Who is behind the Bigglov election campaign

According to the VTsIOM survey, Alexander Beglov is the most popular candidate for the post of governor of St. Petersburg: his rating is 55 %. According to sources, the rivals of Beglov are agreed with the authorities, but in the Kremlin they still fear the results of future elections. Evgeny Prigozhin and political strategists from Moscow, and the outcome of the elections is important to Putin, is supposedly engaged in the campaign of Putin's cooks.

The “Paper” tells how the Biglov election campaign changed, who is interested in his victory and what will happen in St. Petersburg if the acting becomes a new governor.

The main theses of the text

1. Beglova is called a person from the environment of Putin. Presumably, they have been familiar from the 1990s. Political scientists explain the appointment of Beglov to the post of acting by the loyalty of power and non -publicity. However, according to sources, the Kremlin is not sure of Beglov’s success in the elections.

2. The media actively wrote about Beglov before his nomination. The information campaign is associated with the political technologists of the Putin's cooks Evgeny Prigozhin. The acting was made by the most cited head of the city, but his rating was still growing slowly.

3. According to sources, after a snowy collapse in St. Petersburg, many political strategists from the Kremlin joined the Beglov campaign, since the previous team could not cope.

4. Beglov went to the elections as a self-nominated person-presumably due to the low rating of United Russia. Signatures in support of the acting were collected in the subway, although it was forbidden. Some students and employees of budgetary institutions complained about agitation for Beglov.

5. Beglov gives a lot of promises, but it is not clear how to fulfill them in case of victory. His election program has not yet been published.

How runes are connected with Putin and what explains his appointment to the post of acting

Political journalists call Alexander Beglov to the longtime friends of Vladimir Putin and a man from his environment. This was written by Vedomosti , the Russian BBC Service , Medusa and Business Petersburg . Presumably, politicians met in the 1990s, when Beglov was a chief engineer in the Russian-German enterprise Melazel, and Putin was the chairman of the Committee on External Relations in the administration of St. Petersburg. Beglov himself says that he met the president only in 2004. At the same time, one of their joint photographs was taken in 2003.

Within 14 years before his current appointment, Governor Beglov worked in government agencies directly related to the president. Since 2004, he headed the control department, where they check the implementation of all decisions of the president, was part of the council, where national projects were considered, and was also elected a member of the Supreme Council of United Russia.

Izvestia, citing sources in the Kremlin, wrote that Beglov was seen as the main candidate for the post of mayor of Moscow in 2010 and the governor of St. Petersburg in 2011. But he was never nominated - for unknown reasons. After the re -election of Putin, in 2012, Beglov was still raised: he became the envoy, first in the Central Federal District, and in 2017 - in the North -Western Federal District.

In October 2018, Putin appointed Beglov Acting Governor of St. Petersburg, accepting the resignation of George Poltavchenko “of his own free will”. Sources of various media, close to the presidential administration, explained the official departure of his low rating, as well as fears of the authorities in connection with the results of the 2018 elections . They had two current governors from United Russia in the Khabarovsk Territory and the Vladimir Region and lost to candidates from the Liberal Democratic Party, and another - in Khakassia - starred before the second round, and received the place of the Communist Party of the Communist Party.

After the resignation of Poltavchenko, political journalists called the rector of the Mining Institute Vladimir Litvinenko, the deputy prospect of Russia Nikolai Vinichenko, as well as the speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Vyacheslav Makarov.

Political scientist Andrei Kolyadin, who worked in the presidential administration, explained the appointment by the fact that Beglov is an “ideal compromise”: loyal, non -public and close to Putin.

This, in particular, was necessary to smooth out the Service of the Russian Orthodox Church to smooth out protest moods against the background of plans, the Russian BBC Service emphasized . The publication, citing sources, wrote that billionaires Mikhail and Yuri Kovalchuki, presidential neighbors for the Lake Datic by Lake, could recommend the candidacy of Beglov Putin. According to journalists, the apartment of the youngest daughter of Beglov in a house on 55 cash Street, where the officials of the presidential administration and the leaders of pro -government structures live, was bought in 2007 from Yuri Kovalchuk. Beglova with Kovalchuki is also connected by Lyubov Preshyeva. She has worked in the structures of businessmen for more than 10 years, and now he is managing the governor’s administration.

At the same time, Putin, while appointing, emphasized that it was not known whether Beglov would run for runes. “By September, it will be seen how work is developing, how work goes, and in accordance with this you will already decide on your future fate,” Putin told him.

