Leo came out of the shadow

Khloponin left Krasnoyarsk on his deputy

And he himself is not a deputy. On February 17, the Krasnoyarsk Legislative Assembly will approve Leo Kuznetsov as the new governor of the region. The successor of Alexander Khloponin, sent to a difficult Caucasian site, was his permanent first deputy
Kuznetsov worked in a conjunction with Khloponin for more than 12 years: and when he headed Norkel, and when he was the governor of Taimyr, and when he began to lead the edge. Many explain the Kremlin’s decision to nominate Kuznetsov to the governors: they say, a young, effective manager, and even Khloponin personally recommended that the president recommended it.

But there is a more serious reason. The fact is that strangers in the Krasnoyarsk Territory are not particularly loved. And before the surname of the Kremlin nominee became known, literally the entire edge prayed that the choice of the head of state fell on one of the locals. The opposition even arranged an open demarche: representatives of the Communist Party, the Sesers and the “right” in the regional parliament sent an open letter to the president, which was demanded not to send Varyaga to the governorship. The same sentiments reigned among the regional United Russia. The Kremlin could not reckon with this: after all, in March, local elections would have to be coming, and if the stranger was appointed, “United Russia” would have expected a real defeat. Having scared after large -scale anti -government rallies in Kaliningrad, the authorities are trying not to tease the people without much reason. Moreover, Khloponin promised to return from the Caucasian business trip, and to whom to entrust the management of the region, if not his eternal married. For 12 years, the Krasnoyarsk residents have used to this tandem and consider both their own.

At the depths of the Siberian hydroelectric power station
The new head of the region starts from a favorable position: with a ch habit in the region, it became better with both the economy and the social woman. Oil production began, enterprises are being built in the Lower Angara region, the railway is pulled there - almost the only one in modern Russia. But Lev Kuznetsov will not be bored at the post: there are enough problems in this richest region. The local budget is filled mainly due to revenues from Norilsk Nickel, and they, of course, decreased due to the crisis. An increasing stress in society is caused by the situation with the current, under construction and designed hydroelectric power stations. Ecologists have long been protested against the construction of the Boguchansky hydroelectric power station, and recently due to problems with financing and quarrels between the builders of the hydroelectric power station-Rusal and RusHydro-there may not be enough money to clean the flooding zone. The decision of RusHydro to build a supergiant Evenki hydroelectric power station also caused protests: a significant part of Evenkia would be flooded. Finally, after a terrible accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station, the inhabitants of the region are extremely negative in principle to any hydroelectric power station, the public movement “Plotini.net!” Actively operates in Krasnoyarsk and gaining popularity in Krasnoyarsk.

The ghost of the past

Not only dams, but also quite living people can complicate the life of the governor. In the region, the famous Anatoly Bykov, a former athlete, a participant in the “aluminum wars”, an ex-master of the Krasnoyarsk aluminum plant and a former uncorrected king of the region, is again gaining strength. Not so long ago, he was considered the main enemy of the local authorities, and it seemed that the influence of the “authoritative businessman” was a thing of the past. It was not there: in recent months, he suddenly rebelled from the ashes. The media suddenly started talking about the real patriot of the region, a talented businessman and a prime owner, raising the agricultural sector. The television channels showed his exemplary farms and social objects. He began to defiantly appear on the screen hand in hand with high -ranking officials, emphasizing his resource. And on February 3, what until recently seemed impossible: the mayor of Krasnoyarsk, Peter Pimashkov, presented Tole-Buka, as he was awarded in famous circles, the badge of the Coat of arms of the city-for an outstanding contribution to the development of Krasnoyarsk. What happened there between him and the leaders of the region is known only to them, but the fact itself is very alarming in itself: after all, Anatoly Petrovich is a whole person, as he was in the “dashing 90s” remained like that. Local media explain the reconciliation that Bykov has abandoned political ambitions and will no longer run for the Legislative Assembly, but this explanation is not too convincing. Bykov never hid his desire to occupy the chair of the mayor of Krasnoyarsk. Or put your man in him. Lev Kuznetsov will have to quickly decide: whether to give a doubtful character to power in the capital of the region or enter into the next stage of confrontation with him.

The deputy is worse than himself

Local clans mainly welcome Kuznetsov’s appointment. However, working with him at different levels will be very difficult: he is a tough leader who has repeatedly seized with deputies of the Legislative Assembly and the mayor of Krasnoyarsk due to the distribution of budget funds. And Krasnoyarsk political scientists are sure that Kuznetsov will face inevitable resistance: some deputies consider his management to be overly authoritarian. The deputy of the Legislative Assembly Marina Dobrovolskaya (“Fair Russia”) has already publicly warned the future governor: “Kuznetsov should think about his political behavior, otherwise there will be difficulties.” So at first it will definitely be compared with candidates rejected by the Kremlin. Many claimed the governor’s post - both local natives (in particular, the speaker of the Legislative Assembly Alexander the USS) and the “Varangians” (for example, the media talked about the classmate of Dmitry Medvedev, the head of the Gazpromflexkiya Igor Fedorov). There were rumors about the desire of Mikhail Prokhorov, the most extravagant of Russian billionaires, to head the region.

Unified, but Siberian Russia

The March elections to local authorities will be one of the first serious trials for Lev Kuznetsov. Usually, United Russia wins the regional elections, although it receives fewer votes than on average in Russia: the power in Siberia is not very complained at all. Serious failures of the ruling party are still able to avoid mainly due to the extreme weakness of opponents. Communists in the Yenisei, in the region of exile and hard labor, do not like even more than power. The local “fair Russia” is a very strange, kaleidoscopic education: its founders and first persons are ex-governor, professor and democrat Valery Zubov, frank Stalinist Oleg Pashchenko and TV star Marina Dobrovolskaya, who was previously one of the leaders of the Bykov Bloc. While Bykov was sitting in Lefortovo, she performed in the Legislative Assembly on his face with the following statements: “We vote like our chef“ Malyava ”.” Together, they look so wild that Krasnoyarsk political scientists refuse to talk about the serious prospects of local “SSRs” in the upcoming elections. There are no special chances in confrontation with United Russia and the Zhirinovites, although among them there are rather bright figures, and the “right” who simply were left without leaders. Nevertheless, the Krasnoyarsk political scientists are sure: the victory of the United Russia remains undoubted only until nothing out of the ordinary occurs in the region. The discontent that the three millionth region for many days, having lurked his breath, was waiting for the decision of his fate in the distant Moscow, was demonstrated by both local media and local politicians quite clearly.

Lev Kuznetsov was born in Moscow in 1965, graduated from the Moscow Financial Institute, an economist. Since 1996, he worked in RAO Norilsk Nickel. In 2001, he resigned as the first deputy general director of the company to the post of first deputy governor of the Taimyr AO. Since October 2002 - the first deputy governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. In 2008 he left the regional administration, headed Kolmar LLC, owning the largest coaling enterprises of Yakutia.

Krasnoyarsk Territory
Square - 2 million 366 thousand square meters. km, or 4.3 France. The population is 2.89 million people. More than 10 thousand deposits of various minerals were found on the territory of the region. About 70% of Russian coal reserves (20% of world stocks), more than 95% of Russian nickel and platinoids, more than 20% of gold reserves, etc. are concentrated in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.