Elites. City head

This is an interview that Anastasia Karimova gave, on the terms of anonymity, the head of the administration (city manager) of one of the Russian cities, is a member of the COLTA.RU Elite-2016 project. In it, representatives of different elites talk about themselves and the country today.

The project was made very difficult, the editors are not embarrassed to tell about it and here explains why.

In the same series, read the conversation with the founder of the 418 club, the Moscow IT-Girl Nadezhda Obolentseva , a political strategist who worked for the presidential administration, Andrei Kolyadin , a major businessman (more than $ 200 million) and an expert of the analytical center under the Government of the Russian Federation .

- What is Russia for you today?

- This is a stretched slingshot that can either shoot well or click the one who holds it. You know, you pull the slingshot, and if it is wrong to do this, it can also hit your arms a lot.

- Do managers from other regions also have such a mood?

- Everyone is waiting for cardinal changes in the economy management system, based on municipalities and regions.

- And if these changes do not happen, then what?

- There will be bankruptcy of municipalities. Everyone understands this. We used to have: if something is bad in the region, then we will find what to put the leader for, put a new one. But there was economic growth. Thanks to the growth, I removed someone-something improved by the amount of growth, and one could say: here, you see, a good boss came. Now this scheme will not pass. Everything is so bad in the economy that, having put another, nothing can be dramatically changed without changes at the federal level.

- Need federalization?

- First of all, changes in budget legislation are needed. When the municipality is taken from the personal income tax, income tax, VAT, which are created here in the region, instead of investing in it, it does not climb into any gates! The city remains 16.7% of the taxes that we collect, two -thirds of them go to the salaries of state employees. There is nothing left for development. We need to spend a conditionally 100 rubles on the maintenance of roads. And we have a road fund - five rubles in relation to these a hundred. Feel the difference.

There will be bankruptcy of municipalities. Everyone understands this.

- There can not be good roads in principle in this situation?

- Yes. And this is absolutely so in all regions.

- And Muscovites come and think that the roads are bad, because they plundered everything.

- I want to say to all Muscovites and Petersburgers: teach the economy! Why do you have so much money? Because Moscow and St. Petersburg are both cities and subjects of the Federation. If I had all the money that I transfer to the subject to the regional level-and this is about half of the taxes-I would have a garden city! Plus, large companies are registered in Moscow and St. Petersburg and pay taxes there. We have an industrial city, there are several large enterprises, and all of them pay income tax in Moscow, they are registered there. Give me this money additionally on the roads!

- Does the irremovability of power affect the situation in the regions?

- Certainly! It seems to the system that it is reliable when everyone knows each other, everyone can lean down. This may be good from a political point of view, but it harms the economy; Hence both corruption and low quality control. Now corruption is generally the basis of the entire economy of Russia. That is, our economy seems to have a market, but 70 percent of money and contracts are in corruption schemes, and this is no longer a market. There are no competitive advantages or price - enough relations, and this kills the development of the country.

We have received federal money for road repair, and we needed to show our estimates in the interregional roadway. We show them, and they say: “Oh, what kind of estimates do you have? We are unable to take them to Moscow. ” - "Why?" “And they are three times cheaper.” Because we do not have a corruption component. We know how much bitumen costs, mazut ... Now the kindergarten has been introduced, we have a kindergarten in our child two to three times cheaper than in other regions. Because we have no kickbacks. Immediately on the arms of everyone!

The system seems to be reliable when everyone knows each other, everyone can lean down; Hence corruption, low quality control.

- And how did you feel the pressure from above?

- Well, there were unpleasant moments. But I do not hold on to this chair. If many officials can say: "I will fire you!" “And they will go to fulfill, you won’t tell me that way.” Because I will answer: "Okay, I went."

- Have you tried to join the party?

- No. I said at the entrance: guys, I did not come to politics, I came to engage in the economy.

- And in your office, by the way, you do not have a mandatory portrait of Putin. They didn’t ask you - how so?

- They have not asked yet.

-Well, you came and sit in the chair of the head of the city administration, the city manager, for the second term.

-Somehow it sounds-the second term ... (laughs.) The sixth year, let's say.

- What is included in the circle of your duties?

-The city manager should have economic skills, managerial skills. The mayor has more political functions, representative ones, he works more with the public. The city manager has economic: the life of municipal enterprises, development of the region’s economy, and so on.

I recently talked with Shuvalov, and they say that the elections need to be returned to the people. Well, Shuvalov told me so.

- And you were not chosen to this position, but appointed by the City Duma. As far as I remember, you used to believe that the position of the head of the city should be elected.

