Translated material
The beneficiaries of the March Victory
Putin’s election campaign is mainly provided by representatives of the two groups of influence - Chemezov and Kovalchuk. These clans are counting on the main dividends from victory
Head of Rostekhnologii Sergey Chemezov Photo: Rostec.ru
The election headquarters of Vladimir Putin has been working for more than two weeks. During this time, many officials and social activists moved from the Kremlin to the guest courtyard, where it is located, those who were entrusted to formally engage in Putin’s campaign. But at the same time it became clear that the real heads of the headquarters are not sitting in this place. According to the informed interlocutors of NT, close to the Presidential Administration and the leadership of the Putin headquarters, in fact the presidential election campaign is in the hands of people representing two influential business groups-billionaire Yuri Kovalchuk and head of Rostechnologies Sergey Chemezov.
Contribution of the CHEEZOV group
Elena Shmeleva, Sergey Kogogin and Alexander Rumyantsev, appointed by formal co -chairs of Putin’s headquarters, actually have nothing to do with the real leadership or development of a strategy, the interlocutor in the leadership of the presidential election structure admits. They will make public statements, these are persons of the campaign, he notes.
All NT interlocutors claim that the real head of the headquarters is the head of the presidential administration Anton Vaino. It was decided that formally appointing an official for such a position is wrong (although such a scenario was discussed): nevertheless, the headquarters should demonstrate the support of the president by society, and not an official, explains a source in the headquarters. But informally, it is precisely the head of the presidential administration that is responsible for the campaign.
In this sense, the 2018 campaign is fundamentally different from the previous one: in 2012, it was informally led by the head of the administration, but by the deputy-Vyacheslav Volodin, who oversees domestic policy (formally the headquarters was headed by director Stanislav Govorukhin).
The beginning of the changes was laid a year and a half ago. Since 2016, when Vaino headed the presidential administration, the role of its leader in domestic politics has risen sharply, NT previously reported . According to sources, Vaino turned out to be the most active head of the administration over the past 10 years. The elections were only a continuation of this trend.
Vaino is not a random person at the head of the presidential administration. As NT previously reported, his father, Eduard Vaino , has long been familiar with Chemezov, and now he is a vice president of the external relations of AvtoVAZ, a third of the shares of which belongs to Rostoch. Chemezov, in turn, is familiar with President Vladimir Putin since the 1980s in the service in the GDR, where they, as he himself told ), lived with Putin in the same house and made friends. In the second half of the 1990s, Chemezov followed Putin to work in the presidential administration, and after the current president came to power, the media constantly write about him as one of the most influential people.
It is believed that Chemezov is worth the appointment of many officials. In particular, the Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, as well as a significant number of governors appointed in the last few years - the so -called promising “young technocrats”, is often ranked to him . They, as experts close to the Kremlin broadcast, can in the future compile the country's top leadership. Among these heads of regions are the Governors of Sevastopol Dmitry Ovsyannikov (formerly appointed by deputy manturov) and the Kaliningrad region Anton Alikhanov, as well as those appointed to temporarily act as heads of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Gleb Nikitin (another deputy manturov) and Samara region Dmitry Azarov. At the same time, the experts interviewed by RBC previously called the main reason for the resignation of the former Samara leader Nikolai Merkushkin precisely the conflict with the Rostec leadership, which controls the leading enterprise of the region - AvtoVAZ.
The managers of the Chemezov group in the electoral process are responsible for one of the key areas - work with industrial enterprises. Their role has already become known in high -profile stories when collecting signatures in factories
Chemezov’s people were in formal positions at Putin's headquarters. The co -chairman of the structure Sergei Kogogin is considered to be such: his KAMAZ belongs to Rostec by 49.9%, and almost 12% belong to a friend of Chemezov Vitaly Machitsky .