For almost eight months, Beglov left questions about the election. As the interlocutors of the Papers , familiar with the situation in Smolny and the Kremlin, were not sure of his candidacy in the presidential administration, so they did not start the official campaign.

“I can vouch that the presidential administration already understood in the winter that it would be difficult to elect Beglov, and they advocated its replacement,” Andrei Pertsev told the “paper” with reference to sources in the Kremlin “paper”. “But the president decided to leave him, despite the arguments.”

Who was engaged in the promotion of Beglov at the first stage and how they made the most cited head of the region from him

Almost immediately after the appointment of the acting governor, the activities of Beglov began to daily cover the media from the National Media Group Yuri Kovalchuk (78, Izvestia channel), as well as the FAN, Nevsky News, PolitExpert sites and other resources that journalists associate with businessman Evgeny Podozhin.

In addition, large telegram channels began to write about the acting acting, including political ones like “Blagar” (225.7 thousand subscribers) and “guard” (93.1 thousand). According to the investigation of the Project publication, fake commentators who spoke about the pluses of the acting and praised almost all of his public actions were also attracted to the promotion of Beglov.

The above publications not only approved the acting, but also criticized its opponents. For example, “Neva News” accused Maxim Reznik’s deputy, who often spoke about the failure of Beglov as a governor, in drug use. The site published a video where he smokes a cigarette. The rest of the loyal publications and pro -government deputies supported this topic, demanding to deprive the Mandate Reznik. Human rights activists called it a persecution.

In mid-November, the 45-second video "Uncle Sasha" dedicated to Beglov was launched in social networks. In it, the acting acting was opposed to lying officials who ignore the complaints of citizens. Fontanka noted that the journalist Eduard Zavyalov first posted the video-the publication connected him to the "Bulletin of Russia" from the Internet research agency, also known as the "Troll Factory".

In winter, as the BBC Russian Service wrote , on one of the popular Russian sites with free videos, the banners “Beglov said that he was waiting for pensioners of St. Petersburg”, “Urgent news for Pensioners of St. Petersburg! What did Begs planned? " And "the" transport revolution "is brewing in St. Petersburg." According to the publication, banners led to the materials of the Neva News.

Media publications became the first stage in the unofficial election campaign of Beglov. According to several sources of “paper” close to Smolny, she was led by the structures of businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin. The campaign was aimed at improving the image, recognition and electoral rating of the acting.

One of the sources of “Paper” claims that Lyubov Prespyasheeva was responsible for the publications about Beglov in telegram channels. According to him, having committed coordinated all the processes of the campaign, and Prigozhin partially financed it. At the same time, Prekheva denied involvement in the telegram channels, and Prigozhin’s press service -in the campaign in general.

The ex-employee of the Neva News, who worked in the publication since October, anonymously confirmed the “paper” that the editors of the site demanded to write about Beglov. However, the direct connection of publications with the acting campaign was not mentioned. For news about Beglov, the publication was not paid extra.

Ex-employee of Neva News :

- News about Beglov are the most important. Everything that concerned was given a marked “urgent”. Even his posts on VKontakte had to be replaced instantly, throwing other news. Of course, it is forbidden to write negative about him. There were no penalties for [news of news]-someone always noticed them. [We were explained the need to write about Beglov by the fact that] he is the main face of the city. They said, it is necessary - and that’s it.

By April 2019, Beglov was mentioned in the media more than 20 thousand times a month, follows from the data of "Mediaology". Acting overturned the mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin and became the most cited head of the region in Russia. He replaced most of the team left by Poltavchenko, went to the places of emergency and to meet with the townspeople. All this hit the media, ensuring the regular presence of the surname of the acting company in the Top News of Yandex.

The sources of “rain”, close to the presidential administration, in January called the Electoral campaign of Beglov a difficult but promising task. For its leaders to win the elections, it means to increase their rating of influence on political processes in the region, political analyst Andrei Kolyadin explained to the publication.

According to another interlocutor of the rain, Prigozhin expected thanks to the participation in the Beglov campaign to influence the distribution of state contracts in St. Petersburg. The source of the Russian BBC Service explained the businessman’s help by the fact that he had “not developed” relations with the previous governor Poltavchenko. According to the publication, Prigozhin was dissatisfied with the refusal of Smolny to coordinate the project of the hint of artificial islands in the Gulf of Finland for 400 billion rubles.

"Rain" with reference to sources also estimated the cost of the Flyoglov election campaign at about 600 million rubles. Its scale was compared with the election campaigns of Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Governor of Primorye Oleg Kozhemyako.