- No. I would not go to this position if I thought that it was wrong. I recently talked with Shuvalov, and they say that the elections need to be returned to the people. Well, Shuvalov told me so. But I believe that it is the city managers in Russia to be optimal to appoint. Elections are the struggle of wallets and marketing. The last time we had popular elections, the head of the city was the man who had previously led the city dump, he was PR for two months, presented, and six months later they realized that he fulfilled the will of a particular industrial group. Now the city manager in our city is a person from among deputies. That is, people chose deputies, and deputies have determined the head of the city. By the way, in this situation and political risk, there is no, because the Duma is controlled by the system. To fire me, I need an hour: the Duma gathered, voted, I was fired.

- At first you did not want to go to this place.

- I had a small business, I participated in some kind of public projects, and I did not want to go to the civil service at all. But to find a person who would not belong to any financial and industrial group in this position was difficult, and I turned out to be the most convenient candidate. And I had an internal challenge - weak, not weak ...

“You say that you are not engaged in politics.” And at the same time, he once said that you would forbid a gay parade in your city. Why?

- This is my personal position. In our city there are many people of non -traditional sexual orientation. They live normally, work, no one runs after them with torches. I do not want visiting gay activists to come to us with tour and did something like that here. Moreover, according to the experience of other cities, they behave as if everyone should, scare local officials with a Strasbourg court. Interestingly, and the city of Strasbourg will not mind if on May 28 our border regiment applies to hold a public mass event - the day of the border guard in Strasbourg? Well, they are tolerant! I think they will refuse.

Gays already demand to allow the adoption of Russian children by foreign same -sex pairs. Well ... why? They are a husband and wife, let them somehow make a child to themselves!

-And if the locals submitted an application for a gay parade?

- It depends on what goal. Does anyone infringe on gays here? They have no freedom?

- For example, there is no way to marry.

-Well, somewhere there are same-sex marriages. Let them get married there. They already demand to allow the adoption of Russian children by foreign same -sex pairs. Well ... why? Why do they need adopted children? They are a husband and wife, let them somehow make a child to themselves!

- Do you feel a rollback to traditional values, spiritual scrapers?

- I feel a personal rollback - to family values. For me, the most important thing in life is the family.

- By the way, and Crimea - ours?

- I have a counter question: was Crimea not ours? Everyone went there, everyone was resting. This division - Western, Eastern Ukraine - has not happened now. My father is a military man, he served in Transcarpathia when I was three years old. And in the kindergarten there was a parent meeting: several children on the territory of the kindergarten painted a swastika. At three years old. These were the 1970s, which means that their parents taught them. And then we moved to the east of Ukraine. I remember, already in the 90s, my grandmother with my grandmother went to the interns, and they were forced to write something in Ukrainian. And the grandmother says: “I don't know Ukrainian! What do you make me? " “And we have such an order from Kyiv.” - "Well, go to your Kyiv!"

For ordinary Russians, Crimea is our, let's say. Then a big policy begins. Tomorrow they will decide to exchange a position on the Crimea there ... for a position on the Kurilov. And we have villages, and there, as they ate, unauthorized potatoes with moonshine, they eat. For them, of course, Krymnash. Nothing changed on the table, but they added patriotism. But businessmen, politicians need to refuse real estate. Here, it seems to me, they need to ask them.

In Moscow there are "dug managers." Half of people since Soviet times have not worked in the regions, and they think that everyone understands about the country.

- Did the sanctions have affected the city?

- Certainly! We perfectly understand that our loans have become more expensive. But this is generally all over the country. The well -being of the population is very much falling, purchasing power. A very large surge of microcredit financial organizations, a small loan. It was reflected on everything!

- Do you read Navalny's investigations?

- Sometimes I read.

- By the way, the opposition led an active election campaign in the regions last year. Watching this?

-Moscow oppositions did everything according to a classic elective scheme: look for disadvantages, and you will get somewhere on criticism. The city manager from another city told me how one Moscow opposition politician came to them and posted on social networks a photograph: “Look what terrible roads.” In the photo, the well is open, potholes, but if the camera is to move five degrees to the right, then rollers will get into the frame - the road is repaired. People wrote: "Oh, how terrible!" And everyone who lives there laughed: guys, we recognized this street, she is in repairs!

And they did not work criticism, because they went to the regions with a federal agenda. They are well done, who arranged meetings with voters in the yards. But you come, and your grandmother says to you: “Son, I would have a bench ...” And you answer: “Wait, grandmother! Do you know that this oligarch stole so much money? " And she again: "Son, I would have a bench." And when she was about a bench three times, and he was about the world evil ... If they even spoke about corruption in our region, and they talked about common things - and they are uninteresting to their grandmother. It was their biggest failure - they came out with the wrong agenda.

