The mayor who refused to resign barricaded himself in the administration in Shlisselburg
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On Monday morning, battles worthy of the Northern War broke out in Shlisselburg, Leningrad Region. Deputies of the city settlement tried to dismiss the head of its administration, Artem Zheludov, who is under investigation for abuse of power, and he responded by barricading himself in the city hall building. The “seizure of power” was stopped only by law enforcement officers who arrived in time.
On October 9, the press service of the administration of the Kirov district of the Leningrad region reported that “Zheludov, released from the Krestov, and his accomplices” at seven in the morning burst into the Shlisselburg mayor’s office with grinders and chains, threatening with violence, kicked out the guards and barricaded the premises where secret documents were stored. Information about the incident was entitled “Seizure of power in Shlisselburg.”
“The entrance to the premises where documents, computers and servers with state information are stored is controlled by Zheludov himself, not allowing in either the police or employees,” the press service asserted. “An appeal has been sent to law enforcement agencies regarding illegal actions.”
In the afternoon, the police nevertheless removed the uninvited guests from the administration, work there continued and the current acting head of the administration of Spartak Chkhetia was able to begin his duties. According to Kommersant, Artem Zheludov, who suddenly appeared with his assistants, ordered the dismissal of his replacement, since he still occupied this position. At the same time, with his sudden visit, the official disrupted a meeting of the council of deputies, at which the issue of his possible removal was supposed to be decided.
At the end of August, a criminal case was opened against Artem Zheludov for exceeding official powers, resulting in grave consequences (Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code, up to 10 years in prison). According to the investigation, while working as the head of the administration of the Priladozhsky settlement in 2019, he approved the commissioning of an apartment building without permission from the State Construction Supervision Authority and without conducting a mandatory examination, which led to the emergency condition of the building. Initially an official placed in the Kresty pre-trial detention center, but a little later they replaced his preventive measure with a ban on certain actions.
On October 5, Mr. Zheludov was released from the pre-trial detention center, but did not show up to his workplace the next day. According to deputies, “absenteeism” can become a formal basis for the resignation of an official. As the head of the Council of Deputies, Maxim Lashkov, explained to Kommersant, at the morning meeting on October 9, the issue of creating a commission on this matter should have been decided:
“He did not send us any information that he had been released. I learned about this from the media. But neither his representatives nor he himself notified us either on Thursday or Friday, but took over by force.”
According to the deputy, some of the young men accompanying Artem Zheludov work at the local cemetery. “Bandits, there’s no other way to call them. They threatened to break my head and said that the council of deputies would not be held here and that no one would be allowed in. And then they said that they came to Artem Alexandrovich for a reception – with chains and grinders. They probably waited a long time, a whole month, to get an appointment with him,” Mr. Lashkov was indignant. He also promised that such actions will not go unnoticed by law enforcement agencies.
At the moment, Artem Zheludov has been temporarily suspended from his post: after the “liberation” of the city administration building, the deputies were still able to hold a meeting and create the planned commission. According to the decision, by October 11, the official must provide an explanation of the reasons for his absence from work.
The Shlisselburg Council of Deputies made an attempt to deprive Mr. Zheludov of his seat back in July, but for much more serious reasons: claims arose against the official related to the violation of the deadlines for the relocation of citizens from emergency housing and the reconstruction of the Vodnik stadium.
However, then the regional prosecutor’s office established that the dismissal procedure was carried out with violations, and as a result, Artem Zheludov was reinstated.
It is curious that in July 2021, in the administration building of the village named after Sverdlov (Vsevolozhsk district of the Leningrad region) barricaded himself its then head Andrei Shornikov. Attempts to get into the workplace of his replacement, Julia Reichert, were stopped by some young athletes. Then Mr. Shornikov managed to hold the line for almost a month. Later, he moved to the position of head of the Kirovsky district, from where he was dismissed by decision of the council of deputies, but in February 2022 he was able to be reinstated in his position and even receive compensation in the amount of 2.2 million rubles. Now Andrei Shornikov is being investigated for accepting large-scale bribes and is under house arrest, but is still nominally listed as the head of the municipality.
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