Midfielder

Pyotr Slepchenko is leaving his second leadership post without completing his term of office

Peter Slepchenko was less interested in politics and more interested in career growth. Photo: Timur Galimov

By the spring of 2015, Doctor of Technical Sciences Pyotr Slepchenko had “issued” a rather attractive work record in Pskov. Arriving together with Governor Andrei Turchak to the behind-the-scenes position of head of the control department, he worked in the same position for about six months as deputy chief of staff of the administration of the Pskov region, supervising document flow. After which Slepchenko unexpectedly rises up the career ladder - to the post of head of the Pskov administration, and after leaving it ahead of schedule, he again occupies a public post, becoming a regional commissioner for the protection of the rights of entrepreneurs. True, Pyotr Mikhailovich served only half the term in his last position.

Pyotr Slepchenko ’s career in business was quite successful even before Pskov: in St. Petersburg, he was the chairman of the board of OJSC Energomashbank, deputy general director of OJSC Scientific Research Institute of High-Voltage Apparatus Engineering, and more. Upon arrival in Pskov, the position of head of the control department was hardly the pinnacle of the ambitions of the young doctor of sciences Slepchenko, which was confirmed by the near future: the practically non-public figure was delegated by Governor Andrei Turchak to the post of head of the Pskov administration.

The year and a half of his tenure as city manager was quite successful for Slepchenko, from the point of view of an outside observer. He turned out to be, perhaps, the only mayor in recent years who enjoyed the support of the population and “received” good press. In addition, under Slepchenko, the city government structures were given a favorable financial regime, which allowed them to technically avoid noticeable problems in the city economy.

For obvious reasons, Pyotr Mikhailovich, who did not have his own political team, relied on experienced figures recommended from the camp of the regional authorities. For example, for a certain period of time, the sphere of housing and communal services and urban services in the Slepchenko administration was supervised, although disgraced, by the highly experienced Sergei Fedorov , who was at one time both the head of the Dedovichi district and the vice-governor. In this sense, the doctor of sciences had a reliable economic rear.

However, Pyotr Slepchenko did not complete his term as head of the Pskov administration until the end of his term, which extremely surprised the Pskov political community at the time. Speaking in a slightly harsh language, a successful businessman and doctor of science showed political purity by entering into a political conflict with the then-current composition of the Pskov City Duma and the head of Pskov, Ivan Tsetsersky . After Tsetsersky failed to be “thrown off the ship of modernity” by Pskov politics (moreover, after the March 2012 elections he further strengthened his position), Slepchenko felt discomfort and left on his own .

This was facilitated by unexpected scandals around the city authorities (confrontation with the education department with the removal of Gennady Baryshnikov , as well as unsuccessful work on the improvement of the Velikaya embankment), to which the then city manager was clearly not accustomed.

“I’ll reveal my cards – I’m not going to become a politician. This was never in my plans. When I came to work at the regional administration, we talked about this with the governor, when I came here, we touched on this issue again,” Slepchenko franked with the press even before his election as head of the administration.

As practice has shown, he was telling the truth: Slepchenko was less interested in politics and more interested in career growth, in the good sense of the word. As a result, when leaving the post of city manager, he took a number of steps that, from a political point of view, can be considered a mistake. Firstly, he refused a key functional position in the executive branch of the regional center, losing a noticeable level of influence. Secondly, he did not associate himself with party activities, although during the period of the beginning of the confrontation between Ivan Tsetsersky and Andrei Turchak he could lead the city “United Russia”. And, in the end, with his decision, Slepchenko provoked a real political crisis in the regional center, which resulted in a confrontation between city and regional authorities with a subsequent attack on his successor, Igor Cherednichenko .

Slepchenko himself, for some reason that can only be guessed at, did not leave the Pskov region, taking up a new and non-public at that time position of Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs in the Pskov Region. With a high degree of probability, back in 2012, it could be said that this position is considered by Petr Slepchenko not only as an opportunity to throw off the burdensome shackles of the head of the city administration, but also for the future smooth movement to the federal center.

