Master of the Tundra

The Nenets have found a new leader

Deputies of the legislative assembly of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO) yesterday at an extraordinary session approved Valery Potapenko as governor of the northern region. His candidacy, proposed by Vladimir Putin, was supported by all 16 deputies present at the session. After taking the oath, the new head of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, who had already been acting as governor for several months, promised to prepare the region for winter and subsequently annex it to the neighboring Arkhangelsk region.

Let us recall that on July 21, Vladimir Putin removed the former governor of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Alexei Barinov, from office “due to loss of trust.” Back in May, he was arrested on suspicion of fraud and embezzlement. We are talking about the period when Mr. Barinov was the head of Arkhangelskgeoldobycha OJSC. At the end of June, information appeared that new charges could be brought against Barinov, already related to his activities as governor of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. However, they have not yet been presented.

The new governor Valery Potapenko can be considered the creation of the presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District Ilya Klebanov, who introduced him to the deputies. On his recommendation, the head of the FSB management department in the city of Vyborg, Leningrad Region, Valery Potapenko was appointed to the post of federal inspector of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug in 2005.

Yesterday, after his appointment, Ilya Klebanov advised Mr. Potapenko to declare war on dilapidated housing and poor roads, promising help, and not only in solving these problems. “We are helping and will continue to help you in solving problems with oil companies and the Arkhangelsk region, but we will not interfere with internal laws and regulations,” the plenipotentiary promised.

According to analysts, the new governor will allow state oil companies to feel more comfortable in the region. According to Valery Potapenko, the creation of additional capacities of the transport pipeline system and transport infrastructure in general is promising for the development of the region. 95% of the oil produced in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug is transported via oil pipelines to the Baltic pipeline system. The most promising option, he believes, would be the creation of the Indiga loading port in the Barents Sea on the territory of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug with access to the markets of Western Europe and the United States.

Answering questions from journalists about what tasks the district leadership will solve first, the governor said: “The main thing is to organize and efficiently complete the northern delivery; we do everything else as usual.”

Describing the prospects for signing an agreement on the unification of the Autonomous Okrug with the Arkhangelsk Region, Valery Potapenko said that two working groups have currently been created (in each region) and two meetings have already been held. The main problem, he said, “is the price of the issue.” “Naturally, the Arkhangelsk region wants to get more, and we want that for the money that the region will receive, we will receive high-quality support for the powers that it will assume,” the governor explained. The agreement on interbudgetary relations between the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the Arkhangelsk Region will be signed in September. Also, the issue has already been resolved that for the money that the district transfers to the Arkhangelsk region, the leadership of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug will receive a report. In any case, the budgets for next year of the two regions will be different. A number of analysts believe that a referendum on the unification of the two regions could be held in December 2007 on the day of elections of State Duma deputies.

Daria GUSEVA