The governments of the new regions have undergone minimal changes since the elections

The governments of the new regions continued to work after the regional elections without significant personnel changes. The head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, assured on September 25 that most ministers would retain their portfolios: “Taking into account the fact that we have already adjusted the composition of the government, now most ministers are coping with their responsibilities.”

He began the formation of the Cabinet on October 4 with the appointment of Prime Minister – Yevgeny Solntsev, who headed the republican government since March 30. Solntsev arrived in the DPR in the summer of 2022; before that, he was an assistant to the Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Russia, and even earlier he worked in managerial positions at Russian Railways.

The renewal of the republican Cabinet by Russian officials working in federal or regional authorities began a few months after the Russian Federation recognized the independence of the DPR. In June 2022, the current government was dismissed, and Vitaly Khotsenko became the head of the new government (on March 29 he was appointed acting governor of the Omsk region, and on September 10 he won the election). During the summer, the Varangians headed the Ministry of Revenue and Duties, the Ministry of Coal Energy, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Science of the region, and were introduced into the government apparatus.

After the DPR joined Russia in the fall of 2022, the Ministry of Construction of the DPR was headed by the ex-deputy head of the FKU Tsentravtomagistral, subordinate to Rosavtodor, Eduard Osipov, the Ministry of Economic Development – Vladimir Zverkov, who served as the first deputy head of the department, and even earlier – deputy director of the regional development department of the Ministry of Economic Development. The Ministry of Youth Policy, created in the DPR government, was headed by Kirill Makarov, who previously led the local public movement “Young Republic”.

In November 2022, the structure of the government changed: some of the relevant ministers also became deputy prime ministers – to increase the completeness of the “decision-making ability”. The first deputy prime ministers were Evgeny Solntsev and Rustam Mingazov, who was an adviser to Khotsenko, and before that, deputy director of the department of regional industrial policy and project management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.

Personnel changes in the DPR continued this year: Denis Kurashov, who was the Deputy Minister of Energy, Industry and Communications of the Stavropol Territory, was appointed Minister of Communications; Minister of Transport – former head of the main department of roads in the Nizhny Novgorod region Vladimir Tuzhilin; Minister of Construction and Housing and Public Utilities – ex-head of state construction supervision of the Leningrad region Nikolai Tsiganov; Deputy Prime Minister – Dmitry Berdnikov, who held the position of first deputy mayor of Mariupol, previously – first deputy chairman of the government of Yakutia. This year, local personnel were headed by the Ministry of Information, the Ministry of Energy, and the Ministry of Transport and Tourism – Natalya Pershina, Denis Epifanov and Igor Martynov, respectively.

On September 27, the head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik, signed a decree on the formation of the government of the republic. In his Telegram channel, he emphasized that the “core composition” of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Sergei Kozlov, remained unchanged. “The team that has already formed has shown the effectiveness of its work, competence and professionalism,” Pasechnik said.

Most members of the government of the Zaporozhye region, with the exception of the ministers of finance and culture, retained their posts after the elections, Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the “We are together with Russia” movement, told Vedomosti. Prime Minister of the Kherson region Andrey Alekseenko continued to serve after the elections. Governor of the Kherson region Vladimir Saldo did not publicly announce personnel changes in the regional cabinet.

The peculiarity of personnel policy in new regions is that there are, in fact, no regional elites there or they are extremely weak, says political scientist Vitaly Ivanov. “In addition, Varangians are regularly recruited in large numbers to work in new territories, and this process is managed by the federal center,” he said.