However, the political rating of Beglov grew slowly . This winter, due to poor snow cleaning, hundreds of people were injured , some received severe injuries, at least one person died . Smolny could not cope with the snow collapse, and political strategists came up with a “Beglov shovel”. She became a meme in social networks.

In addition, Beglov supported the image of a public official only in the media who does not criticize him. “Paper” for more than a month did not receive a response to my interview request. According to Novaya Gazeta, Smolny gave recommendations for the coverage of events involving Beglov loyal publications.

By the spring, VTsIOM claimed , about half of the Petersburgers supported Beglov, but many experts and users of social networks did not believe these numbers. So, the head of the Open Russia organization Andrei Pivovarov, referring to sources in the VTsIOM, at the March rally for fair elections in Lenin Square, claimed that the real Rating of Beglov is 19 %.

How the Beglov campaign changed after the first failures and what is known about the participation of political strategists from the Kremlin in it

After the problems with snow cleaning in January 2019, the “ideological” part of the Beglov campaign stopped engaged in Prigozhin’s structures, journalist Maria Karpenko told the “paper” with reference to Smolny sources. According to her, the Political Technological Company Ima-Consulting came to the city, close to the Kremlin, and officials from the presidential administration. This is confirmed by the special corner of the "Medusa" Andrei Peretsev.

- In the Kremlin, it became obvious that Prigozhinsky was not very good. This “Blagoglov’s shovel” and so on - the work gave rise to memes, and did not increase the rating, ”said Pertsev.

Pertsev notes that the election campaign in St. Petersburg is important personally to Putin, since this is his hometown. According to the journalist, the candidacy of Beglov was finally confirmed only in early May.

Now, “several dozen, if not hundreds” of political strategists, says to the Beglov campaign, says Karpenko. “They are divided into several headquarters, headquarters into units, divisions to directions, the infrastructure of the election campaign is complicated, contradictory, and therefore strange actions are often taken as part of the campaign,” the journalist says.

The Ima Consulting is considered a “heavyweight” in politics. The company was engaged in information support for the presidential election in 2018, the State Duma and campaigns in Moscow, wrote ZAKS.RU. The report of Transpenseri International says that Ima Consulting received contracts from the Moscow authorities at the total cost of 132.6 million rubles in 2014-2016. And Medusa noted that the contracts with Ima were concluded as the only supplier, and sometimes she fought for contracts with competitors belonging to the owner of the company.

Here are a few political strategists who are associated with the Beglov campaign:

• Boris Rappoport is the deputy chief of the Presidential Directorate to ensure the activities of the State Council, who is called the "man [assistant to the president] Vladislav Surkov."
  
  According to Maria Karpenko, Rappoport oversees the entire Beglov campaign. According to Kommersant, he is one of those who hold meetings on the strategy of governor and municipal elections with the heads of St. Petersburg regions and municipalities.
  
  Vedomosti write that Rappoport was informally the main political technologist of the acting campaign of the acting governor Oleg Kozhemyako in the elections in Primorye.

• Alexander Seravin is a political strategist who was responsible for the presidential election in St. Petersburg in 2018.
  
  According to “Paper” , Seravin is engaged in the field part of the campaign (including the collection of signatures) and the coordination of the actions of the headquarters. According to Open Media, the political strategist previously was responsible for the ideological part of the campaign.

• Vladimir Tabak is a political strategist, known as the creator of the calendar with half -naked students for the birthday of Vladimir Putin. He also led the creation of Putin's image in social networks after the 2018 presidential campaign, wrote The Bell.
  
  It is believed that people under the guidance of tobacco are responsible for the Internet establishment of Beglov's activities. The New Gazeta wrote that the political strategist team administers at least the “ typical Peter ” community with 1 million subscribers, where they place advertising, posts about St. Petersburg and Beglov. And the “Project” in the investigation of the use of bots by the authorities wrote that the Beglova headquarters on social networks is used by the Hope charity foundation to create fake comments. According to the publication, this organization cooperates with the bots that praise the acting.

• Dmitry Kovalev -until recently, a little-known political strategist, whom Rotonda telegram channel connects with elections in Vladivostok.
  
  Now Kovalev is leading the direction of counter -propaganda at the headquarters of Beglov, under his leadership “Prigozhinsky” political technologists work, says Maria Karpenko. According to Fontanka and Rotonta , it was he who organized the injury of Maxim Reznik. Fontanka claimed that 10 million rubles were spent on discrediting the deputy.
  
