Serdyukov on trust

Governor of the Leningrad Region Valery Serdyukov intends to retain his post. To do this, in the very near future he is going to raise the question of trust in his person with the president. True, the timing of raising the issue has not yet been determined. The governor is clearly trying to gain the informal title of “Putin’s appointee” in order to have at least some guarantees before the future president. Experts expect that by the summer of this year, the majority of heads of Russian regions will be concerned with the issue of presidential trust.

“Presidential elections should take place in March next year, so I would like, before March 2008, for the president, with whom I worked for eight years, to say whether he trusts me to continue working, to lead the subject of the Federation,” he shared his Serdyukov's fears.
When this news appeared on news agencies, some in the corridors of the regional government began to say that, “the boss in the Kremlin has already agreed on everything.” Others, on the contrary, expressed the opinion that the governor was simply hedging his bets with such a statement, because the chair under him was allegedly already shaking. Moreover, the United Russia party in the elections to the regional Legislative Assembly (whose list was headed by the governor himself) received almost the lowest result throughout Russia. Naturally, this caused discontent and even irritation in Moscow.
By law, to begin the reappointment procedure, the governor is required to write a letter of early resignation and raise a question of confidence with the president.
Then the presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District will present a candidacy for the post of governor of the Leningrad region to Vladimir Putin for consideration. After consideration by the president, the candidate for the position of governor is submitted to the regional parliament for consideration.
It is interesting that immediately after Serdyukov’s statement about the possibility of his reappointment for a new term, the Governor of the Krasnodar Territory Alexander Tkachev, the governors of the Moscow and Vologda regions Boris Gromov and Vyacheslav Pozgalev made exactly the same wishes. If all three governors are already expected in the Kremlin at a meeting with the president, then Vladimir Putin is in no hurry to meet with Valery Serdyukov.
In St. Petersburg, as soon as Valentin Matvienko mentioned his reappointment to the governor’s post, a positive response was immediately received from Moscow. The answer to Serdyukov is still silence.
Currently, there are 29 governors left who took their posts by winning elections the old fashioned way. In 2007, the powers of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Alexander Khloponin, Head of Buryatia Leonid Potapov and Ivan Malakhov, who heads the administration of the Sakhalin Region, expire. Seventeen more regional leaders, including the Governor of the Leningrad Region Valery Serdyukov, will have their powers expiring in 2008, and eight in 2009.

Evgenia GEVORGYAN