Supreme Court

Vladimir Putin put an end to the Krasnoyarsk conflict

Vladimir Putin signed a decree yesterday appointing Alexander Khloponin as acting governor of Krasnoyarsk. In this non-standard way, a legal conflict that arose after fighters for justice from the Krasnoyarsk Election Commission declared the elections in the region invalid for the second time was resolved.

At the same time, it is very characteristic that Vladimir Putin did not hide behind words about preparations for winter, the budget and other social and state reasons. The president said that he was appointing Khloponin “as the person who received the most votes as a result of the elections, and this is not in doubt, including by the regional election commission.”

According to the president, “the procedure for holding elections raises doubts, but the dispute must be resolved in accordance with the procedure established by law by the regional or Central Election Commission.”

In fact, this is the first case of public intervention by the president in the election or, more precisely, in the post-election process. The first one is not accidental. The fact is that it was simply impossible to legitimately resolve the situation in any other way. The statement by the head of the Central Election Commission, Alexander Veshnyakov, about his readiness to personally recognize the elections as valid and dissolve the regional electoral commission indicates a readiness to resolve the issue using common sense - and contrary to the law. According to the electoral legislation that is still in force, only the regional election commission can recognize the elections as valid. And until the end of the election campaign (and elections are considered over when all decisions of the election commission have entered into force), no one can legally dissolve this commission.

However, if we recall the words of Mr. Veshnyakov that the Krasnoyarsk scandal was carried out by bankruptcy specialists, it turns out that the head of the Central Election Commission was ready to defeat the enemy with his own weapons. In the event of a decision by the Central Election Commission, Mr. Khloponin with the Taimyr riot police could well “enter” the administration building and “take the seal.” After this, the opponents could sue as much as they wanted - in general, a scheme well known to everyone who was at all interested in the stories of the seizure of industrial enterprises.

Vladimir Putin, and this is the main thing, solved the problem quite correctly. Having invited Alexander Khloponin to his Kremlin, acting. Governor Nikolai Ashlapov, Khloponin’s former rival in the election of speaker of the regional Duma Alexander Uss, the president convinced the latter two to stop fighting. You can't argue with the president. And it seems that Mr. Ashlapov wrote his resignation letter directly to the Kremlin. He himself explained his decision as follows: “Since regional budgets are now being formed, it is especially important that the permanent leaders of the region deal with the federal center. We cannot hold three million people hostage, since we are treated as a temporary administration.” The permanent administration will now be created by Mr. Khloponin.

As for the whole intrigue with the regional election commission, it will take its course. As the newspaper Vremya Novostey learned, most likely tomorrow Alexander Khloponin will file a protest against the decision of the election commission in the regional court. He will carefully study everything and cancel the decision of the election commission. Members of the commission can appeal this decision to the Supreme Court. Then they may disagree with the decision of the Supreme Court, etc. etc.

But this doesn't make much sense. The forces behind the election commission most likely hoped to delay Mr. Khloponin's assumption of office for at least a month in order to carry out an operation to remove assets from the region. But since tomorrow control over financial flows in Krasnoyarsk will pass to Khloponin’s team, all this becomes meaningless.

The Krasnoyarsk scandal is over.

Vladimir ShPAK, Maria SIMONOVA, Olga KOLEVA