| Ulyanovsk Governor Vladimir Shamanov was appointed Advisor to the Prime Minister On Monday, the governor of the Ulyanovsk region, Vladimir Shamanov, was appointed assistant to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. Thus, the issue of General Shamanov’s employment after his expected resignation from the post of head of the region was resolved. Vladimir Shamanov is running for a second gubernatorial term and has not yet withdrawn his candidacy from the elections, which will be held in the region on December 5. But now, obviously, it is a matter of a few days.
According to sociological polls, Vladimir Shamanov has been at the top of the list of the most unpopular governors for quite a long time. According to some data, a year ago more than two-thirds of the residents of the Ulyanovsk region were negatively disposed towards him. And in September, the regional branch of the United Russia party refused to support Vladimir Shamanov and took the side of his competitor, the mayor of Dimitrovgrad Sergei Morozov.
On November 1, Vladimir Putin met with the head of the Ulyanovsk region. According to the official version, it was about the socio-economic situation in the region. However, at the meeting, apparently, the issues of appointing Mr. Shamanov to a post in one of the country’s law enforcement agencies and the parallel withdrawal of his candidacy from elections in the region were discussed. On November 4, when submitting a report on his dismissal from the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces, Vladimir Shamanov said that consultations on the topic of transferring to another position were held a month ago. “They have been held now, but I consider it necessary to leave all conversations on this topic until a specific decision is made by the leadership,” the governor said. True, it was assumed that Mr. Shamanov would be invited to work in the Security Council.
Now, as Mr. Fradkov’s assistant, Vladimir Shamanov’s competence will include issues of social protection of military personnel, the prime minister’s press secretary Alexander Zharov told reporters. According to him, Shamanov will also be involved in cooperation with veteran organizations within the competence of the government.
Mr. Shamanov leaves the Ulyanovsk region in an extremely difficult financial and economic situation. In 2001, the governor made an unsuccessful attempt to introduce crisis management in the region with the help of a team of associates of film director Nikita Mikhalkov. Mr. Shamanov appointed Dmitry Piorunsky, then Mr. Mikhalkov's deputy at the Union of Cinematographers, as his economic adviser. A year later, Mr. Piorunsky received the post of vice-governor. He and his colleague from the Moscow NIKOS group, Mikhail Mirimsky, very successfully began to represent the region on the boards of directors of all the largest enterprises in the region. And the film director’s son-in-law Albert Bakov, owner and director of NIKOS, became the plenipotentiary representative of the Ulyanovsk region to the Russian government.
This group initially intended to deal with housing and communal services: to create the Simbirskenergo company from scratch, which would become one of the largest in Russia. It was planned to transfer the distribution energy networks and the entire thermal power industry of the region to its composition. However, in this case, the huge debts from previous years for electricity and heat would remain on the same structures. Therefore, Mr. Piorunsky’s plans were sharply opposed by the energy sector and Anatoly Chubais personally. As a result, only the Oblzhilkomkhoz enterprise was created, which began to centrally purchase fuel oil for thermal power plants, but it soon came under the close attention of the prosecutor's office, which still tightly controls supplies.
After failure in the energy sector, Mr. Piorunsky’s group turned to the agro-industrial complex and related industries. As a top manager of one of the large enterprises in the Ulyanovsk region recalls, it was not without their participation that a change of ownership occurred at the local distillery, the Simbirskmuka plant, the Tsilninsky sugar plant, the Sendeleevsky cement plant and a number of other companies. The vice-governor also tried to participate in the management of the Aviastar aircraft manufacturing complex, but the package of approximately 5% of shares owned by the regional administration was not enough for this. However, this summer, when it became clear that the Kremlin was unlikely to support Mr. Shamanov in the December gubernatorial elections, a team of Mr. Mikhalkov’s associates left the Ulyanovsk region.
However, the most scandalous topic in the region was and remains energy. Mr. Shamanov’s conflict with RAO UES of Russia and its regional subsidiary lasted almost his entire gubernatorial term. All this time there was almost never hot water in the region. Power outages in the regions were also not uncommon - both Ulyanovsk thermal power plants stopped working every summer. Until now, they say at Ulyanovskenergo, budget-funded enterprises have current debts, and those previously accumulated are gradually repaid only thanks to the help of the Ministry of Finance. In local budgets - both regional and municipal - there has been enough money to pay for energy services for a maximum of nine months for many years now. Although tariffs in the region are among the lowest in the Volga region.
With the arrival of the new head of the Ulyanovsk region, the energy sector expects the situation to worsen. The fact is that the federal center always helped Mr. Shamanov “overwinter.” With difficulty, of course, but the Ministry of Finance could not leave people to freeze. The successor is unlikely to have the same attitude, according to power engineers, and no one wants to allocate subsidies to the Ulyanovsk region again.
Nevertheless, quite active bargaining continues for the governor's post in the Ulyanovsk region, analysts say. In addition to General Shamanov and United Russia-backed Mr. Morozov, the game includes former “red” governor Yuri Goryachev and candidate from the Ulyanovsk Communist Party of the Russian Federation Alexander Kruglikov, who will divide the communist electorate among themselves. At the same time, according to opinion polls, a candidate “against everyone” has a greater chance of “winning” elections in the region. In this case, direct elections in the region may never take place, since from the beginning of 2005, governors will most likely be appointed by the president. With this prospect in mind, some potential candidates refused to participate in the elections in the hope of getting on the list from which Vladimir Putin would subsequently choose, proposing his candidate to the regional legislative assembly. Daria GUSEVA, Nikolai GORELOV |
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