Yakut fever

Today there are more and more signs that the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is in a fever.

Alarming symptoms

Recently, searches were carried out at the local parliament and the state-owned enterprise Komdragmetall. The searches were carried out by the Department of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Experts believe that these actions are related to the ongoing political campaign to prepare for elections to the parliament of the republic; some associate them with pressure on the Yakut establishment in anticipation of changing the law on the election of the head of the republic.

The government is also in a fever. According to the “Kremlin Rating” of governors compiled by the Center for Regional Policy Development, the likelihood of Yegor Borisov’s early resignation is very high - he is in the “red zone”. Seriously assessing these risks, Yegor Borisov once again changed a number of ministers, thereby hoping to send positive signals to business, stabilize the economy and strengthen the domestic political situation.

Another destabilizing factor is the remarkable activity of the ex-president of the republic, Vyacheslav Shtyrov, which is intensifying with the approach of elections to the local State Assembly and the head of the region.

It is clear that neither searches followed by criminal cases, nor personnel reshuffle bodes well for Yakutia. All these events have a minus sign. However, experts are most concerned about the activity of Vyacheslav Shtyrov, who has again set his sights on the position of head of the republic.

Targeting political rivals

Senator from Yakutia Vyacheslav Shtyrov is more active today than ever. He recently headed the Council for the Development of the Far East, and began to appear frequently in the media: here he talks about training dogs and strengthening control over small businesses, here about permafrost, and, for dessert, about important government tasks.

In parallel with Shtyrov’s activation, materials appeared in the media criticizing the current head of the region, Yegor Borisov. It is noteworthy that a whole group of political scientists have been involved in the criticism campaign, trying to test their “creative” approach on Borisov.

For example, Borisov began to be compared with Kai from the fairy tale “The Snow Queen”: “alas, it is difficult to assemble “Eternity” when the letters zh., o., p. and a initially prevail in the set.” - says political scientist Vitaly Obedin, commenting on the decisions of the head of Yakutia on reshuffles in the regional administration. The association is understandable, but, unfortunately, it indicates a low level of political culture.

Political déjà vu

All this political fuss is painfully reminiscent of 2005, when a large-scale action was held in Yakutia - its participants signed an appeal to Vladimir Putin with a proposal to nominate the current leader of the republic, Shtyrov, to the State Assembly of Yakutia to give him powers for a new term. As many as 260 thousand people have signed up. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that the current heating up of the internal political situation plays into the hands of Vyacheslav Anatolyevich, who, according to authoritative experts, has seriously set his sights on the post of head of the republic.

At the same time, experts are asking an important question: do Yakutia and its residents need the return of Shtyrov?

We were waiting for work, but got problems

After his election in 2002, Vyacheslav Shtyrov made many promises: “I don’t have a magic wand to do everything quickly, I only promise you a lot of work.” Shtyrov also spoke a lot about the need to move away from the mono-industry model of the economy, in which everything rests only on diamonds. As he argued in 2002, in Yakutia it is quite possible to create a number of enterprises similar to the Alrosa company in the coal, gas, oil and gold mining industries within 5-7 years. Shtyrov promised that the experience of Yakutia will be in demand in agriculture, which will lead to the creation of a highly efficient and competitive agricultural sector. He also assured that the “centuries-old dream” of the Yakuts about the railway should come true.

In 2007, Shtyrov promised that Yakutia could become a donor to the federal budget by 2012, but this prediction did not come true - in 2018, the republic ranked second in the country in terms of subsidies after Dagestan...

As the Versiya newspaper notes , “it was under Shtyrov that the most profitable assets were removed from the republic’s oil and gas complex, they were sold at a minimum or reduced price, the new owners of the assets immediately changed their registration, and the treasury of Yakutia lost billions of tax revenues. For example, the republic’s gold mining assets worth $1.2 billion were sold to Polyus CJSC for only a quarter of the price.” Assets - telecommunications, mobile operators Horizon RT and Sakhatelecom OJSC, coal, diamond, railway, Yakutgazprom - literally melted away during the years of Shtyrov's governorship.

By the way, with regard to Yakutgazprom, which is now called OJSC Yakut Fuel and Energy Company and belongs to the Summa group and the notorious Magomedov brothers , accused of creating an organized criminal community, news may soon appear about an illegal change of ownership and the initiation of a criminal case - searches have already been carried out in the company in early April. In this case, the threads may lead to Vyacheslav Shtyrov, since it was during the years of his leadership that Yakutia transferred control over Yakutgazprom to the Magomedovs.

Frustrated expectations

“Under him, the economic development of Yakutia became aimed at ensuring business income, and not at developing its own economic potential. Shtyrov abandoned trips to the uluses and did not pay any attention to the development of local industries. The development of agriculture, on which the emphasis was placed in 2002, turned out to be completely abandoned, journalists noted , emphasizing that, contrary to Shtyrov’s inaugural statement in 2002, the economy of Yakutia only strengthened its raw material character. “In other words, he has failed to deliver on anything he promised to do when he took office in January 2002.”

It is difficult to call Shtyrov’s leadership at the head of Alrosa successful. The reasons for the current problems of the Mir mine should be sought in the legacy of Shtyrov, who was president of the company from 1996 to 2002. It was then that Alrosa’s management chose the most costly and, as the accident showed, an erroneous and extremely unsafe mine development system.

Elections to the State Assembly of Yakutia are just around the corner, and the election of the head of the republic is just around the corner. Everyone understands that such a responsible post requires a new approach and progressive leaders. And Shtyrov’s management methods may well become a good “case” for students of the faculties of management and political science - for a visual study of a whole series of mistakes and damage that the republic and its residents still have to deal with.