Garoded

Photo: Mikhail Razuvaev / "Kommersant".

According to Kommersant, the new governor of St. Petersburg, most likely, will be Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, who had previously worked in Smolny with Vladimir Putin, and had previously studied at the Law Faculty of St. Petersburg University at the same time with Dmitry Medvedev. At the same time, Mr. Kozak can lead the Parties of United Russia from St. Petersburg in the Duma elections. As a priority task, he will have to increase the rating of St. Petersburg United Russia, who lost weight due to a decrease in the confidence of citizens to the head of the city Valentina Matvienko.

Recall that the question of the candidacy of the successor Valentina Matvienko remains open from June 24, when President Dmitry Medvedev supported her candidacy for the post of speaker of the Federation Council (SF). In order to occupy it, Mrs. Matvienko has already registered in the elections in two St. Petersburg municipalities. The elections will be held on August 21, and in the event of the election, Mrs. Matvienko will exchange the governor's chair for the deputy mandate, after which she can be put forward by the new governor to the Federation Council. According to political scientists, the reason for the actually early resignation of Mrs. Matvienko (the term of her powers expires in December this year) was a low rating of United Russia in St. Petersburg, which is considered a consequence of a decrease in citizens' confidence in the governor.

In this situation, experts predicted that only one of the Moscow Petersburgers, who has no "negative train" in the public opinion of Petersburgers, will be able to restore the positions of United Russia in a short time. In the list of possible applicants actively discussed by experts, the head of the presidential administration Sergey Naryshkin, his deputy Alexander Beglov and the Presidential Administration Vladimir Kozhin appeared.

Dmitry Kozak appeared in this “short list” last-after on July 25 at a selector meeting in the White House he harshly criticized the authorities of St. Petersburg for low pace of preparation of the city for winter. Having called the "disaster" an unsuccessful struggle against previous snowfalls, when "messages resembled reports from the front", the deputy prime minister warned that "the situation of the year before last and last winter from the point of view of snow removal and icicles should not be repeated," and the responsibility for this will be inevitable.

After that, Kommersant sources in Smolny reported that it is Mr. Kozak that would oversee the city united Russia campaign in the upcoming regional and federal elections and, most likely, will lead the party list in the elections to the State Duma. The head of the executive committee of the St. Petersburg branch of the party, Dmitry Yuryev, yesterday told Kommersant that although Mr. Kozak did not participate in the primaries, the question of who will head the regional list will be decided at the congress on the proposal of the party leader. “I do not have information about the political and hardware chances of Mr. Kozak, but as a political scientist, I believe that this option looks very interesting and promising,” the head of the executive committee said.

Meanwhile, according to Kommersant, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak is also the main candidate for the post of governor of St. Petersburg. In the Kremlin, the possible appointment of the Deputy Prime Minister is not commented by the governor. Meanwhile, the interlocutor of Kommersant in the Presidential Administration said that "do not see a direct connection" between the fact that Mr. Kozak "will lead the list of" United Russia "and his possible governor." Another source in the Kremlin administration noted that it was Mr. Kozaku who was instructed to conduct an “audit” of the results of the Government of Valentina Matvienko in St. Petersburg, given that he worked in Smolny under the leadership of her predecessors Vladimir Yakovlev and Anatoly Sobchak.

By the way, today Mr. Kozak arrives in St. Petersburg, where together with Valentina Matvienko will take part in three public events. In Smolny, Mr. Kozak and the Minister of Regional Development, Viktor Basargin, will hold a meeting on the construction industry and the development of the regional construction market. The next day, all three will participate in the grand opening of two St. Petersburg long -standing - a ring road and a complex of protective structures, which will be headed by Vladimir Putin. Recall that in October 2008, on the birthday of Mr. Putin, the then head of the Ministry of Regional Development Dmitry Kozak stated "Kommersant" that "this is really a Putin Dam" and that the customers gave the premiere for the birthday "mock -up of this structure." Finally, on Monday, Dmitry Kozak and Presidential President Ilya Klebanov will hold a meeting on the socio-economic development of the North-Western region. All this can be considered the beginning of the campaign to transfer power in St. Petersburg to Mr. Kozaku.

The appointment of Dmitry Kozak by the governor of St. Petersburg looks quite logical, given that he was familiar with Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin before moving from St. Petersburg to work in federal authorities. At the legal faculty of St. Petersburg University, Dmitry Kozak studied at the same time with Dmitry Medvedev (having received a diploma two years earlier than the future president). Dmitry Kozak worked with Vladimir Putin in Smolny under the leadership of Anatoly Sobchak - in 1991 he headed the City Council’s legal entity, and since 1994, the city hall is a hookot, and was also part of the city government with Vladimir Putin. After the defeat of Anatoly Sobchak in the election of the head of the city in 1996, Dmitry Kozak stood his post, but two years later quit due to disagreements with Governor Vladimir Yakovlev. After leaving Smolny, Mr. Kozak was held by the chairman of the board of directors of the Law Firm "Group of Lust". Its co-founder (together with Mr. Kozak) and the general director was now the property block of Smolny Vice-Governor Igor Metelsky, a classmate of the head of Sberbank German Gref, who also worked in Smolny in the 1990s.

The federal officials and experts surveyed by Kommersant noted that the main obstacle to the appointment of Mr. Kozak the governor is his responsibility for the preparation of the Olympiad in Sochi. The interlocutors of Kommersant claimed that they would hardly allow Mr. Kozak to “jump off” from this shot project. However, the delivery of St. Petersburg long-term construction can be a good reason for personnel permutations in the construction industry. Kommersant sources foresaw that the director of the Department of the Ministry of Regional Development of the Banquir House of St. Petersburg “Saint Petersburg”. (The board of directors of which was previously included in Mr. Kozak) Vladimir Kogan, after the completion of the project, can receive a new post or lead another major project.

Yesterday, Kommersant sources in the construction industries, which previously assumed the probability of dividing the Ministry of Regional Development into a construction direction (up to the restoration of Rosstroy abolished in 2007) and the Ministry of Regional Development, admitted that the “logical” situation would look in which Dmitry Kozak’s place would be taken by the current head of the Ministry of Regional Defense Viktor Basargin, and his deputies would be occupied by the current head of the regional house. "Distracted" by new structures allocated from the ministry. This possibility is also confirmed by the recent resignation of Konstantin Korolevsky from the post of the building block of the deputy mmnist of regional development, which still remains vacant.

Anna Pushkarskaya, St. Petersburg; Alla Barakhova, Oleg Sapozhkov

Source: "Kommersant"