The managers of the Chemezov group in the electoral process are responsible for one of the key areas - work with industrial enterprises. Their role has already become known in high -profile stories when collecting signatures. So, in mid-January it was reported about the scandal that occurred during the collection of signatures at the Kurganmashzavod-formally it belongs to Vnesheconombank, but precisely Rostec is engaged in its financial recovery due to the debts accumulated. It became known about the use of the plant when collecting signatures, because collectors were engaged in this election procedure during working hours in production facilities, and as a result, the signature sheets had to be canceled .
Nevertheless, Chemezov’s people continue to be responsible for working with industrial enterprises: it was they who provided them with more than one and a half million signatures in support of Putin and continue to answer for all enterprises to support the head of state in the elections, a source close to the headquarters notes.
They are responsible for the public part of the campaign: Putin during the campaign will travel a lot of factories, communication with workers will be almost weekly, the interlocutor in the Kremlin predicts. According to him, this is important during the election campaign. On Thursday, the country's chief candidate visited Rostselmash, sat in the combine combine and joked: “If anything, after March 18, I’ll go to work as a combineer.” This plant, by the way, collaborates with Rostec . Since the beginning of the campaign, Putin visited a variety of factories, and the good to run for, gave the gas to the Deripaska factory on Oleg Deripaska.
The contribution of the Kovalchuk group
The strengthening of the long -standing friends of President Yuri and Mikhail Kovalchukov in domestic policy of the media and sources has been talking from the fall of 2016. Then, according to the interlocutors of NT , close to the Kremlin, the former Kremlin curator of domestic policy in the rank of the first deputy head of the Kremlin administration Vyacheslav Volodin entered the conflict with this group and was eventually forced to go to the State Duma. Volodin's place was taken by the sympathy of the influential clan Sergey Kiriyenko. They are also connected by a common cause: Mikhail Kovalchuk has been headed by the Kurchatov Institute since 2005 - a leading scientific institution in the nuclear industry, which was led by Kiriyenko before the administration.
In the Kremlin, people who are directly associated with Kovalchuki often began to appear. In particular, according to NT interlocutors, the role of Sergei Mikhailov, General Director of TASS and founder of Mikhailov and Partners, as well as related advertising and PR structures, intensified. Mikhailov himself began to participate more often in the meetings of the domestic political bloc of the Kremlin.
Now, through Kiriyenko, Kovalchuki play an important role in the election headquarters. It is Kiriyenko that can be called the deputy head of the real headquarters of the president, says the interlocutor close to the Kremlin. The formal representation of the group at the headquarters is provided by the subordinate Kiriyenko, the head of the internal policy department Andrei Yarin - he now took a vacation on his main work and headed the apparatus of the headquarters of the head of state. The interlocutors call Yarina a very tough administrator.
This group at the president’s headquarters is more focused on working with youth and students. In particular, a significant role in the collection of signatures in the support of Putin was played by the Victory Volunteers Movement in the Kremlin’s domestic political block, led by Olga Amelchenkova, who entered the headquarters - this movement has united many volunteer and volunteer organizations over the past year.
This group at the president’s headquarters is more focused on working with youth and students. In particular, a significant role in the collection of signatures in support of Putin was played by the Victory Volunteers, supervised by the Kremlin’s domestic political unit,
Young volunteers are also needed for campaign purposes (it is no coincidence that the president declared the year 2018 at the start of the campaign), because Putin during the campaign is important to constantly communicate with youth, and the Kremlin also prepares such meetings almost weekly. In the last week of February, the president met with students and visited the youth forum in Kazan. In early February, communication with schoolchildren and students is again planned, this time already in Novosibirsk, says the interlocutor, familiar with Putin's schedule.
Photo: Energy.ru
However, Kiriyenko is not as closely connected with Kovalchuki as Vaino with Chemezov, notes a source close to the Kremlin’s domestic political unit. Kiriyenko with Kovalchuki rather partnerships. But such a relationship is satisfied with this group, especially since in addition to Kiriyenko they have many other levers of influence. In particular, they actually control a significant part of the information policy, which the current curator of domestic policy is not defiantly interested (the Kremlin’s domestic political unit with the advent of Kiriyenko refused to oversee even Internet SMI, which he did under Volodin).
