Mayors have been accepted in Primorye

Why was the head of Vladivostok fired after the acting governor?

Anything happened in Vladivostok: the mayors were removed from his post with a presidential decree, carried out of the riot police, arrested ... Vitaly Verkeenko - the second mayor, who was leaving on his own

Firing post

On September 26, the acting governor of Primorye was appointed ex-governor Sakhalin Oleg Kozhemyako instead of the failed election and who wrote a statement about the resignation of Andrei Tarasenko. And on Tuesday, the mayor of the regional center announced voluntary care.

History is being chatted. In a good way, only the first post-Soviet mayor of Vladivostok Vladimir Efremov (numerous commentators in social networks call the first “volunteer” Verkeenko, but this only indicates ignorance of the latest history of his own city); The second was the last (currently) head of the regional center. As for the respected and still remembered by many with the warmth of Vladimir Viktorovich Efremov, he formulated the following Maxim with his departure: “It is better to do it, but I don’t want to get worse.” And this thesis, it seems, is also consistent with today.

As for those who were “between”, everyone had their own adventures. Viktor Cherepkov - an inventor, a psychic, a former naval officer - fought with Governor Nazzratenko, introduced free travel in public transport, conducted discos on the embankment, which he visited in an unchanged white suit. In 1994, he was accused of receiving a bribe and removed from office. Cherepkov barricaded at the city hall and was taken out of there by riot police. The Prosecutor General’s Office terminated the criminal case, after which HIV (Viktor Ivanovich Cherepkov) returned to work, but in 1998, President Boris Yeltsin removed him from his post.

The former secretary of the CPSU district committee, Yuri Kopylov, who changed Cherepkov, loved to talk about the production of fuel oil from excrement, led the city until 2004. After leaving the post, he was sentenced to four years conditionally for abuse of office (the case of the construction of a columbarium, which has not yet been commissioned), and a year later - for three years conditionally for abuse of powers (organized the protection of the entrance of his house at the expense of the budget).

In 2004, 30-year-old Vladimir Nikolaev, who had previously been one of the youngest deputies of the PC, was elected mayor of Vladivostok. In 2007, Nikolaev was taken into custody, in 2008 they were convicted of abuse of authority by 4.5 years conditionally. Soon, Vladimir Viktorovich left Russia, but some time ago he returned to his native Vladivostok, who did not leave his attention during his absence.

It seemed that Igor Pushkarev, elected in 2008, could be an exception: correct, sane, loyal, systematic, constructive, held posts in United Russia, went to the elections under the slogan “Who is he, the Kremlin man?” Like Nikolaev, Pushkarev represented a new generation of city managers - entrepreneurial: he began with import of noodles and cookies from Korea, then became the “cement king” of the Far East. He was a regional deputy and the youngest Russian senator, was twice as a mayor. In 2016, he was arrested, accused of abuse of authority and commercial bribery. In November 2017, he announced the addition of authority. At the moment, he is still in custody in Moscow and is involved as the accused in the trial.

A man with a samurai sword

45-year-old Verkeenko-the first head of Vladivostok, elected not by direct general vote, but by deputies of the City Duma; The first mayor, born abroad, is in Dresden, where his father served; The first mayor to speak English and Japanese; Finally, the first mayor that he independently wrote on social networks. Like two of his predecessors, Verkeenko is also a businessman: he founded the technochold “Sumotori” for the sale and maintenance of equipment, built under Vladivostok the Primorsky Ring Motorsport complex. The intellectual: I spent the first press conference as the mayor at the Arsenyev Museum. “I am a water sign according to the horoscope, and it is never impossible to stop the water ... And for the year I am a bull ... This sign means stubborn,” said Verkeenko. Regarding the embezzle, stated:

“You can’t rub. This is a taboo ... The punishment will not be tough, but cruel ... If this happens, I will pull out a samurai sword. The heads will fly ... "

Verkeenko had many plans: the solution of the city’s transport problems, the revival of the mud in Sadgorod, the fight against gray talkers, tulp-and-soils and point buildings; The creation of the residence of Neptune in Vladivostok, etc. He managed to cancel several building permits, including in Akademgorodok, where scientists fought with commercial development for several years. He installed a song about Vladivostok as a rington on the phones of officials and transplanted them from Kruzakov to Mazda made in Vladivostok, promised to decorate the city with a lobby and turn the city hall into a “factory of happiness” for citizens ...

