Translated material
Petersburg without Poltavchenko
Georgy Poltavchenko spent almost two terms in the chair of the governor of St. Petersburg and was going to go to the third, but was unexpectedly dismissed by Vladimir Putin. What will this governor be remembered by Petersburg, what role he played for the Kremlin, what his resignation means from the point of view of federal politics and who can become the new head of St. Petersburg?
The politician Leonid Gozman , political scientist Gleb Pavovsky , a member of the St. Petersburg Zabooki party , Mikhail Amosov and historian Lev Lurie , are discussed.
Leading Sergey Dobrynin .
Video version of the program
Sergey Dobrynin: On the eve of Vladimir Putin, he resigned the governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko. Alexander Beglov, who had previously held the position of envoy in the North-Western Federal District, was appointed acting mayor. Rumors about the resignation of Poltavchenko arose during his seven -year government regularly, but each time turned out to be erroneous. In 2014, he successfully elected for a second term, in early August of this year he stated that he would like to be elected to the third in 2019. Poltavchenko became the sixth governor who was fired for this fall. It is possible that he is not the last. Let's talk about who he was for St. Petersburg, for the Kremlin, what his resignation is connected with, how it fits into the overall political picture. And also about what can happen in the next elections in 2019. In our studio, Leonid Gozman, a politician, and Gleb Pavlovsky, a political scientist.
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0:00 0:02:41Mikhail Amosov, a deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, joined Skype. Michael, tell us, from the point of view of the Petersburger, what did Poltavchenko remember?
Mikhail Amosov: There are questions that excite the townspeople very strongly, related simply with the current life of the city. The only thing I would like to clarify that the European University resumed its work. I was just the other day at the opening of the new school year. But this, of course, is not the merit of Poltavchenko.
Sergey Dobrynin: The very first word that comes to mind if you want to describe the period of his reign? Many say "gray". Do you agree with this?
Mikhail Amosov: Maybe I picked up some other term. The quietest - maybe. Such a definition. Poltavchenko, of course, the figure is not very public. In this sense, this is a rather strange figure for the governor. True, I must say that Mr. Beglov, as far as I know him, is also not charismatic. Therefore, replacing stylistically very similar. In general, the city has many problems. I believe that, unlike Moscow, the metro develops very slowly, no priority has been made in this direction. If we talk about household plots, of course, there are a lot of them. As in Russia as a whole, St. Petersburg is characterized by the undemocraticity of power, its isolation from the people. In this sense, there is such a feature of our St. Petersburg - elections in Moscow are much more honest than in St. Petersburg. I think that Georgy Sergeyevich, perhaps, wanted to be different, but did not, or maybe he did not want to. In any case, the result is quite obvious that, at least, the counting of votes in Moscow is much more honest, better compared to St. Petersburg. Of course, this is a lack of power, because it could not provide it, unlike what we see in Moscow.
Sergey Dobrynin: Petersburg is the second largest city in the country, as such a quietest person turned out to be its governor, besides, he remained for a second term?
Leonid Gozman: You know, I will ask a few indecent questions. How is such a wonderful person like Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev turned out to be the prime minister? How was a person like Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin turned out to be president? We have a very long list of questions that can begin "like such a person." It seems to me that everything is really clear here: Georgy Sergeyevich from the KGB, George Sergeyevich Vladimir Vladimirovich had known for a long time, even before he became great and so on. He arranged his people. Why not? The old horse will not spoil the beard, it will not do harm. The most important thing, apparently, he believed, and possibly, Vladimir Vladimirovich correctly believed, he will not shoot in the back. And this is the main thing. It seems to me that now time has also changed by the fact that Vladimir Vladimirovich has so remarkably rebuilt the system, at least inside the vertical, that now he can assign anyone, because people who are devoted personally to him who are ready to serve faithfully or, at least, who are ready to serve faithfully, are quite a lot. It is possible that such a degree of loyalty, proximity as some senior KGB officers with Vladimir Vladimirovich, it may already be optional.
Sergey Dobrynin: Gleb, do you think that such dimity of Poltavchenko as a person and a leader - was it a conscious choice?
Gleb Pavlovsky: Recall that when he came to his position, it was an extremely important moment for Putin - the 2012 presidential elections were to be held. In this period, he was only interested in one - reliability. Poltavchenko proved this. Because the city voted, frankly, very differently than what we read in the data of the then Center's Birus. In general, I must say that in Russia it is dangerous to want too effective, active and eccentric governors. He was really eccentric in the sense that Poltavchenko did not cause all evil that he could. In this sense, Peter was more fortunate than some regions. Immediately feel when coming to St. Petersburg, unlike Moscow, that the streets are intended not only for cyclists, but also for small businesses. There really is an atmosphere on street trade, street business, which is burned here in Moscow, which Poltavchenko did not interfere, apparently somehow contributed. Because there even the famous St. Petersburg passage courtyards are also passages of some shops, asphalt is occupied by the ads not only prostitutes and massage salons, but also in trade and services of private individuals. That is, this suggests that Poltavchenko is not harmful. Yes, of course, he is from the first early team of Putin, he, apparently, will remain in her. Although the appointment for a shipbuilding company makes you shudder if you recall its former owner and creator of banker Pugachev. This is now a dangerous place. And so the city is satisfied when Poltavchenko retired. Some say that he prayed, others say that he was a misanthrope, did not like people. I want to pay attention, the procedure, with all that is quite outrageous, is that the governor who has a term of powers, those who vote for it, plays this game, are removed, as a rule, before the expiration of the term of office. Spring was the time of the governor, and now it has been pulled in the fall. Everyone somehow agrees that the term of powers for the governor does not play any role at all.
