroy municipal institution, which is responsible for cleaning and landscaping the city’s territories, and also promised to develop a unified citywide plan for landscaping and gardening. “In the field of education, task number 1 is the transfer of all students from the second shift exclusively to the first shift,” Mr. Molchanov added. He also stated the need to resolve issues with the construction of new schools and the reconstruction of existing ones.

As a result, only Anatoly Kashirin (he voted for himself) and Artem Molchanov (he was supported by 36 deputies) received votes.

MP Yevgenia Ovod (KPRF) said she was voting “against everyone” and called for the return of direct elections for the mayor of Yaroslavl, which were canceled in 2014. Mr. Kashirin also called for the return of direct elections.

Artem Molchanov became the third mayor of Yaroslavl in the last five years. At the same time, three of his immediate predecessors were unable to complete their first term: Evgeny Urlashov, the last popularly elected head of the city, was detained in 2013 for bribes and later convicted; Vladimir Sleptsov in 2018 went to lead the Solnechnogorsk district of the Moscow region; Vladimir Volkov, who was part of the team of ex-governor Dmitry Mironov, retired ahead of schedule in May 2022, and then headed the Lyubertsy near Moscow. Volkov’s first deputy, Ilya Motovilov, who worked for several months and. about. mayor, left his post on October 11.

Mikhail Evraev congratulated Artem Molchanov on his election. The governor noted that the new mayor is “one of the few in the regional government who took part on a common basis and in a tense struggle became the winner of the Yaroslavl Reserve” (a personnel competition initiated by the governor.— “b”)”. “I am sure that Artem Vladimirovich will cope with the responsibility entrusted to him and the problems accumulated in Yaroslavl will be gradually resolved, the city will receive worthy development. And we will certainly help in this,” Mr. Evraev promised.

It should be noted that shortly before the appointment of a new mayor of Yaroslavl, the deputies raised his salary. Previously, the mayor earned about 150 thousand rubles, but now his income will grow to 300 thousand rubles.

Alexander Tikhonov, Yaroslavl