First arrests - then elections

In Karelia, the "stripping" of the political field began

In Petrozavodsk, two regional politicians were arrested one after another: on January 30 - the chairman of the Petrozavodsk Council Oleg Fokin , and on February 4 - a deputy of the republican parliament, and a member of the Federation Council from the executive branch of the region, Devlet Alikhanov . What is behind these events?

Both detainees are charged with fraud. Fokina’s investigation considers the illegal scheme to organize a VAT of one of the companies in Petrozavodsk, and Alikhanova calls the organizer of fraudulent actions when privatizing municipal property.

In addition, the former senator is charged with more than a dozen episodes of illegal crossing the border of the Russian Federation by diplomatic passport, which Alikhanov did not pass after the addition of authority in the Federation Council and continued to show border guards for four years.

However, experts are inclined to believe that the real reason for the arrest of Fokin and Alikhanov is the desire of the current head of Karelia Alexander Khudilinen to get rid of political opponents who may interfere with him in the struggle for power in early elections (today few doubt that they will take place in 2015, although the powers of Khudilinen expire only in 2017).

The deputies who were behind bars - people are very influential - are known in Karelia as consistent critics of the team of Alexander Khudilinen. Both did not hide that they supported the opposition mayor of Petrozavodsk Galina Shirshin , who came to power thanks to the support of the leader of the regional branch of the Yabloko party, businessman Vasily Popov.

In the conflict, which flared up between Khudineinen and Shirshina, the now arrested politicians stood on the side of the disgraced mayor. The governor's team during 2014 has already made several attempts to shift Fokin from the post of chairman of the Petrozavodsk City Council in order to take control of the deputy corps and through it to put pressure on Shirshin, but not one of these attempts was successful. The exclusion of the speaker of the City Council from the composition of "United Russia" for the allegedly admitted discrediting of the party.

It is known that last fall, Devlet Alikhanov made a demand for the resignation of the republican government. He motivated his position by the fact that Khudilainen, who himself came to Karelia from the Leningrad Region, formed the cabinet of republican ministers exclusively from the "Varangians", who "brought the economy of the republic into a dead end." The former senator advised Khudilainen to dismiss the "St. Petersburg" and hire local specialists who are better than visitors, understand the problems of Karelia.

“In Karelia, a political and economic conflict has become aggravated for a long time,” Karelian political scientist Anatoly Tsygankov commented on the situation. “It was involved, including businessmen who used their influence on the power of Petrozavodsk. I think that the contradictions between the city and republican authorities, which arose immediately after the election of Shirshina and which we observe now, now, now In my opinion, the Hudylain in this case, in this case, was the fear that he did not control the political situation in Petrozavodsk.

Early elections in Karelia have not yet been announced, but a lot says that Alexander Khudilainen actually began preparations for them. Apparently, he received “good” from the Kremlin for this, despite the data of sociological studies that show extremely low trust indicators for the current governor in the region. In the final rating of the effectiveness of regional leaders, which in December 2014 drew up the "Fund for the Development of Civil Society", the head of Karelia is in the so -called "death group". Experts call Khudilinen one of the weakest chapters of the regions, including because he was not able to establish relations with local elites, and his being in power explains by the proximity to the State Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin, with whom the Karelian governor is associated with long -standing friendly relations.

According to the Karelian political scientist Oleg Reut , Khudinein will not be easy to win early elections. That is why he needed the "stripping" of the political field and eliminate influential representatives of local elites, who can intervene in the election campaign and support another candidate with their resources. "The head of Karelia, Alexander Khudilinen, continues to realize exclusively a power scenario for the struggle to hold his own power," Reut believes.

It is curious that the leader of the Karelian “Yabloko” Vasily Popov , who helped Galina Shirshina win the election of the mayor of Petrozavodsk, said that the Republican Party Organization would certainly take part in the governor’s elections, “and then Hudinalen has no chance to win”. “Even our technical candidate will win it,” Popov said at a press conference. At the same time, he did not exclude that they would “try to deal with him” just like with Alikhanov and Fokin:

“I will be the next detainee,” says the leader of the Karelian “Yabloko”, because if you follow the logic, then what is the point of detain Fokin, Alikhanov, if you do not delay me? What is changing? At least some chances of Khudilainen in the Petrine increase? His chances of future elections? If you do not detain me, nothing, in no way, does not shine. ”

According to Vasily Popov, the political war that unfolded in Karelia is "the struggle of the Varangians with the Aborigines." "They think that they are cool St. Petersburg, who came to manage the Aborigines, and do not need to build any relations with anyone. They tried to show us some kind of beads or something else, but we don’t like these beads. And no one knows how to behave with us."