The meeting of deputies of the ZATO Ozersk (Chelyabinsk region) yesterday failed to elect a city manager. The city public chamber organized an action against the appointment of both candidates as head - the temporarily unemployed Maxim Shein and businessman Vitaly Molokotin. About 300 people gathered at the rally with posters “Ozersk against Molokotin and Shein”, “Ozersk needs honest government”, “Deputies, hear the voice of the people.” 7 deputies voted for Maxim Shein, 15 were against, no one voted for Vitaly Molokotin, and 22 were against. Now a new competition will be announced to fill the post of head of administration. The day before, Governor Mikhail Yurevich and the leader of Chelyabinsk United Russia Vladimir Myakush met with the deputies and declared their support for Mr. Shein. During the selection of candidates, the Ozersk branch of United Russia proposed nominating Vladimir Poroshin, Boris Dzhunushaliev or Alexander Baboshin for the post of city manager. “But at the regional level, the choice was made in favor of Maxim Shein, who is close to Federation Council member Konstantin Tsybko,” said Alexander Podoprigora, vice president of the consulting company Sovetnik. Mr. Tsybko denied the information that he tried to influence the appointment of the city manager. At the same time, he did not deny that he was familiar with the candidate: “I can assume that the competition commission made a choice in favor of Shane, since he worked in the structures of Gazprom, which means he can professionally deal with debts to Fortum.” Yesterday, Vice Governor Sergei Komyakov held a meeting on the debts of municipalities for fuel and energy resources. It turned out that Ozersk’s debt to Fortum is about 300 million rubles. Unofficially, the regional administration said that the criticism concerns primarily the work of the city mayor, Alexander Kalinin, who heads the Ozersk Council of Deputies. A Kommersant source in the regional administration said that the question of his resignation may be raised in the near future.

Maria Plyusnina, Ekaterinburg

Ozersk was left without a city manager