Yevgeny Prigozhin wants to film governors – Picture of the Day – Kommersant
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Entrepreneur and founder of the private military company (PMC) Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin sent an appeal to the State Duma with a request to develop a bill that would allow governors to resign if 10% of voters in the region support it. In addition, in his letter, the businessman actively criticizes the governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Beglov. State Duma deputy Dmitry Kuznetsov supports the idea of the initiative. However, experts believe that Mr. Prigozhin’s actions should be viewed as a PR campaign, and not a real attempt to change the law.
Businessman and founder of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin sent appeal State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin with a request to amend the legislation, according to which governors will be prematurely deprived of their powers if at least 10% of voters’ signatures are collected for their resignation. In his letter, the businessman also actively criticizes the governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Beglov. Yevgeny Prigozhin claims that since 2019, transport and waste reforms have “failed” in the city, public utilities cannot cope with the winter cleaning of St. Petersburg, tariffs for housing and communal services and major repairs are rising.
The reason for drawing up the document could also be the alleged ban on outdoor advertising of PMC Wagner in St. Petersburg, which was announced by Yevgeny Prigozhin. There is no official confirmation of this information.
The businessman has repeatedly appealed to the State Duma in order to influence Mr. Beglov.
“The current government of the city, headed by the governor, has actually discredited itself and finally undermined the confidence of the townspeople, not only in itself, but in the authorities as a whole,” wrote Yevgeny Prigozhin in his address. “All this led to the fact that the governor of St. an unprecedentedly low electoral rating, and there is an increase in social tension in the region, which is unacceptable against the backdrop of a special military operation.”
Kommersant asked the press service of the administration of the governor of St. Petersburg for a comment, but at the time of the release of the material, the editorial office did not receive a response from the governor.
The appeal states that, in accordance with the norms of the federal law “On the General Principles of Organization of Public Power in the Subjects of the Russian Federation” (No. 414-FZ), there is no mechanism for the resignation of the head of a subject of the Russian Federation who has lost the trust of the population.
At the same time, Yevgeny Prigozhin appeals to Article 3 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which says: “The bearer of sovereignty and the only source of power in the Russian Federation is its multinational people.”
According to the election commission, there are 3.9 million voters in St. Petersburg. If the initiative of Yevgeny Prigozhin reaches the real law, then the votes of 391 thousand Petersburgers will be required for the resignation of the mayor.
State Duma deputy from the Just Russia – For Truth party, Dmitry Kuznetsov, told Kommersant that he generally supported Yevgeny Prigozhin’s proposal: “We need an elite closer to the people. About interest, of course, it is necessary with experts. Maybe 11.5% is better. I don’t know about the faction’s position.”
However, experts are skeptical about the chances of such an initiative being adopted. So, lawyer Anastasia Burakova told Kommersant that for many years the Kremlin has been working to build a vertical and control regional elites: “Therefore, a real tool that will allow the population to influence this vertical (and collecting 10% of signatures is a real task) will never will not be entered with the current configuration.”
Vice-President of the Russian Association of Political Consultation (RAPK) Pyotr Bystrov doubted that Mr. Prigozhin’s appeal was really aimed at removing Alexander Beglov from his post. “I think that this is more of a PR campaign than a story related to real actions to free Beglov from his post. The heads of subjects of the federation are appointed and dismissed by decisions of the president of the country. Therefore, if Prigozhin really wanted to relieve the governor of St. Petersburg from his post, he would not turn to Volodin, but to someone who can really do it, ”explained Mr. Bystrov.
Associate Professor of the Department of Political Psychology at St. Petersburg State University Alexander Konfisakhor also considered Mr. Prigozhin’s actions to be PR. He clarified that if the initiative is really considered, then expensive referendums will have to be held for the resignation of governors.
“These are real elections, but with a negative sign. Therefore, it is possible to scare the governor, all the more so given the special position of Prigozhin and his relationship with official authorities. But in reality, just for the sake of his desire to inject our governor, such things are unlikely to be seriously considered, ”the expert explained.
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