  The direction of counter -propaganda was also associated with the distribution of Facebook posts on behalf of the acting opponents in the elections: Vladimir Borto and Nadezhda Tikhonova. They were proposed to build a garbage plant and expand the rights of migrants.

At the same time, all of the listed political technologists deny or do not comment on their involvement in the Beglov campaign. Ima-Consulting also did not give comments on this topic.

Despite the change of the team of political strategists, the Beglov campaign had problems, the media said. New Gazeta, citing a source in the headquarters of the acting acting, reported that he planned to announce the nomination to the governors at a meeting with the workers of the Arsenal plant on May 23, and the next day to meet with municipal deputies and enlist their support. After the media wrote about this script, it had to be rewritten, the publication notes. As a result, the acting acting in April 2019 at a meeting with residents of the resort district, which he led from 1999 to 2002.

After the emergence of Kremlin political technologists, Beglov provide federal support, the interlocutors of “Papers” say. Since the beginning of 2019, Putin came to St. Petersburg several times. The President promised to build a “better charge” park on the site of the court quarter, and also announced the support of the project of a high -speed railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow worth about 990 billion rubles, while canceled a similar project between Moscow and Kazan.

К лету к предвыборной кампании Беглова привлекли и петербургских знаменитостей. Врио объявил , что в числе прочих его предвыборный штаб возглавит тренер футбольного клуба «Зенит» Сергей Семак, под руководством которого команда стала чемпионом России.

Семак нужен Беглову, потому что пользуется авторитетом среди болельщиков и из-за популярности самого «Зенита», объяснял доцент кафедры политической психологии СПбГУ Александр Конфисахор. Беглов на должности врио неоднократно посещал футбольные матчи «Зенита», а по «Матч ТВ» его лицо показывали крупным планом после голов и удачных моментов. Хотя до этого частого посещения матчей Бегловым не замечали .

Источник «Медузы», близкий к штабу Беглова, говорил , что врио оказался «немного не готов к той публичности, которая на него свалилась». Так, поздравляя горожан с 1 мая после разгона протестного шествия, он заявил со сцены на Дворцовой: «В нашем городе живут активнутые противные люди». После врио извинился и сказал, что имел в виду «активных, креативных и волевых».

В администрации президента до сих пор не все верят в Беглова и считают его проигрышным кандидатом, пишет «Медуза» со ссылкой на свои источники в Кремле. Официально в АП это не комментировали.

Как собирали подписи в поддержку Беглова и почему он пошел на выборы не от «Единой России»

Несмотря на членство в «Единой России» с 2003 года, Александр Беглов пойдет на выборы как самовыдвиженец. По закону, для этого ему нужно было не только пройти муниципальный фильтр (155 подписей мундепов), но и собрать 76 тысяч подписей горожан.

Врио объяснил свое решение тем, что «надо быть над политическими амбициями» и «быть независимым от тех или иных взглядов». При этом тенденцию позиционировать провластных кандидатов на выборах как самовыдвиженцев заметили в начале выборов в Мосгордуму в 2019 году. Журналисты связывают это с тем, что рейтинг партии падает, и ассоциация с ней может негативно повлиять на кампанию.

С началом официальной кампании врио в метро появились стойки, за которыми люди в футболках с надписью «Александр Беглов» собирали подписи в его поддержку. При этом в правилах пользования метрополитеном говорилось , что на его территории запрещена любая агитация. Несмотря на это, спустя месяц всем кандидатам разрешили собирать подписи в метро — однако никто кроме Беглова не стал этого делать.

Параллельно стала появляться информация о сборе подписей в поддержку Беглова среди бюджетников и студентов . На это пожаловались несколько работников школ и медицинских учреждений. Однако случаев сбора подписей на местах работы или принуждения к этому зафиксировано не было.

Один из студентов Петербургской юридической академии записал разговор о подписях за Беглова в деканате. Аудиозапись опубликовал петербургский штаб Алексея Навального (сейчас она недоступна из-за анонимной жалобы на нарушение конфиденциальности).

Как следует из расшифровки «Медиазоны», на записи женский голос рассказывает студентам, что вуз собирает подписи в поддержку Беглова. Автор записи отказывается подписаться, и его уговаривает замдекана факультета юриспруденции Сергей Брыков (он подтвердил , что на записи его голос). Брыков упоминал просьбу главы Невского района, который «помогает академии».

