FT: In 2018, the Kremlin set a goal to collapse the rating of the van, but failed the plan and turned to force

The Kremlin did not expect the victory of Sergei Furgal in the elections in the Khabarovsk Territory in September 2018 and after their implementation set a goal to reduce the popularity of the policy in the region, and the rating of Russian President Vladimir Putin to increase. This was written by Financial Times with reference to the documents of the presidential administration and its employee.

According to the source of the newspaper, the arrest of Furgal is “exclusively with politics”: the popularity of the former governor and the fact that the Kremlin plan failed.

Before the September elections of 2018, the Federal Security Service (FSO) introduced the Kremlin the results of its survey, according to which "about half of the inhabitants of the region are dissatisfied with the existing state of affairs in the economy and the social sphere, but do not see real alternatives to the current governor" - that is, the United Russia Vyacheslav Shport.

However, after half a month representing the LDPR, Furgal defeated Shport with a big advantage, receiving 69.6% of votes. After that, the Kremlin faced the task of reducing the popularity of the policy in the region and even undermine its legitimacy. The campaign to reduce the rating of Furgal began in the spring of 2019, the newspaper writes.

In one of the methods, according to FT, specific numbers were even called: the rating of the chosen governor was supposed to fall to 46.1%, and Putin’s rating should increase to 48.6%. For this, it was proposed to use the controlled local media, which, when covered by positive events, should have rested on the fact that life in the Khabarovsk Territory was improving "thanks to the decisions and actions of the President of the Russian Federation." After the plan failed, they decided to remove the Furgula with forceful methods, the sources of Financial Times stated.

The mass protests that followed after the arrest of the van were also a surprise to the Kremlin, the publication points out. The problem was the fact that the usual propaganda and accusations that street shares are heated from abroad, in this case, do not work.

Sergey Furgal was detained on July 9, he is charged with involvement in the organization of murders and attempted murder of entrepreneurs committed by an organized criminal group in the Khabarovsk Territory and the Amur Region in 2004-2005. According to investigators, he was the organizer of an attempt on entrepreneur Alexander Smolsky and the murders of two competitors in business - Evgeny Zori and Oleg Bulatov.

Furgal is detained in Moscow in the Lefortovo pre -trial detention center and is in full information blockade . One of the requirements of the protesters is a fair open trial of a former governor in Khabarovsk.