City of deceit

Velikie Luki politicians do not trust each other or the governor

The outcome of the vote scheduled for May 29, 2009 on the candidacy of the head of the administration of the city of Velikiye Luki remains unclear: opposition representatives, who absolutely do not trust Nikolai Kozlovsky and do not expect a real compromise from him, look back at the regional authorities, but cannot completely rely on their word.

On May 25, 2009, it became known that the deputy of the Pskov Regional Assembly, the director of the Transneftemash plant Viktor Mitropolsky, whose candidacy for the post of manager of Velikiye Luki was actively promoted by the region's governor Andrey Turchak, would not participate in the competition.

However, this did not prevent Mr. Mitropolsky from declaring that he was ready “to work within the framework of general agreements with the governor of the Pskov region Andrei Turchak to build a working vertical of power in Velikiye Luki” [ 1 ] .

The next day, May 26, another contender dropped out of the pre-election campaign, Vladimir Udovkin, general director of the Velikoluksky LLC MVN, whose keynote speech was recognized by the members of the competition commission as “indistinct” [2 ] .

Thus, three contenders remained for the post of manager of Velikiye Luki: the current mayor of the city, Nikolai Kozlovsky, as well as the director of the municipal enterprise Vodokanal, Yevgeny Shumailov, and the head of the economics committee of the administration of Velikiye Luki, Igor Yankovsky.

The session of the Velikoluksky City Duma, at which the candidacy of the head of the city administration should be determined, is scheduled for May 29.

Withdrawal of his candidacy by Viktor Mitropolsky allowed the source of the Pskov Information Agency in the Velikoluksky City Duma, who wished to remain anonymous, to conclude that “on the eve of the vote ... we can talk about a clear political situation and compliance with all political agreements” [3 ] . Meanwhile, such a statement of the question, on closer examination, looks at least overly optimistic.

According to observers, the nomination of Mr. Kozlovsky to the post of governor of the southern capital was a forced step, which the mayor of Velikiye Luki took extremely reluctantly. Nikolai Kozlovsky has long made it clear that he is absolutely satisfied with the post of head of the municipality, elected from among the deputies, and he does not at all seek to give up the Duma mandate and take on the burden of economic issues, becoming the contracted “chief supply manager” of the city.

However, under the pressure of circumstances, Nikolai Nikolayevich was forced to heed the urgent wishes of the governor and make a “manly act”, expressing his determination to apply for the post of city manager. Apparently, he was forced to do this by the prospect of a full-scale political war with the regional authorities and a meeting with Yevgeny Makarov, assistant plenipotentiary representative of the president in the North-Western Federal District, during which the mayor of Velikiye Luki was “reprimanded” and “strongly recommended to end the unstable internal political situation in Velikiye Luki" [ 4 ].

It seems that the embassy's close attention to the conflict on the southern outskirts of the Pskov region and its willingness to interfere in the development of events came as an unpleasant surprise to Mr. Kozlovsky.

It is obvious that the election of Nikolai Kozlovsky to the post of head of the administration of Velikiye Luki in no way can suit the opposition-minded politicians both within the Velikiye Luki City Duma and outside it. In this situation, representatives of the opposition, according to the information of the "Pskov province", are negotiating with the mayor of Velikiye Luki through the mediation of the regional administration.

In particular, according to one of the newspaper's sources in Velikiye Luki, a variant is being discussed in which, after the appointment of Nikolai Kozlovsky to the post of head of the city administration, the vacant chair of the mayor would be taken by one of the most authoritative representatives of the opposition within the Velgorkiye Duma, Sergei Sergienkov.

However, the difficulty lies in the total distrust of Velikie Luki politicians to each other. Obviously, while still holding a "controlling stake" of votes in the City Duma, Mr. Kozlovsky is able to push his own candidate to the post of mayor, bypassing any verbal agreements. In the end, he can always shrug his shoulders, saying that the vote of formally independent deputies was a surprise for him - just like he did on April 21, during the previous attempt to elect the head of administration [ 5 ] .

In this situation, opposition representatives are waiting for certain signals and guarantees from representatives of the regional administration. However, the experience of recent weeks shows that the Velikoluksky oppositionists cannot fully rely on the assurances of the regional authorities either.

So far, not a single promise given by representatives of the governor's team to individual politicians in Velikiye Luki has been realized. Alexander Vasilevsky never became the head of the city branch of United Russia instead of Nikolai Kozlovsky: this post was taken by Sergey Gusev, who is considered the right hand of Velikoluksky mayor. And Viktor Mitropolsky, who was actually guaranteed the post of city manager, was eventually forced to withdraw his candidacy.

Velikiye Luki still confirms its reputation as a city with a special "political culture". And no efforts by the representatives of Pskov and St. Petersburg so far have been able to settle the long-term conflict and make its participants believe each other at least for a while.

Maxim KISELEV

1 See: Viktor Mitropolsky will not fight for the post of city manager of Velikiye Luki // PAI, May 25, 2009.

2 See: Three contenders left for the post of head of administration of Velikiye Luki // PAI, May 26, 2009.

3 See: Viktor Mitropolsky will not compete for the post of Velikiye Luki city manager // PAI, May 25, 2009.

4 See: M. Kiselev. Kozlovsky's choice // "PG", No. 19 (440) of May 20-27, 2009

5 See: M. Kiselev. Great Pitchfork // "PG", No. 15 (436) of April 22-28, 2009