Translated material
Conservation Law
Will the Kremlin be able to change power in Karelia?
Yesterday the last session of the legislative assembly of the Republic of Karelia took place before the summer holidays, the head of which , Sergei Katanandov, resigned early on June 30 of this year - the corresponding decree was signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. At the same time, some Karelian experts suggest that the Kremlin may decide on the candidacy of Mr. Katanandov’s successor today. And on July 20-21, according to some information, an extraordinary meeting of the regional parliament may be scheduled to approve the candidacy of the head of the republic submitted by the Russian President.United Russia submitted the list of candidates exactly within the deadline established for such cases, within the required two weeks. From the moment the list lands on Dmitry Medvedev’s desk, the president has ten days to think (although there are cases when the president significantly delayed submitting a candidate to the regional legislative assembly).
The difficulty is that the Karelian list compiled by the United Russia party looks ambiguous. Looking at him, it is initially difficult to predict what decision the head of state will make, despite the fact that the chorus of political scientists mainly predicts the consolidation of power by the acting head of Karelia, former senator from the republic Andrei Nelidov. Let us remind you that in addition to Mr. Nelidov, the list includes the current Prime Minister of Karelia Pavel Chernov, as well as State Duma deputy, deputy chairman of the committee on local self-government issues Viktor Kidyaev.
For several years, Karelia has been among the regions in line for a change in leadership. Sergei Katanandov's first serious problems began back in 2006, after the ethnic conflict in the city of Kondopoga - then-President Vladimir Putin sharply criticized the Karelian governor for going on vacation without actually waiting for the emergency situation to be finally resolved. The governor remained in office, but his relations with Moscow have clearly begun to deteriorate since then. The visits of federal officials to the republic became increasingly brief and ceremonial. Almost none of the high-ranking guests came to the celebration of the 90th anniversary of Karelia, which was celebrated literally on the eve of the resignation of the head of the republic. The rating of the head of the republic dropped to its lowest level, especially after a difficult winter, during which some Karelian municipalities simply froze due to miscalculations in the organization of public utilities.
Nevertheless, the list that United Russia proposed to Dmitry Medvedev for choosing the new head of Karelia contains a candidate whose approval would obviously mean preserving the power of the team that formed under Sergei Katanandov. We are talking about Prime Minister Pavel Chernov. Over the past year, some Karelian observers believed that it was Mr. Chernov who actually makes all the most important management decisions in the republic, becoming the de facto first person.
Unfortunately, there is reason to believe that in many cases these decisions were made based on considerations of family benefit. The Vremya Novostei newspaper has already written about the protracted conflict between two enterprises extracting crushed stone in the Prionezhsky region of the republic. In one of them, the deputy director and owner of part of the shares is the son of the Prime Minister, Dmitry Chernov. This circumstance literally becomes an advantage in competition, since it automatically means the support of all local officials and law enforcement agencies.
After the publications, the newspaper received responses from several Karelian producers, who also suffered from the actions of officials and entrepreneurs closely associated with the top Karelian leadership. For example, the management of the Ranta-Mäki quarry under Spetsstroy of the Russian Federation lost its license as a result of a conflict with the same mining enterprise, among whose managers and co-owners is the son of the Karelian prime minister.
This is not the only high-profile story of business seizure in the interests of the republican leadership: it seems that the Karelian authorities over the course of several years have created a well-functioning system for seizing any assets of interest to them. In addition, a number of scandals involving illegal licensing of mineral extraction by local executive authorities took place in Karelia. The scandals reached the level of the federal government, but only led to the replacement of the leadership of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Karelia.
Perhaps these reasons were among the factors that determined the cool attitude of the federal center towards Sergei Katanandov. Nevertheless, Pavel Chernov not only ended up on the list proposed by United Russia to President Dmitry Medvedev, but even earned a positive remark from the Speaker of the State Duma, head of the party’s Supreme Council, Boris Gryzlov. Mr. Gryzlov noted that Mr. Chernov is the only non-party candidate on the list of three names, but this does not prevent him from being “interesting” for the ruling party.
It can be assumed that the appearance of the current prime minister on the list of candidates is simply a direct consequence of the great influence that Sergei Katanandov, of course, has on the Karelian branch of United Russia even after his resignation. However, there is reason to believe that his position will remain reliable even if the head of state chooses Andrei Nelidov, who has already been appointed acting head of Karelia. The other day, Mr. Nelidov announced that he was not planning major personnel changes and had already extended employment contracts with employees of the current administration of the head of the republic and some government officials.
True, Mr. Nelidov is considered an opponent of Mr. Katanandov. If the President of Russia introduces his candidacy to the Legislative Assembly of Karelia, and the deputies approve it, the government of the republic will still be obliged to resign. Then Mr. Nelidov will have a real chance to ensure personnel renewal, which President Medvedev definitely expected when he signed the decree on the early release of Sergei Katanandov from the governor’s post.
Andrey Nelidov is not a stranger to Karelia - his entire previous career is connected with this republic. This can be considered both a plus for an official who will not have to get acquainted with the problems of the region “from scratch”, and a minus - due to the mass of existing connections. Just in case, United Russia also included in the list an absolute Varangian - United Russia State Duma deputy Viktor Kidyaev. Before being elected to the Duma, Mr. Kidyaev was the head of the administration of the Zubovo-Polyansky district of Mordovia, but made a rapid party career. At the end of last year, he was appointed first deputy head of the Volga interregional coordination council of United Russia.