Planned ambush

The Don Governor's election cards are being knocked out

The office of the presidential envoy in the Southern Federal District summed up the first results of a planned comprehensive audit of the Rostov region. On the eve of the gubernatorial elections scheduled for September, too many shortcomings have been revealed. Obviously, the results of the audit will do a disservice to the current governor, Vladimir Chub, who intends to run for a new term.

Vladimir Chub's main election trump card is the economic successes that the region has demonstrated over the past three years. However, First Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative Alexander Korobeinikov, who led the inspection, tore this picture of economic well-being to smithereens. In particular, he stated that the Rostov region continues to remain a subsidized region, and the share of subsidies from the center is growing from year to year. The region is not using its economic potential, 46% of the region's residents live below the poverty line, the death rate last year was twice the birth rate, and drug addiction is on the rise - 44%. The regional authorities were reproached for the fact that in the development of mechanical engineering they relied on the launch of the Taganrog Automobile Plant (TagAZ), and this bet did not materialize. In addition, based on the results of a comprehensive audit, six new criminal cases have already been opened, and another 15 old ones have been revived. And this is just the beginning; the embassy transferred part of the audit materials to the Prosecutor General's Office.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that some of the remarks of the auditors from the embassy cannot be called anything other than slyness. Let's say the region is criticized for the fact that, compared to 1990, the grain harvest has decreased from 9 million tons to 3.7 million tons, coal production has decreased, and 1,400 kindergartens have closed. It was as if Don had been living separately from the country for the last decade. At the same time, the economic achievements of the region, such as a 64% increase in industrial production in the first quarter of this year, were simply “not noticed” by the embassy. Another example: Vladimir Chub stated less than a month ago that the Rostov region has no overdue debts on loans or credits, including to Moscow. And officials of the federal Ministry of Finance confirmed that the Rostov region in terms of inter-budgetary relations is today one of the most exemplary in Russia. Now the first deputy plenipotentiary claims that the region now has 2.4 billion rubles in overdue debts.

Thus, some of the audit results look tendentious and unexpected. Unexpectedly, because people on the Don already believed that the Kremlin would not play against Vladimir Chub in the upcoming gubernatorial elections.

Initially, it was planned to announce the results of the comprehensive audit by June 12. But then the event was postponed for a week. According to Rostov, the main reason for the postponement was the meeting on June 13 between Vladimir Chub and President Vladimir Putin. Allegedly, before the gubernatorial elections, Vladimir Chub should have secured the support of presidential structures. Looks like he got it. But the results of the plenipotentiary's audit mixed up all the election cards.

Igor BURAKOV, Rostov-on-Don