Under what conditions is the acting head of Chukotka conducting an election campaign

Roman Kopin, who has been in charge of Chukotka since 2008, this year gave way to Vladislav Kuznetsov, who worked at Sibur and gained experience in public administration in the LPR. In September, he will have to get rid of the prefix “acting”: in one of the most sparsely populated regions of the Russian Federation, it will hardly be difficult to get several thousand votes

Regular passenger transport between Chukotka and the mainland is established only by air – flights connect the capital of the Autonomous Okrug Anadyr with Moscow. But in order to get to the easternmost region of Russia directly, tickets need to be bought several months in advance – they are instantly taken apart. There are options to get to Chukotka with transfers – for example, fly to Magadan, and then transfer to a turboprop aircraft that will take you directly to your destination. From Magadan to Pevek – the northernmost city in Russia and one of the largest in the region – four hours of flight on the An-24.

In the heyday of the 1970s, from Pevek, where about 12,000 people then lived (now – less than 5,000), twice a day – in the morning and in the evening – passenger ships flew to Moscow. The board stopped for refueling in Siberia, after which it continued the route. A few decades later, the airport stopped accepting long-haul and medium-haul aircraft. And only in 2022 the runway (RWY) was repaired there. The crew of the An-24 comes in for landing in manual mode, without using the autopilot – despite the harsh climatic conditions, it is softer than on most regular passenger flights.

Pevek is so far away that roaming works here, and the Internet is served from a satellite. There is practically no 4G anywhere, but in some places there is WiFi from Rosatom. In 2019, the world’s only floating nuclear thermal power plant (FNPP) “Akademik Lomonosov” was launched in the city, providing the city with heat and light. At the same time, roads were repaired here, public transport stops were updated, and soon the runway at the local airport.

Roman Kopin, who resigned his powers in March, was considered a member of the team of billionaire Roman Abramovich. From 2001 to 2008, he was the head of the autonomous region, and then, having transferred powers to his deputy Kopin, until 2013 he moved to the chair of the speaker of the Chukotka parliament. The media wrote that Abramovich’s Sibneft and its structures invested in the region, according to various sources, from $1 billion to $2 billion and Chukotka, which lost its strategic importance after the end of the Cold War (nuclear weapons were stored here in case of a conflict with the United States and military bases were located) and found itself on the verge of extinction, received a second life.

Kopin’s main task was to maintain the standard of living that was achieved under his predecessor, says political analyst Alexander Kynev. “And in general, Kopin coped with this, given that the region is not easy: extreme weather conditions, problems with logistics. These are not unique problems for the Far East, and it would be correct to compare Chukotka with other Far Eastern regions, everything is quite decent against their background,” he notes. But the elections for both Abramovich and his successor were problem-free.

By the way, the inhabitants of Chukotka still speak flatteringly about Abramovich: they remember “how much he invested his money here” and how “he treated our children as if they were his own.” Pevekchanka Zoya told a Vedomosti correspondent how Chukchi schoolchildren flew to London for Chelsea matches (owned by Abramovich from 2003 to 2022) and to Anchorage for excursions. After Abramovich’s resignation from the post of governor, Duma deputy of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Galina Stepanova told Kommersant that during the years of his work, the most talented children from the sports sections of the Autonomous Okrug spent a week in England. For Chelsea, according to her, then the whole Chukotka was sick.

Rare banners from the election commission remind of the upcoming elections in Chukotka in September for a new governor in Pevek. “The whole of Chukotka is voting,” reads a poster in Pevek’s Chaunsky Museum of Local Lore, placed next to the Ministry of Defense’s call for military action. A similar campaign calling on voters to “find time to choose the future” hangs on public transport stops and on the walls of houses.

The correspondent of Vedomosti did not notice banners with images of candidates. The only poster in support of the Acting Head of the Autonomous Okrug, Vladislav Kuznetsov, nominated by United Russia, hangs on the inside of the front door to the Pevek Hotel (MUE Chaunsky District Communal Services). “A strong Chukotka has a worthy future,” reads the propaganda material with a portrait of the acting director.

Kuznetsov came to Chukotka from Lugansk, where he served as first deputy chairman of the LPR government for a little less than a year. He is a graduate of the IV course of the training program for the personnel reserve of the Higher School of Public Administration of the RANEPA, the so-called school of governors, which is supervised by the presidential administration (AP). Before working in the LPR, Kuznetsov was a member of the Bashkirian parliament from 2013 to 2018, and from January 2019 to December 2021 he worked as the vice-governor of the Kurgan region. And before that, his work was connected with Sibur – in the petrochemical holding, he also held senior positions (Deputy General Director of Sibur-Motors, General Director of Sibur-Polyef, Sibur-PET, etc.). This suggests that Kuznetsov is a typical technocrat, Kynev notes: “A person who moved between departments and regions as a serviceman. This region is specific, peculiar, losing population.” And a person should be ready for such work with emerging problems.

For example, a significant part of those living in Pevek are shift workers. They came here in the late 1970s and early 1980s. by distribution after universities and colleges for work in the fields. The world’s largest tin deposit, the Pyrkakay Stockworks, is located 90 km from the city; it has been developed by the Rusolovo company (part of the Seligdar polymetallic holding) since 2020. According to local residents, it is not necessary to enter the now abandoned buildings near the deposits: polar bears and wolverines can settle there. True, the correspondent of Vedomosti met only Evrashki – this is how American ground squirrels are called in Chukotka.

