The Kremlin will look for a personnel reserve in the municipalities

Yevgeny Grachev became the new curator of work with Russian municipalities in the Kremlin, Vedomosti found out. On May 10, Vladimir Mazur, deputy head of the presidential department for domestic policy (UVP), was appointed by President Vladimir Putin as acting head of the Tomsk region – now he is running for election from United Russia. In the presidential administration (AP), Mazur’s powers included working with local governments and supporting the reform of local self-government (postponed until autumn). Grachev moved to his position in the UVP, two Vedomosti sources close to Staraya Ploshchad said, and the interlocutor in the AP confirmed.

Grachev began his career in the Young Guard of United Russia (MGER), where he first led the Moscow branch, and then the central headquarters of the organization. He came to the AP in 2013 as the head of the department for work with youth organizations of the UVP (the department was supervised by the ex-head of the MGER Timur Prokopenko, who by that time had become deputy head of the department). Prior to the current promotion, he served as a referent for the UVP.

According to a Vedomosti source close to the Presidential Administration, this part of the internal political bloc of the Presidential Administration, its curator Sergei Kiriyenko, has been tasked with intensifying work with municipalities. The task, as Vedomosti’s source describes it, is: “The formation of the municipal community as a personnel reserve, a proactive loyalist community, which is guaranteed social lifts.”

Such people, who will be searched for and cultivated by the AP staff with the participation of Grachev, must have “modern teamwork, project work” and communication skills, the source notes. He claims that the ANO “Russia – the Land of Opportunities” (RSV) can be involved in this work, on the basis of which the main personnel competitions of the Presidential Administration (for example, “Leaders of Russia”) are held. The winners of the competitions have already been used in practice, for example, they were called to participate in the management of the territories of the DPR and LPR, Vedomosti wrote.

Now the possibility of involving local officials in training is really being discussed – for example, on the basis of the Higher School of Public Administration of the RANEPA or in the Senezh management workshop, says another source close to Staraya Ploshchad. According to him, the final decision “has not yet been made”, but the project could be launched by the end of the year. For training through the RANEPA, it is planned to invite, among other things, participants in the “Leaders of Russia” competition who work at the municipal level, he continues: “This will create a personnel reserve.” Grachev will be among the curators of the project in the AP, the source says.

Politicians at the municipal level go through a very serious school of “training and hardening,” said Vyacheslav Timchenko, senator and deputy chairman of the LSG Development Association. According to him, such personnel are a reserve for further work at the regional or federal level due to their high-quality training. RSV CEO Alexei Komissarov told Vedomosti that both the RSV and the RANEPA Higher School of Public Administration are always ready to train young people in order to provide them with opportunities for self-realization and further work in various fields, including public administration.

The former governor of the Ulyanovsk region, a member of the Duma committee on LSG Sergey Morozov believes that it is quite logical to look for personnel at the local level. “We are now bringing Russian legislation into line with the amendments to the Constitution,” he notes. – We adopted a law on the government, on the State Council, adopted a law on the structure of regional authorities, we are actively discussing a new law on local self-government. Therefore, since such new legislative decisions are being made, the quality of personnel should be different, more professional.”

“According to the Constitution, we now have a unified system of public power,” says political scientist, former head of the UVP (2011-2012) Konstantin Kostin. “Municipalities, especially large ones, have traditionally been a forge of personnel – there are many examples of this, the mayors of large cities have worked both as governors and in the federal government.” The task, according to him, is still relevant today: it is necessary to improve the quality of governance, and the constitutional norm allows the inclusion of municipalities and their employees in a single system of public power. “And all of this puts more demands on those who work locally,” he adds.

Anna Narayeva and Anastasia Mayer participated in the preparation of the article