As in the case of his work in the Pskov administration, Slepchenko turned out to be noticeable in the media, despite the fact that the institution of ombudsmanship in the Pskov region, as well as in Russia as a whole, turned out to be more psychological than real. Of course, in connection with the international scandals surrounding the dead Pskov children Dima Yakovlev and Maxim Kuzmin, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Pskov Region, Dmitry Shakhov, turned out to be one of the key figures who has any influence on the process in his “diocese”. Other ombudsmen - Human Rights Commissioner Viktor Ivanov and Slepchenko himself - simply did not have any real resources for work; they played the role of an advisory body.

It is, of course, impossible to create an effective institution of ombudsman for entrepreneurs in conditions where conditions of natural selection have been created for small and medium-sized businesses. In such conditions, the business ombudsman should have become and became only an element demonstrating democracy and the features of the rule of law.

“Now most of the appeals concern the lack of funding. This is not exactly my question, but, on the other hand, it’s mine too. Because the state of the investment climate in the region falls under the authority of the commissioner,” Slepchenko honestly admitted on the air of “Echo of Moscow in Pskov” at the end of December 2014.

Like this: most often the Commissioner for the Rights of Entrepreneurs is approached with an issue that he is not able to resolve and is not obliged to solve.

Frankly speaking, the state of the investment climate can be attributed to the powers of the business ombudsman at least three times: today, the formation of the investment climate in the region (with all the ensuing consequences) has been arrogated to themselves by a couple of officials - and he, the climate, is now clearly in big trouble.

But even taking all this into account, Slepchenko managed to form a businesslike and successful image of the Commissioner for the Rights of Entrepreneurs. He turned out to be active, often mentioned in the media and often took a principled position in defense of small business. Yes, this did not change anything, but formally Slepchenko was honest with himself. At the same time, this active work was again more like acceleration in front of a springboard, which was supposed to take Pyotr Mikhailovich somewhere high. Unlike Shakhov, who at first simply had to fight off his positions from the regional leadership (who did not have particularly warm feelings towards him), Slepchenko did not have the task of survival. His task was to develop.

He has appeared at the federal level more than once, being included in the list of public ombudsmen and being responsible for protecting the rights of entrepreneurs in the field of control and supervisory activities. Slepchenko also managed to attend a meeting of business ombudsmen with Vladimir Putin .

In August 2013, Slepchenko, who shunned politics, nevertheless became a member of the “All-Russian Popular Front” - already being the co-chairman of the regional branch of the organization “Business Russia”. By the way, almost the only negative story is connected with “Business Russia”, in which the former head of the Pskov administration appeared. He was invited to become a co-chairman of the organization by the original head of the Pskov “Business Russia” Viktor Pochernin . Slepchenko was attracted to prominent positions, and Pochernin was attracted to Slepchenko - as a business ombudsman and as a person with access to the regional governor. The director of the bakery had his own “business story” about his seizure of the coastal zone of Lake Kalatskoye.

Slepchenko, either without understanding it, or being forced to defend his colleague, “harnessed” himself into this story. But both did not receive support. After this, Mr. Pochernin continued to ignore the demands of the prosecutor’s office and the courts, and Slepchenko still distanced himself from the dubious story.

* * *

And so Slepchenko left. Without explanation, having served only half the term as a commissioner. Surely the reason was new career prospects, for which, in fact, Pyotr Mikhailovich worked, and the desire to move from provincial Pskov closer to the capital’s offices. It seems that Slepchenko was humbly waiting for something - he resigned from the post of mayor to the position of an amorphous savior of entrepreneurs. But he didn’t wait.

The gubernatorial elections passed, and Andrei Turchak not only remained in the Pskov region, but also buried himself deeply in anti-crisis problems, calling on March 17, among other things, for ombudsmen to cut their salaries. It is clear that it was not the issue of salary that was the last straw for Slepchenko.

But a vague dissatisfaction clearly remained.