Almost all leading television channels include the influence of Kovalchuks, with the exception of those that are part of the state holding of VGTRK. At the same time, three NMG channels ( National Media Group. - NT) officially controls - “Channel One” (25%), REN TV and the Fifth Canal (owns control packages). According to the results of the elections, Kovalchuki expect to strengthen their positions in the media even more, NT interlocutors note.
Award for victory
After the elections, large -scale rearrangements are expected in the Kremlin, the government, on television channels, in the regions, NT sources predict. During the “large transplants”, Kovalchuki expect to strengthen positions, having achieved the resignation of the official curator of the information policy, the first deputy head of the Kremlin administration, Alexei Gromov, says one of the interlocutors. Kovalchuks have a protracted conflict with Gromov, they would like to have full control over the “first channel”, despite Gromov, claims to be full control over the “first button,” another interlocutor says. Gromov is responsible for the information policy of Putin’s headquarters, and his opponents will try to use any shortage to overthrow, predicts one of the interlocutors.
Personally, Kiriyenko also counts on strengthening, says the interlocutor close to the Kremlin. At least he wants to finally take control of all the political structures important to him. In particular, the All -Russian Popular Front created by Vyacheslav Volodin after the elections awaits a serious reform, the interlocutor at the headquarters informs. Volodin’s people, such as the co-chair of the front, the vice speaker of the State Duma Olga Timofeev, the leadership of the movement will most likely leave. Instead, the front will be headed by Kiriyenko’s employees, it is discussed that Amelchenkova can become one of the new leaders, the interlocutor says. Ideally, Kiriyenko would like to get an increase, for example, to become the new head of the Kremlin administration.
The Chemezov-Vino group also counts on strengthening. As NT previously reported, according to the results of the Vaino election, according to one of the scenarios, could become the prime minister. People close to this group could also enter the government, for example, Sergey Kogogin, says a source at the headquarters.
Who is removed from the campaign
Active strengthening of some groups leads to a weakening of others who are not a role in the campaign. So, it was decided not to mention Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in the campaign, the source close to the Kremlin reports. Even if he remains the prime minister, now no one will talk about his prospects - this would have tied the prime minister’s low rating to the president’s high rating and, accordingly, would pull him down, explains the interlocutor NT.
The State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin is not allowed to the campaign. Shortly before the elections, his people were removed from the Office of United Russia, which was involved in collecting signatures in support of Putin
Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin is also not allowed to the campaign. Shortly before the election, his people were removed from the Oblijah "United Russia", which was involved in collecting signatures in support of Putin. So, a long -standing friend and neighbor Volodin Sergey Neverov lost his post of secretary of the party general of the party and moved to the leaders of the Duma faction of unicorn. The new Secretary General of the party was a representative of the family close to Putin Andrei Turchak, whom NT sources were also previously called close to the CHEEZOV group. Now Tourchak constantly emphasizes that the unicorns led by the unbelievable should obey the party. “Not the party (helps) the faction, but the party faction,” he said in several interviews.
Finally, many heads of regions were unexpectedly suspended from the campaign. On the terms of anonymity, the political strategist of the Governor of the large region said that they did not receive any attitudes about the main candidate from the headquarters on their territory and did not even know anything about the plans of the headquarters to hang the “strong president - strong Russia” everywhere. “They just appeared on one day. We did not expect this, and the governor even asked to check if the opponents had hung posters. The local security forces were engaged in the check and found out that the headquarters from Moscow paid for the rental place for the poster, but they didn’t tell us anything, ”the interlocutor wonders. A source close to the Kremlin is sure that the head of the headquarters of the headquarters, Yarin intentionally ignores regional chiefs, believing that it is from the center that everyone needs to be controlled.
“Naturally, everyone wants to report to the president later that the victory was won precisely by their efforts,” the source close to the Kremlin explains. “After all, the authors of Putin’s victory in the election will be able to count on the largest piece of festive pie.”