However, he did not work at the mayor’s post for a year. It remains to guess what caused his unexpected demarche.

In June, Verkeenko was the first and almost the only Russian officials openly spoke out against raising the retirement age, reporting on social networks that he signed the appropriate petition on Change.org, but this did not have visible consequences for him. Verkeenko did not seem conflict and generally made an amazingly decent impression against the background of some predecessors. And now - left. Or gone? He himself stated that he was leaving “of his own free will” since October 11, in order to have time to complete the preparation of the city for winter. But in this kind of statements the whole truth is not accepted. Only the record made by the mayor on Facebook hints at the presence of certain conflicts or insults: “There is strength to fight for the well -being of the city, but there is no longer motivation ...” He completed the departure message with laconic: “I have an honor.”

Autumn bureaucrat

The election of the governor of Primorye will be held in December. The mayor’s elections are now not required: the “manual” city Duma will surely approve any candidate proposed from above. The question is at what level this new candidate is agreed and who will head the city.

According to one version, all that happens is the Kremlin’s policy, after September history with the governor's elections, fearing complete control of controllability in the strategic region and who decided to replace the chapter not only of Primorye, but also Vladivostok.

According to another version, this is the initiative of the acting governor Kozhemyako. Still working on Sakhalin, in Primorye he is a man not a stranger. And not only because here he started with a flower, fish and alcoholic business, and later became a deputy and a senator. It was worth Oleg Nikolaevich the other day to say that he intends to go to the governors not from “United Russia”, but a self -nominant - and the Legislative Assembly is urgently gathering on October 3 specifically in order to make amendments to regional legislation allowing self -nomination. That is, Kozhemyako controls the situation. The clearing of the meadow has begun: three vice-governors have just been removed, including the curator of domestic policy Dmitry Bratynenko, who, incidentally, headed the competition commission last year, who selected candidates for the mayor of Vladivostok for the City Duma.

Kozhemyako himself, however, said that Verkeenko’s decision was a complete surprise for him, that he learned about the mayor’s departure from Instagram and that “such things are not done”. Kozhemyako said that on the eve of Verkeenko, at the selector meeting, he expressed his position in the city lands and was supported by the acting governor. According to Kozhemyako, he has an “absolutely even” attitude to the still current chapter of the city: he was just about to know how to get acquainted with Verkeenko and urban problems. On Wednesday, Kozhemyako even went to the city hall, where he seemed to convince Verkeenko not to flog a fever. Meanwhile, the statement “by his own” first vice-mayor Alexei Litvinov, who has been working in the city hall since Pushkarev ...

According to the third version, it was not without the “collective Pushkarev”, which covered the “gray” schemes of cut the city budget, the strings from which were drawn to influential Moscow people. In this case, Verkeenko’s attempts to put things in order with finances and around them could well cause the hardest opposition.

In any case, the step of Verkeenko is a surprise. The same Pushkarev, already under investigation and arrest, pulled with writing the application for almost a year and a half. And Verkeenko literally the other day in an interview with one of the local publications said that in Vladivostok there are many things that need to be brought to the end: 85% worn out by 85% engineering networks, “Roads, like blokers”; He promised to “start a new era in the development of Vladivostok” ... Literally the other day, Verkeenko resigned his deputy, responsible for the roads, repainted the city hall, nicknamed the “Gray House”, in white ... As they say, nothing foreshadowed. But the position of mayor of Vladivostok, even in such a relatively peaceful situation, once again confirms his “shooting”. Pransing the whole city in white is much more difficult than the city hall building.

It will not be an exaggeration to say that many citizens are at a loss. There is even such a position: “Verkeenko deceived us. He promised to behave like a samurai. And with his actions in nine months he managed to gain the real respect of the townspeople, people believed in him. Well, if you are samurai, beat to the end! Do not allow yourself to show slack. Do not betray those who believed in you and who stands behind you! ”

The Primorsky political crisis launched by unsuccessful elections continues. Winter promises to be hot.