The purpose of officials is to sit at the feeder as long as possible. In the past 20 years, the system has been destroyed for self -production.

- Let's get back to the relations of the regions with Moscow. Federal officials have a general understanding of what the regions live?

- In Moscow there are "dug managers." This is such an expression from business. Once a man was a machine gun at the factory, pulled out the details, then he was raised to the head of the workshop, then to the director of the plant, then he became the director of the holding. He sits in his office, for 10 years he no longer went to the workshop and does not know what people live there. He makes some decisions, not understanding that machines, people and technologies have changed. He is sure that since he once worked in the workshop, he knows what was happening there. In the power, half of the people since Soviet times have not worked in the regions, and they think that everyone understands about the country. Half of the laws adopted in Moscow are far from realities. There is no consulting council that would tell what rakes you can step on.

- And what kind of rake it can be?

- Well, here is an example. There is a federal program for the construction of schools - "Development of school education." It seems to be a good deed. But someone decided that it was necessary to allocate money for the construction of schools from 1000 seats. For very large cities, this is normal. But most regions do not need such large schools! Somewhere you need a school for 100 seats, somewhere for 500 ... and if you have a school from 1000 seats, only then you participate. Although it is simple: to collect mayors and ask: "What schools do you need?"

“Are you even tired of these six years?”

- My fatigue is now accumulating. Because everything that could be optimized was implemented, the mechanism works. For now I need to build a system that reproduces personnel. Moreover, this is a problem of absolutely any level, from regional to federal. Everyone I meet, they say: the problem with the personnel! No one to take!

Terrorism is now one of the most cementing functions of the state. Imagine, this is not; What to do then?

- And what is her root?

- There is such a thing: scorched land. If in a commercial enterprise everyone is interested in the long run, then the purpose of officials is to sit at the feeder as long as possible, and accordingly they should be indispensable. And so that they are indispensable, there should not be people around them who will replace them. They were afraid for years: and, therefore, someone wants to sit me! And they removed those who are smarter, more advantage. It was good in Soviet times, when from the bottom you could get upstairs if you are doing something professionally. But in the past 20 years, everything has burned out, the system has been destroyed for self -production. This is a big trouble, and it is recognized at all levels. The same Shuvalov says: "And how can we once change everyone for whom?" That is, on the one hand, they need loyalty, and on the other, professionalism. And all professionals at one time on the head, on the hat - go and do not smarter. Now you need to be clever, and to whom?

- Do you think our society can be transformed in general?

-Now I’m looking at the youth-I have a teenage son-and I think: the economy goes the other way everywhere, we are behind. But instead of jumping right away to the point where all this is located, we continue to build a political system, communications inside society, which at some point will not be needed. People will use virtual money, live in a world where the boundaries are blurred. And the tough military state, where everything is closed, is in the worst form a police state ... At one point, all this can collapse, and neither these functions nor these tasks will have to live differently. Therefore, now these things are invented, for example, terrorism. Terrorism is now one of the most cementing functions of the state. Imagine, this is not; What to do then?

Here's how you go behind mushrooms, you say “I know the place of cool”, you go and understand that there are definitely no mushrooms. And everyone is following you ...

-Do you generally have a feeling regarding the country of some kind of anxiety, unpredictability of the situation?

- More - that time is wasted, fails like sand through his fingers. I clearly realize the circle of my powers, the circle of my capabilities, but sometimes I have an illusion that I can change something that goes beyond this circle, and I try to convey it to the people on whom it depends. But nothing changes.

- Such a feeling of helplessness?

- No, not a sense of helplessness, but ... I don’t know how to name this feeling ... disappointment! Disappointment is that some things are obvious, but there is a fear ... Now is the time that in order to change something, you need to recognize a bunch of errors, first of all, from the point of view of the economy, even from the point of view of management, I am not talking about politics. The big problem, by the way, is no openness: fear of admitting love, fear of apologizing. By the way, I hope that in the administration of our city I taught subordinates sometimes to apologize to respected residents. There is nothing terrible, and I myself often say: "Sorry, guilty ..."

- And in the context of federal policy?

- In the context of federal policy, you need to apologize and generally go the other way. Just generally in another! Here's how you go to the forest for mushrooms with the company, you say “I know the place of cool”, you go and understand that there are definitely no mushrooms. But you go, because you are ashamed to say that you are lost and the mushrooms are not there. And everyone is following you ... (laughs.) Yes, probably, the first 15 minutes will all say: “Fool! Where did you lead us? " But then, with mushrooms, they will forget. And we all go to the wrong clearing.

"Elites-2016"-the whole project:

Elites. Large business
Elites. Nadezhda Obolentsev
Elites. Government
Elites. Andrey Kolyadin