Yesterday, the governor of the Tomsk region, Viktor Kress, announced at a press conference in Tomsk that he had joined the ranks of United Russia. This confession came shortly after his meeting in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin, to which the governor came as a party member. The governor did not explain the reasons for his step to journalists in detail, but made it clear that membership in United Russia would allow him to more effectively defend the interests of the region. For the first time, the leader of the regional United Russia organization, Vladimir Zhidkikh, informed the Tomsk public about the entry of Governor Victor Kress into United Russia at the end of November. For a long time he was one of the closest associates of the governor, holding the post of first deputy to Victor Kress, senator from the executive branch of the Tomsk region. Last December, Mr. Zhidkikh won elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the only single-mandate constituency in the region. In addition, he headed the campaign headquarters of candidate Kress three times during successful campaigns for the election of the head of the regional administration. Victor Kress himself was on vacation on the day when this statement was made, from which he returned only on December 2. On this day, they expected him to make a statement about a “party matter,” but it never came.

Victor Kress kept his distance from United Russia for a long time. The same Vladimir Zhidkikh last summer, in preparation for the next gubernatorial elections, stated: “I will offer Viktor Melkhiorovich (Kress - Kommersant), as an independent political figure, a self-nomination procedure. I consider it undesirable for him to be nominated from a party whose political age is much younger. Tomsk United Russia does not intend to “privatize” Kress’s possible victory.” In October of this year, United Russia announced the creation of a group of 20 members in the Tomsk Regional Duma. Then a source in the regional administration told Kommersant that, given the growing activity of United Russia, the executive branch would adhere to the tactic of “creating a system of checks and balances.” These words could be understood as support for the idea of creating an independent deputy group in the regional Duma, oriented towards the governor. Then deputies Vasily Eremin and Vladimir Dolgikh came up with this idea. However, the group was never created.

Yesterday, Victor Kress held a press conference dedicated to his meeting in Moscow with Vladimir Putin, which took place on December 10. At the meeting, the governor said that the meeting lasted two hours, and during this time the parties managed to agree on many things. For example, that at the end of next year a meeting of the heads of Russia and Germany will be held in Tomsk; that an experiment on healthcare reform will begin in the Tomsk region, which will mean transferring the compulsory medical insurance system to a full tariff; that Seversk, which was deprived of its “closed” status in 2006, will switch to a market economy within three to five years.

Only after several questions from journalists, Victor Kress admitted that he came to the president already as a member of United Russia. According to him, he wrote an application for admission to the party on November 27, and the General Council of United Russia approved this application on December 9. Mr. Kress did not express any particular enthusiasm. When asked about the motives for his action, he only answered that “about forty of my colleagues today are members of the United Russia party, a party that has a majority in the State Duma and controls many significant items of the federal budget. So draw your own conclusions.” The governor also made it clear that this event will not change his attitude, in particular, to freedom of the media and other liberal values: “No joining a party or anywhere will change me as a person. The values we have achieved will remain so. Moreover, now (I can’t say much openly) I will be able to intercept some questions...”

VALENTIN ROMANOV; OKSANA VOZHDAEVA, Tomsk

Kommersant (Novosibirsk) No. 234 dated 12/15/2004, p. 16

Victor Kress came to the President as a member of United Russia