Sergei Dobrynin: The St. Petersburg political scientist and journalist Lev Lurie joined us. Do you agree that Poltavchenko can be remembered by good, if only because he managed to spoil little?
Lev Lurie: There was such an expression among Lotman, the famous philologist, a “minus reception”. Georgy Sergeyevich was such a typical "minus reception". He was remarkable for what he did not, and not what he did.
Sergey Dobrynin: What, for example, he did not do?
Lev Lurie: He was not cruel, he was not vindictive, he was no.
Sergey Dobrynin: All scandals that are associated with his name, in any case, people living in St. Petersburg, for example, the transfer of the Isaac's Cathedral, how great was his role in this?
Lev Lurie: It can be seen from the chronology of this story that it was a rude pressure of the metropolitan, he refused to transfer the cathedral, then, under pressure, agreed to convey the cathedral. He hesitated, he did not make a decision, watched how things would go.
Sergey Dobrynin: About his potential replacement Alexander Beglov, what can I say?
Lev Lurie: Alexander Beglov headed the city of Sestroretsk at one time, launched a fountain from the pond there, which is still called the "jet of Beglov." Such an inconspicuous apparatchik. Another thing is that his speech has just been published, recently uttered to students of the pedagogical institute, where he talks about the conspiracy of Allen Dulles, what we should do with this, as three hundred Spartans to fight with the enemy who is trying to defeat us. What he is, we do not know. He is as colorless as Poltavchenko. There are various kinds of Moscow St. Petersburg, there is a type of Gryzlov, Surkov, these are people of this type.
Leonid Gozman: Gleb recalled that there were elections, Georgy Sergeyevich fulfilled this brilliantly. Did you know that in St. Petersburg, one site was opened in one of the cemeteries for people who work on a continuous cycle so that they can go there, vote directly to the cemetery. Everyone who voted there - all the dead, voted for the right candidate. This is beautiful to do. It must be understood that the only thing in the world is is the boss to whom you serve, and everything else, common sense, ridicule - spit on everything. Gleb said, for my friends of St. Petersburg, I myself am from St. Petersburg, I, of course, have many friends in St. Petersburg, they would agree that Poltavchenko had no much evil. Extravagant figure, prays constantly and so on. In politics, not only rational things are important, it is very important to a sensation of your or foe and so on. He is a stranger to the city, the city did not perceive him at all. And not only his stupidity about the redness and so on, the city did not perceive him.
Sergey Dobrynin: Who was his own?
Leonid Gozman: Own was Sobchak. There was no more. And how can they appear if there are no elections? The last third consideration, not only that Gleb said that the term for the governor does not mean anything, is appointed a new governor, already spitting on any procedures. Poltavchenko, it is believed to be chosen. I do not believe that he was chosen, but someone really played this game. It is possible that among those who put the cross in the right place were people who really voted for Poltavchenko. He was resigned, it is not known why. If the president said: citizens, you really chose Poltavchenko. Look, Poltavchenko did what he did: that’s how much he stole, did something, for this I can’t trust him anymore, he dismissed him. Fine. No, he did not say anything at all. And then he does not appoint new elections, but puts someone, which is not yet true for anyone, says-now, now he will be a prince. This is not even the XIX century, this is something before.
Sergey Dobrynin: Mikhail, I heard the opinion that Poltavchenko, with his inaction, made some freeman, maybe even in the Legislative Assembly. In particular, several active liberal deputies, such as you, act quite actively in it. Do you agree that you have to fight more with the speaker than with the governor?
Mikhail Amosov: I do not agree that this is the merit of Poltavchenko, that we have not two or three factions in the Legislative Assembly, as in most regions, and we have six factions. True, one of them is the largest, it decides everything. This is just the result of the political development of the city - this is not the merit of Poltavchenko. I wanted to make a small amendment, because it is officially believed that Georgy Sergeyevich himself wrote a resignation statement, that is, this is, as it were, his initiative, they tell us so. Because I know from conversations with people from Smolny, with people who are close enough to Georgy Sergeyevich, he was going to participate in the elections. He even spoke about this publicly in the spring of this year, structures of the headquarters type were created in the fall. It is clear that in fact this decision came from above, but it is officially believed that he wrote a statement. Of course, the situation is stupid, because, frankly, the president’s authority to appoint the governor of St. Petersburg does not have such authority. However, we live in such political realities. We will live for some time with the acting Governor Beglov.
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