The governor chose the third out of two – Picture of the Day – Kommersant

Rector of Yaroslavl State University (YarSU) Alexander Rusakov was appointed representative of the government of the Yaroslavl region in the Federation Council (SF) on Tuesday. Governor Mikhail Evraev explained this decision by his desire to “stake on local personnel.” Previously, it was expected that either the actor and director Nikolai Burlyaev, who was elected to the State Duma from A Just Russia – For Truth (SRZP) in 2021, or the chief federal inspector for Moscow, Viktor Kostin, would go to the Federation Council. The expert believes that the governor Evraev, thus, “turned out a gesture neither ours nor yours.”

Mikhail Evraev announced the decision to appoint Professor Alexander Rusakov as a senator at a meeting of the political council of United Russia. “I put forward three candidates, all of them are worthy to represent the region. After serious consultations, I settled on the candidacy of Alexander Ilyich Rusakov. I also discussed this decision with the head of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko, she also supported this candidacy. I am sure that this will be a serious help in the development of the Yaroslavl region at the federal level. As I said, we will rely on local personnel who have proven themselves in the region with their work. Alexander Ilyich is just such a person, ”he noted.

Mr. Rusakov has been the head of YarSU since 2005, he is the chairman of the commission on education and science of the regional Public Chamber and the coordinator of the regional organizing committee of the All-Russian Popular Front, and in the 2018 elections he was a confidant of President Vladimir Putin. The previous governor, Dmitry Mironov, also included him in his top three candidates for senators in 2017, but in the end he chose the first deputy head of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Igor Kagramanyan. In 2012, the candidacy of Alexander Rusakov was proposed to the post of head of the Yaroslavl region to the then President Dmitry Medvedev, but he submitted the already appointed Acting Governor Sergei Yastrebov for approval by the Regional Duma.

Mr. Rusakov was considered the least likely candidate for senators: in addition to him, the top three candidates included People’s Artist of the Russian Federation Nikolai Burlyaev, who was elected to the State Duma in 2021 from the Yaroslavl Region on the SRHR list, and the former long-term deputy head of the region, and now the chief federal inspector for Moscow, Viktor Kostin . Experts explained the appearance of Mr. Burlyaev on the list by Mikhail Evraev’s negotiations with the leader of the SRZP, Sergei Mironov. Based on their results, in December 2021, Mr. Mironov said that his party was ready not to participate in the 2022 gubernatorial elections and to support Mr. Evraev if he ran as a self-nominated candidate and, if he won, would appoint a representative of the Socialist-Revolutionaries as his senator.

This deal seemed logical given the success of the SRZP in last year’s elections to the State Duma: then its candidates won in both single-mandate constituencies in the Yaroslavl region, and the party’s list took third place in the region, which gave it another mandate – Nikolay Burlyaev just received it. The leader of the local Social Revolutionaries Anatoly Greshnevikov declared his readiness to participate in the elections, but Mikhail Evraev fulfilled both conditions: being non-partisan since 2012 (previously he was in the federal bureau of Yabloko), he went to the polls as a self-nominated candidate and nominated a representative of the SRZP for the post of senator.

However, in August the situation changed, and a Kommersant source close to the presidential administration (AP) said that Mr. Evraev would delegate Viktor Kostin to the Federation Council. In 2021, he was considered as a candidate for the post of acting governor of Yaroslavl, but in the end the choice fell on Mikhail Evraev. By the end of the summer, Kommersant’s interlocutors in the regional authorities were also sure that it was Mr. Kostin who would receive the senator’s mandate.

Mikhail Evraev himself did not speak about his future choice, and on September 20, having already appointed a senator, he denied information about his pre-election agreements: “This is not true. I did not agree on anything with anyone, I did not promise anything to anyone. It would be wrong.” The governor’s support from the ex-head of the region, State Duma deputy from the SRZP Anatoly Lisitsyn was also “an exclusively personal decision” not related to any agreements, Mr. Evraev added.

Anatoly Greshnevikov nevertheless claims that the SRZP had agreements with Mikhail Evraev. “I didn’t attend them, but it was. And there’s a lot more promised. But I said: wait until you are deceived. And in the end it all happened. Anatoly Ivanovich Lisitsyn extended a helping hand, helped Mikhail Evraev, but did they keep at least one promise? They deceived and used,” said Spravoross. Sergei Mironov told Kommersant that he was “disappointed” with Mr. Evraev’s decision. “For any politician, the most valuable resource is the trust of the voters. Today, on behalf of the party and our Yaroslavl supporters, we can firmly say that it has been severely undermined,” the leader of the SRZP noted. He also recalled that elections to the Yaroslavl Regional Duma will be held in 2023, in which the Socialist-Revolutionaries are “convinced” of success. “And if we weren’t allowed to see our candidate (in the Federation Council— “b”) through the executive branch of the region, then I am sure that we will do it through the legislative one,” summed up Mr. Mironov.

A Kommersant source in the regional authorities believes that the candidacy of Alexander Rusakov could be lobbied by ex-governor Dmitry Mironov. “Alexander Rusakov himself asked him about it, and he recommended it, and they decided to satisfy the request. It all happened last week, ”said the interlocutor of Kommersant. Mr. Rusakov did not answer Kommersant’s calls.

According to political scientist Ilya Grashchenkov, Mikhail Evraev, having appointed Alexander Rusakov as senator, made “a nod to Moscow, that it was supposedly decided there who to send to the Federation Council.” “It turned out to be a gesture neither ours nor yours, so as not to offend either Nikolai Burlyaev or Viktor Kostin, whose possible appointment was actively discussed in the media,” the expert believes.

Alexander Tikhonov, Yaroslavl