Plenipotentiaries defeated the administration
As a high-ranking Kremlin source said yesterday, in the coming days Vladimir Putin will sign a decree on the reorganization of the main territorial department of his administration. This is a major victory for the president’s representatives in the federal districts: now they will not only carry out the Kremlin’s regional policy, but also determine it. With details - ILYA BULAVINOV.

Contradictions between the presidential plenipotentiary representatives in seven federal districts and the Kremlin administration (or rather, its main territorial department) appeared immediately after the appearance of the plenipotentiary representatives themselves in May last year. Endowed with extraordinary powers to control regional authorities, they believed that they themselves should determine the priorities of their work. The Kremlin, understandably, was convinced that plenipotentiaries were only obliged to strictly follow its instructions.
At the end of the summer, the presidential representative in the Volga region, Sergei Kiriyenko, sent to the Kremlin proposals agreed with his colleagues to adjust the regulations on plenipotentiaries, which provided for a significant expansion of their powers. However, by mid-November, the administration had prepared a draft presidential decree that not only did not expand the powers of the plenipotentiary representatives, but also deprived them of personnel independence: they were ordered to coordinate all appointments with the personnel department of the Kremlin administration.
But the plenipotentiary representatives managed to convince the president not to sign the decree in this form. They proposed to Vladimir Putin an even more radical reform - to reduce the personnel and powers of territorial administration. The President took the side of his representatives and, after a meeting with them on December 25, gave the head of the administration, Alexander Voloshin, an order to prepare a new draft decree within 15 days.
The administration was not going to rush at all. One of the heads of the territorial administration told Kommersant back in mid-January that in fact it was not about preparing a draft decree, but only about “preparing appropriate proposals.” The fact that the territorial administration preferred this formulation is not surprising. After all, it left a certain amount of room for maneuver: there could be too many proposals, their analysis could take time, which means there was still a chance to convince the president. But the plenipotentiaries were not going to give up the initiative.
On Saturday, at a meeting in Novo-Ogarevo with the participation of Vladimir Putin, Alexander Voloshin and Security Council Secretary Sergei Ivanov, the plenipotentiary representatives raised the issue bluntly: the deadline for fulfilling the presidential order has expired, and the decree has not yet been signed. The President promised to resolve the issue.
Yesterday, a senior administration official said that a decision had been made and a corresponding presidential decree would be signed in the coming days (perhaps as early as today). According to the document, the territorial directorate is being reduced by more than a third - from 105 to 40 people. 12 of the reduced positions will be transferred to the main legal department of the administration (a new department will be created there that will deal with problems of regional legislation), and the remaining 28 will go to the offices of plenipotentiary representatives. In addition, seven district departments will be abolished within the territorial administration; on their basis, a department for supporting the activities of plenipotentiary representatives is being created, which will have only 12 employees.
The administration's defeat still cannot be called unconditional surrender. According to Kommersant's information, two changes will be made simultaneously to the regulations on plenipotentiaries. Firstly, to the wording “the plenipotentiary representative is a federal civil servant and is part of the presidential administration,” it will be added that the procedure for interaction of plenipotentiary representatives with the presidential administration is determined by the head of the administration. Secondly, the clause according to which the authorized representative in his activities is guided by “the Constitution, federal laws, decrees and orders of the president, as well as these regulations” will be supplemented with the phrase “orders and decisions of the head of the presidential administration.”
Formally, this amendment may even strengthen the administration’s control over the plenipotentiary representatives: any decision of Alexander Voloshin will now have the force of law. But this is only formal. The main enemy in the person of the territorial administration has been defeated and there will simply be no one in the Kremlin to carry out operational management of the plenipotentiary representatives in the Kremlin. By the way, the current head of the department, Sergei Samoilov, according to Kommersant's information, will also move to another job.
So in reality, the plenipotentiaries will now be left to their own devices. With all the ensuing consequences for their wards-governors. After all, the Kremlin has always believed that it is necessary to work with regional leaders as carefully and delicately as possible, while plenipotentiary representatives preferred to rely on force.

ILYA B-BULAVINOV

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 15 dated January 30, 2001, page 1