“The acting governor of Chukotka has always chosen ambiguous options in his career, demonstrating a certain courage, in a good sense, clearness,” notes political analyst Vitaly Ivanov. “Well, when a person is ready to go to Chukotka, this is just a gift for the authorities.” In addition, Kopin, as Vedomosti sources close to the Presidential Administration said, had long asked for his resignation, but there was no replacement.

Kuznetsov is already making plans for the future. In 2030, Chukotka will celebrate 100 years since the formation of the district. By this date, the regional government has prepared a development plan, which, according to the interim, the locals call “Chukotka-100”.

The solution to one problem leads to another, Kuznetsov argues in an interview with Vedomosti: in order to invite specialists to work, you need to provide them with housing. Due to the harsh conditions, houses here take longer to build, and materials from the mainland can only be brought in for a limited period of time while navigation is underway. Accordingly, it is necessary to build a system in order to import materials into one navigation for two years in advance at once, he explains: if the plan is to build apartment buildings, a site has been allocated, then it is obvious that the construction of a cultural center, hospitals should be envisaged next to new houses, and not at the other end of the municipality.

“There are issues that people have been talking about for years. These are systemic issues that are difficult to resolve quickly. This [также] air traffic issues – lack of flights within the region and interregional flights, issues of new housing construction – there is little construction in the region, there is a strong shortage of housing, issues of providing the region with specialists, food security issues – food prices in the district are much higher than the average Russian ones, ”Kuznetsov lists the main challenges facing the authorities in Chukotka. For example, 1 kg of sausages in Pevek costs about 1000 rubles, sausage – 1000-2000 rubles. per kilo, cheese – about 2000 rubles. for 1 kg, tomatoes (hard and not very ripe) – 500 rubles. for 1 kg, a bottle of vodka – about 1000 rubles, the Vedomosti correspondent was convinced.

Another candidate, a pensioner from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, deputy chairman of the committee on industrial and agricultural policy of the district Duma, Vladimir Galtsov (KPRF), also speaks about the excessive high cost of food. “What is the proposal from my side: you heard about the State Farm. Lenin (the agricultural enterprise of the ex-presidential candidate of Russia from the Communist Party Pavel Grudinin. – Vedomosti)? It would be better to organize enterprises similar to state farms in our districts. I think this is the best way out for us,” he shared with Vedomosti his election trump card. The upcoming gubernatorial elections are not the first for Galtsov. In 2018, the Communist Party candidate came in third with 12.24% of the vote (Kopin won with 57.83%). The second place was then taken by the LDPR candidate Yulia Butakova (18.46%).

In the Duma of the current convocation, Butakova heads the committee on social policy and calls transport accessibility the main problem of Chukotka. “Yes, the situation has improved in recent years: new flights have been introduced, subsidized routes have been introduced, a flat tariff has appeared. But still much depends on weather conditions. People are asking to increase the frequency of flights, reduce fares, because it is expensive to fly,” says Butakova. Her portrait adorns the strip of the district newspaper “Polar Star”. The slogan is extremely laconic: “LDPR – for Chukotka!”.

The fourth candidate for governor of Chukotka, who presents himself in the same newspaper, is the director of the Chukotka department of the Russian Post, Alexander Semerikov (Fair Russia – For Truth). Its main slogan is “For justice, for truth, for you!”.

The population of Chukotka is 47,500 people, it is one of the most sparsely populated subjects of the Russian Federation (according to this indicator, only the Nenets Autonomous Okrug is ahead of it – 41,400 inhabitants). Of these, 32,654 are eligible to vote.

Another feature is that there is virtually no road communication between regional centers, they are connected only by air. “The planning horizon for movement can be equal to one day. You can not fly out, you can fly out and stay. That’s why [люди] forced to live in harmony with nature,” says one of the political strategists working in the district for the authorities.

According to him, about 30% of voters are representatives of the indigenous population (Chukchi, Eskimos, Evenks), who often cannot vote at the polling station, because they are busy herding deer. Since August 20, early voting has been held in hard-to-reach and remote areas of Chukotka: employees of election commissions fly out to the reindeer herders.

However, a few thousand votes are enough to get elected. For example, Kopin received 57.83% of the vote with a turnout of 60.17% in 2018. Then 17,987 people came to the polling stations, and 10,398 voted for the governor.

Like most heads of regions, Kuznetsov does not participate in pre-election debates. However, he still does not exclude such a possibility – it depends on the schedule. “I prefer direct contact with people,” he says. According to the interim, it was after the meetings that instructions were given on the formation of an irreducible three-month supply of medicines in pharmacies in remote areas of Chukotka, where it is difficult to get to, on the purchase and installation of modular baths in the villages of the district, on the organization of medical examinations for representatives of the indigenous peoples of Chukotka.

Kynev considers the lack of an “objective base for the opposition” to be a specific feature of Chukotka. “This requires financial resources, but there is no independent business there: it is either state-owned or small.” Therefore, political life in Chukotka has always been formal, the expert concludes.