Vladimir Putin may meet with elected regional heads on September 28

President Vladimir Putin may meet on September 28 with the heads of regions who won the September 10 elections. Vedomosti was told about this by two interlocutors close to the presidential administration. According to one of them, the meeting of the president with the governors will take place via video conference. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov did not answer Vedomosti’s question about whether such a meeting was really planned.

An interlocutor in the Communist Party of the Russian Federation says that communist governors should also be invited to the meeting – not only the head of the Oryol region Andrei Klychkov, but also the governor of Khakassia Valentin Konovalov. In 2018, Konovalov was at a meeting of regional heads with the president, which took place in December – after the second rounds and re-elections in Primorye.

First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Yuri Afonin told Vedomosti that if the president decides to meet with the elected heads of regions, then he will probably meet with everyone without exception. “They were supported by voters, and without the support of the president and citizens it is impossible to work as a governor,” Afonin noted.

Elections for regional heads were held on September 10 (in most regions – within three days from September 8). In total, residents elected heads of 21 regions in direct elections; another five regional leaders (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions) were elected by legislative assemblies.

Of the 21 governors, 19 were nominated for elections from United Russia, and Klychkov and Konovalov were nominated from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. 18 heads were up for re-election, together with the governor of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Dmitry Artyukhov, who was elected by deputies of the regional parliament. For the first time, Vladislav Kuznetsov (Chukotka), Vasily Anokhin (Smolensk region), Vitaly Khotsenko (Omsk region), Mikhail Kotyukov (Krasnoyarsk region), appointed in the spring, were elected as acting bureaucrats.

The President traditionally holds meetings with elected governors after the single voting day. The difference between the current meeting is the scale of the regional election campaign and the fact that it took place before the presidential elections, which will take place in March 2024. At the last meeting in 2022, the president congratulated the elected governors and also gave them some instructions. Then he said that the country was facing external pressure, which placed special responsibility on the heads of regions. In addition, he asked to keep under control issues related to the partial mobilization.

Last week and this week, elected regional heads officially take office (see schedule). The first to take place was the inauguration of Sergei Tsivilev (Kemerovo region) – September 13. On September 27, the inauguration ceremony of Aisen Nikolaev (Yakutia), Vladislav Kuznetsov (Chukotka) and Mikhail Vedernikov (Pskov region) will take place.

The traditional meeting of elected regional heads with the president involves regional leaders with different political and administrative weight, notes political consultant Maria Sergeeva. “For example, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin often participates in meetings with the president; he has many opportunities to address Putin directly. And for other regions, such a post-election meeting is a good opportunity to shine, report, or ask the president for help,” she believes.

The meeting of the president with the elected heads is the final point of the 2023 election cycle, now the country is on the home stretch before the 2024 presidential elections, Sergeeva emphasizes: “The heads who have just completed their own election campaigns will now have to be responsible for organizing the presidential elections “