How the teams of interim governors appointed in 2023 are changing

How the teams of interim governors appointed in 2023 are changing



Three of the four interim governors appointed to their posts this spring have begun a partial rotation of regional administrations. The heads of the Omsk and Smolensk regions, as well as the Krasnoyarsk Territory, made a number of targeted appointments, but the government of Chukotka, dismissed by the acting governor Vladislav Kuznetsov on March 19, continues to work in the same composition as under the previous head Roman Kopin, Vedomosti noticed.

All deputies of the governor of the Far East region remained in their posts with the prefix “i. O.".

On April 28, a document titled “Investigation” hung on Kuznetsov’s Telegram channel for several minutes, which reported on the risks of criminal prosecution of Acting First Vice Governor Ilya Davidenko. The memo noted that “an extremely undesirable development of the future scenario for the work of law enforcement agencies” will be “carrying out arrests, filing charges and other similar actions in the future until the end of September 2023.” Kuznetsov himself did not publicly comment on this.

The composition of the administration of the Smolensk region underwent the greatest changes (on March 17, ex-director of the regional development department of the government apparatus of the Russian Federation, Vasily Anokhin, was appointed instead of the representative of the Liberal Democratic Party Alexei Ostrovsky). Here, three vice-governors resigned: Alexander Tsarev, Nikolai Kuznetsov and Stanislav Dzasokhov. The latter was invited to his team by the acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin. According to the press service of the administration of the Smolensk region, Dzasokhov, who repeatedly visited new territories and delivered humanitarian aid to military personnel, will continue to work in the government of the DPR.

On May 25, the Smolensk Regional Duma agreed on a number of new candidates for the posts of vice-governors. The ex-rector of the Smolensk State Agricultural Academy Alexei Kuchumov will oversee agrarian issues, the former vice-governor Alexei Gusev will deal with economic development, the ex-head of the main department of the Smolensk region for youth affairs and civic-patriotic education Anastasia Gapeeva - the same issues, as well as culture.

Another appointee will be visiting - this is the ex-head of the Nurlat district of Tatarstan Almaz Akhmetshin, whose jurisdiction will include construction, housing and communal services, energy and other issues. An interlocutor in the administration of the Smolensk region told Vedomosti that in the near future these managers will be appointed vice-governors.

Acting Governor of the Omsk Region Vitaly Khotsenko (appointed on March 29, before that he headed the government of the DPR) on April 27 appointed Andrey Shpilenko and Vadim Chechenko as his deputies. The first had nothing to do with the region before: he worked as deputy head of the apparatus of the State Duma deputy association, vice-rector of the Moscow State University of Technology and Management, deputy general director of OJSC Intellect Telecom, director of the Association of Clusters, Technoparks and SEZs of Russia, and since 2022 he headed the board of the state concern " Donbass Development Corporation. He will oversee the work of the representative office of the Omsk region under the Russian government in Moscow.

Chechenko, who has headed the regional finance ministry since 2015, will become the curator of the main contract procurement department in the region. Ivan Krott, the former rector of the Omsk State Pedagogical University, became another Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education of the Omsk Region on April 10. The previous Minister of Education, Tatyana Dernova, left her post on January 30, when Alexander Burkov headed the Omsk region.

Acting Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Mikhail Kotyukov (appointed on April 20, last position - Deputy Head of the Ministry of Finance of Russia) dismissed the regional government on April 24, all cabinet members remained to work with the prefix “i. O.". Three days after the appointment of Kotyukov, Yuri Lapshin left the post of chairman of the government of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, saying that he had been invited by the previous governor Alexander Uss. The regional government was headed by Sergei Vereshchagin, who previously held the position of deputy chairman.

On May 22, Vedomosti reported that ex-senator Valery Semyonov would be appointed vice-premier of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, concurrently responsible for the work of his permanent representative office in Moscow. On May 24, the Federation Council granted his application for early resignation. A source close to the authorities of the region believes that a serious rotation is ahead in the region.

Acting governors are always faced with the choice of preserving the system of the previous head of the region and completely updating it, says political scientist Yevgeny Minchenko. “Practice shows that a conservative option is usually chosen before the elections, and the team is already assembled within a year after the election. Even those decisions that are being made now are of an intermediate nature,” he said. Speaking about the lack of personnel changes in the government of Chukotka, the expert noted that for the Varangians this is a “serious challenge”, and given the low population (47,800 people), there are few local personnel: “It is clear that there is no queue of people who want to work there.”

Political scientist Ilya Grashchenkov agrees that the formation of a team is now highly dependent on the territory and “it is much more difficult to find those who are ready to go to Chukotka than those who are ready to go to Krasnoyarsk, Omsk, and even more so from Moscow to neighboring regions.” “The second point is related to the fact that different governors come from different systems where their teams were formed. Kotyukov needs the loyalty of local elites, and he recruits people from the ex-governor’s team,” he says. Finally, some of the posts, according to Grashchenkov, can be reserved for the winners of the all-Russian competition for managers "Leaders of Russia".

The new interims are in no hurry with the drastic changes that may occur after the elections - then there may be more visitors, says political analyst Rostislav Turovsky. “It all depends on where the head worked before, whether he has his own team. Perhaps for this reason there will be more personnel changes in the Omsk region,” he said. The interim will be more difficult where the strongest local elites are, and this is the Omsk Region and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. “There, every personnel decision will be evaluated in terms of the balance of power and consequences for the region and local business,” Turovsky said.



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