| The governor of Kuban dismissed the mayor of Sochi, who he disliked, from his post. In the new year, the largest resort in Russia begins to live with a new head. On January 6, deputies of the Sochi City Assembly unanimously accepted the resignation of Mayor Leonid Mostovoy, who had written a letter of resignation “at his own request” the day before, and approved Viktor Kolodyazhny as the first deputy head of the city. Now, in accordance with the charter of the resort, Mr. Kolodyazhny, who until the last moment worked as the head of the administration of Armavir, will have to serve as mayor until the election of the mayor. The date for these elections has not yet been set, but they should take place no later than May.
Already the former mayor of Sochi, Leonid Mostovoy, is the 27th head of local government replaced by order of the governor. In total, there are 49 heads of urban and rural administrations in the region. 26 of them wrote a statement “of their own free will”, one leader was brought to criminal liability. Mr. Mostovoy resisted pressure from Krasnodar for two months, and although as a result he was also forced to give in, he left for the very honorable position of representative of the administration of the Krasnodar region in the Federation Council of Russia. This place was conveniently vacated by the former Kuban governor Nikolai Kondratenko, who was elected to the State Duma.
The confrontation between the mayor of Sochi Leonid Mostovoy and the head of the regional administration Alexander Tkachev began unexpectedly for outside observers. Let us recall that in January 2001, the regional governor appointed Mr. Mostovoy as acting mayor of Sochi and did everything possible to ensure that his protégé won the elections held four months later. Things were going well at the resort near Mostovoy. Objective economic indicators of Sochi’s development for all three years were above the average regional values and above the Russian average. Tax revenues to the city and federal budgets have doubled, and to the regional budget - fourfold. The resort's economy grew by 250%. Last September, the governor even presented the head of Sochi with a diploma confirming that the resort was recognized as the most comfortable city in Kuban.
The campaign against Mr. Mostovoy started on November 19 with the publication in the regional newspaper Volnaya Kuban of a letter from five Sochi deputies, dissatisfied with the fact that they could not get an appointment with the mayor. Soon, Leonid Mostovoy was summoned by the governor and offered to resign. Mr. Mostovoy refused. After this, a real war was unleashed against the stubborn mayor. An important role was assigned to the press, which in Kuban had long been subordinate to the regional administration. In addition to the press, the resort mayor was put under pressure by numerous commissions that checked the activities of the city administration. In two months there were 39 of them. At the end of the year, 200 inspectors from Krasnodar were simultaneously working in Sochi.
On December 10, a session of the regional legislative assembly (LGA) was held in Krasnodar, at which deputies expressed no confidence in Leonid Mostovoy. But he did not resign here either. The persecution of Mr. Mostovoy ended as unexpectedly as it began. On December 29, another session of the Legislative Committee met in Krasnodar, at which deputies approved Mr. Mostovoy as a representative of the regional administration in the upper house of the Russian parliament.
The “revolution” that took place in Sochi is most likely connected with the desire of the regional authorities to control the multibillion-dollar investment flows that are now at the Sochi threshold in connection with the start of the implementation of a number of major projects, including the project for the construction of a mountain resort in the village of Krasnaya Polyana. Leonid Mostovoy did not suit Alexander Tkachev because he was too independent. He solved the resort's problems not in Krasnodar, but directly in Moscow, in the offices of the federal government, in the presidential administration and the State Duma. The greatest irritation of the regional authorities was caused by Mr. Mostovoy's growing connection with the Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov. Apparently, the transfer of Leonid Mostovoy to the Federation Council is the result of a compromise reached during negotiations between these people and the Kuban governor (on New Year's Eve, Alexander Tkachev went to the capital and met with Mr. Luzhkov).
What will happen to Sochi next is still an open question. It is clear that in the near future the acting Sochi head Viktor Kolodyazhny has been tasked with ensuring the gubernatorial elections, which will be held in Kuban along with the presidential elections on March 14. As a result of the persecution of Leonid Mostovoy, the rating of the Krasnodar governor in Sochi is currently practically zero. Igor GLANIN, Sochi |
|