Самый громкий скандал в связи со сбором подписей за Беглова случился после публикации видео , на котором в администрации Выборгского района якобы подделывали подписные листы для выдвижения врио. Его сняла активистка штаба Навального. Беглов заявил о непричастности к фальсификации и подал заявления в СК и МВД, ведомства начали проверку. В итоге врио отказался сдавать в избирком подписи из Выборгского района, назвав произошедшее спекуляцией.

По данным журналиста, «полевую» работу по сбору подписей организовывали политтехнологи Пригожина. Это подтверждает и Мария Карпенко, отмечая, что за «поле» также отвечает политтехнолог Александр Серавин.

Беглов сдал подписи от 80 тысяч жителей уже в конце июня. Тогда же он без проблем прошел муниципальный фильтр — вместе с режиссером и депутатом Госдумы Владимиром Бортко, депутаткой Закса Надеждой Тихоновой и бывшим членом «Яблока» Михаилом Амосовым.

Кандидаты, не собравшие подписи мундепов, называли соперников Беглова «согласованными». Так, оппозиционный депутат и кандидат в губернаторы от «Яблока» Борис Вишневский, не прошедший муниципальный фильтр, утверждал , что сделать это независимо от действующей власти было практически невозможно.

— Я объехал 84 из 111 муниципалитетов, — говорил «Медузе» Вишневский. — В каждом я передал каждому депутату просьбу поддержать мое участие в выборах. <…> 31 мая были назначены выборы губернатора, а уже 2 июня все муниципальные депутаты были строем отправлены к нотариусам. Все подписи были заранее разобраны по списку кандидатов — как тех, которых собирались пустить на выборы, так и тех, кого не собирались пускать. Свободных подписей практически не осталось уже тогда.

Параллельно со сбором подписей в Петербурге шла избирательная кампания горожан в муниципальные депутаты. На следующих выборах в 2024 году мундепы должны будут проголосовать за кандидатов в губернаторы. Избирательные комиссии сразу нескольких округов не давали независимым кандидатам подать документы: не принимали бумаги, закрывались раньше времени. На кандидатов в избиркомах нападали, кого-то задерживали. В пособничестве нарушениям обвиняли действующую власть и мундепов «Единой России».

Несмотря на то, что оппонентов Беглова на выборах называют «согласованными», власти опасаются «протестного голосования» (когда голосуют за любых кандидатов, кроме провластного), говорит Перцев. Как писала «Новая газета», одного из якобы «согласованных» кандидатов, Олега Капитанова, Беглов пригласил на работу в администрацию. Тот принял приглашение и передумал участвовать в выборах, сославшись на нехватку восьми голосов.

За время на посту врио Беглов также дал десятки обещаний: ликвидировать свалки, решить проблему уборки снега, увеличить бюджет на школьное образование. Смольный составил заявки в федеральный бюджет на общую сумму в 600 млрд рублей для строительства метро и других транспортных проектов.

На заседании правительства финансовый советник Беглова Евгений Елин заявил , что «город ведет слишком либеральную налоговую политику» и необходимо увеличить сборы по налогу на прибыль, акцизам и НДФЛ.

Сам Беглов говорил , что рассматривает федеральный бюджет как один из основных источников повышения годового бюджета города как минимум до 1 трлн рублей.

— Обещания, разумеется, являются основным инструментом избирательной кампании. Насколько они реализуемы, понятия не имею. Но очевидно, что начать в городе дорогостоящие мегапроекты — значит создать возможность для того, чтобы их реализацией занялись конкретные предприниматели, близкие к новым властям, например, — считает журналистка Мария Карпенко.

При этом за почти 10 месяцев при Беглове в экономике Петербурга практически ничего не изменилось, рассказал «Бумаге» профессор факультета экономики Европейского университета в Петербурге и научный руководитель Центра исследований модернизации Дмитрий Травин.

— В городе что-то меняется в зависимости от того, богатеет страна или нет. Последние 10 лет у нас изменений нет: что при Матвиенко, что при Полтавченко, что при Беглове, — рассказывает экономист.

Экс-кандидат в губернаторы Борис Вишневский, например, уверен , что при избрании Беглова в городе начнется «ужесточение политических репрессий, преследование оппозиции, ограничение возможностей и свобод». В то же время профессор факультета международных отношений СПбГУ Николай Межевич отмечает , что Беглов хорошо знает город и имеет большой опыт работы в Смольном, поэтому его губернаторство может быть эффективным.

Основные направления работы Беглова на посту градоначальника должны будут описать в его предвыборной программе. На момент публикации материала она не появилась.

Выборы губернатора в Петербурге пройдут 8 сентября 2019 года.