Conviction from personal experience

The Stavropol speaker was introduced to the mayor

Following the mayor of Stavropol Dmitry Kuzmin, who was recently accused of abuse of power , yesterday the speaker of the Stavropol Regional Duma Andrei Utkin received a “personal” criminal case. The investigators have the same complaints against him . The fact that both officials are activists of the A Just Russia party was initially called simply a coincidence by law enforcement agencies. But Deputy Prime Minister and member of the United Russia party Alexander Zhukov, speaking in Stavropol yesterday, actually confirmed that this is precisely about politics.

A criminal case against the speaker of the Stavropol Duma, Andrei Utkin, was opened yesterday after the Stavropol Regional Court issued an opinion on the validity of bringing him to criminal liability. The resolution to initiate the case was signed by the head of the investigative department (ID) of the Investigative Committee at the prosecutor's office for the Stavropol Territory, Sergei Dubrovin. Mr. Utkin is suspected of “exceeding official powers by a person acting as head of a local government body.” According to the Investigative Committee, Mr. Utkin committed this act while disposing of the property of the housing stock, while still in the position of vice-mayor of Stavropol.

Almost immediately after the announcement of the initiation of a case against Mr. Utkin in the Duma of the Stavropol Territory, as reported by the Investigative Committee, investigative actions began. The Duma, however, said yesterday that they had heard nothing about the searches. The speaker himself, as his assistant said, has been on vacation for the last two days: “He hasn’t been out for about ten days, which means he’ll be back in a week.”

This is the second criminal case against Stavropol officials. On November 26, the Investigative Committee opened a similar case against the mayor of Stavropol Dmitry Kuzmin. Both of them are members of A Just Russia, which in the regional parliament, by the way, the only one in the country, took more seats than United Russia. The investigation insisted that the claims against officials had nothing to do with politics and were of a criminal and economic nature. But Deputy Prime Minister and United Russia member Alexander Zhukov, speaking yesterday at the Stavropol Agrarian University, put everything in its place: “The opposition, which represents the majority in the Duma of the Stavropol Territory, is hindering the development of the region. The President, government and parliament must work in the same direction. Stavropol has seen from its own experience what the confrontation between federal and regional authorities leads to.”

Eduard LOMOVTSEV