Legislative assemblies of new regions elected speakers and senators

On Wednesday, the legislative bodies of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), Zaporozhye and Kherson regions held their first meetings after the elections, at which they elected chairmen and representatives in the Federation Council. The commander of the Sparta battalion, Artem Zhoga, unexpectedly became the speaker of the Donetsk parliament. In other legislative assemblies, the appointments were more expected.

On September 20, the People’s Council of the DPR was headed by the Sparta battalion commander Artem Zhoga, who ran for parliament as number two on the United Russia (UR) list after the acting head of the republic Denis Pushilin. Mr. Zhoga is the father of former battalion commander Vladimir Zhoga (call sign Vokha), who died in March last year and posthumously received title of Hero of Russia. On May 9, 2022, President Vladimir Putin personally handed over Mr. Joguet Sr. the star of the Hero of his son.

According to a Kommersant source in the DPR leadership, several candidates were considered for the post of speaker, and until the last moment this question remained open. One of the likely contenders was the deputy secretary of the Donetsk United Russia cell and a close associate of Mr. Pushilin, Alexey Muratov (see “Kommersant” dated September 18). Kommersant’s interlocutor explained the choice in favor of Artem Zhoga by the need to “support the participants in the special operation.”

At the United Russia party conference, which took place on Tuesday evening, Mr. Joga called this decision “really unexpected.”

“I went to the elections with the hope that I would remain in charge of the battalion,” admitted the newly appointed deputy.

However, Mr. Muratov assured the battalion commander that he was much more needed “here—on the information and ideological front.” “You are a symbol of our republic, and it is very important that you live,” explained the United Russia member.

However, the change in the leadership of the Donetsk parliament itself was expected, since the former speaker, ex-deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Vladimir Bidevka (headed the People’s Council of the self-proclaimed republic since 2018, when Denis Pushilin took over as its head), was not elected to the new convocation. Senator from the Legislative Assembly Alexander Ananchenko also did not take part in the elections. On Wednesday, deputies delegated a volunteer to take his place Alexandra Voloshina.

Mr. Voloshin is a native of Minsk, graduated from the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering in 2010, and was engaged in business. Since the end of last year, he has been an adviser to Denis Pushilin “on interaction with the authorities of the Russian Federation.” According to the United Russia primaries website, he was engaged in social activities in Donbass: he helped military personnel, low-income families, and organized trips for Mariupol teenagers to Moscow.

The leadership of the People’s Council of the LPR, as Kommersant expected, remained unchanged. The secretary of the Luhansk branch of United Russia was again elected chairman Denis Miroshnichenkoand retained the position of senator Olga Bas.

The post of Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Zaporozhye region was taken by the Vice-Governor for Domestic Policy Victor Emelianenko. Since the beginning of the 2000s, he has worked in various positions in Orekhov and Orekhovsky district (now under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces), in 2011 he became the first deputy head of the Zaporizhzhya regional state administration, and was a member of the Ukrainian Party of Regions. In 2014, amid the coup in Ukraine, he left the civil service.

The current representative of the acting governor Yevgeny Balitsky in the Federation Council, Dmitry Vorona, became a senator from the Zaporozhye Legislative Assembly, as Kommersant expected.

The position he vacated is expected to be filled by former Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government and ex-head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin. However, it is possible that Mr. Balitsky may delegate the adviser to the head of the executive committee of the Popular Front, Vladimir Rogov, or another candidate to the upper chamber. By the way, in the remaining new regions, according to Kommersant, senators from the executive branch – Natalya Nikonorova (DPR), Daria Lantratova (LPR) and Konstantin Basyuk (Kherson region) – will remain in their places.

Finally, the rector of the local pedagogical university became the speaker of the Kherson Regional Duma Tatyana Tomilina. Since the late 2000s, she has worked in the regional education sector, and in 2015 she ran for mayor of Kherson. In the summer of 2022, she became head of the university, for which the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine charged her with suspicion of collaboration. In September, an attempt was made on Mrs. Tomilina: an explosive device went off in the entrance of the house, the rector was slightly injured.

The secretary of the Kherson branch of United Russia, a former State Duma deputy, became a senator from the regional Duma, as Kommersant expected. Igor Kastyukevich. Earlier on Tuesday, the lower house approved his resignation.

Andrey Prah