News from the Russian hinterland (TULA) - 2
June 6, 2011
Svetlana Kuznetsova
In determining what Governor Vyacheslav Dudka has done for the Tula region in recent months, the most accurate one is, perhaps, “I brought it.” In the Tula administration - anarchy. In housing and communal services - devastation, debts. In official circles - corruption and criminal cases. In social spheres - non-fulfillment of programs.
He brought, of course, not himself. But somewhere I didn’t keep track, somewhere I didn’t finish, somewhere I couldn’t organize. And somewhere, maybe he didn’t want to ...
The result - corruption scandals, political instability and the almost complete absence of any significant regional achievements for the federal level.
The first five years were the period of growth of the governor as a political figure. The authority, which at first was based on the fact that no one knew and did not understand how he got to this position at all, allowed Vyacheslav Dudka to take the confident position of a kind of local gentleman, scolding serfs and afraid of a higher leadership at the same time. Everyone remembers the scene when the governor in the Kremlin met with Dmitry Medvedev and hesitantly and shyly held his arms crossed under the table: the pose of the guilty subordinate in front of the angry bosses.
But in his native province, it flourished: daily meetings until late in the evening, trips to the districts to inspect farms, open sports facilities, control the fire situation ... It is clear that everything in Tula Oblast is good, everything is under control.
If there’s a crisis somewhere, we don’t have it. If unemployment is somewhere, we don’t have it. If there are natural fires somewhere, we don’t have them. And the governor is just a living personification of the effective work of the head of the region.
Even if another criminal case suddenly pops up against a regional administration official — a protege of the governor — this (criminal case) is an absolute merit of the governor himself.
Remember how on March 8, on Women's Day, in the Tula Drama Theater Vyacheslav Dmitrievich told how effectively he fights corruption in the ranks of “his”?
It was publicly stated that the "destructive forces" hurt him are seeking the resignation of the head of the region. According to the Tula governor, he "is fighting corruption, and corruption is fighting it." As his merit in this military field, Dudka called the arrests and resignations of a number of Tula officials, in particular - the mayor of Tula Alisa Tolkacheva.
To which the ex-mayor noted: “Of course, you need to be a giant of thought, have a heart of enormous kindness, so that on the eve of the women's holiday to declare that it was he who fired me for corruption, while he mentioned that I have something to do with the executive branch, - said Alisa Tolkacheva. - I represent the legislative branch. The Law on Corruption says that the fact of corruption is a bribe, an attempt to receive a bribe, extortion ... I have no choice but to sue a libel suit. Now I am preparing documents. Most likely, I’ll take his lawsuit against Vladimir Timakov as an analogue. ”
The second five-year plan turned out to be not so cloudless and was marked by corruption scandals, loss of control over the situation with the division of power in the regional center and talk of an imminent resignation, or even of a criminal case threatening the governor.
In 2009, a wave of arrests of municipal leaders swept through the region. Caught in the act, half a dozen official extortionists, once recommended to their posts by the Tula governor. Officials of a high rank, but nevertheless a district level. But 2010 and 2011 were marked by more serious arrests.
According to Novaya Gazeta, “with regard to the arrests of the Tula corrupt officials named above, Dudka’s indisputable merit is that these people appeared in the provincial administration, and not that they left her.”
Commenting on the publication of the criminal cases of Aleksey Lazarev and Yevgeny Yudin, the Tula journalist German Churshukov noted: "... it is impossible to hide a large" pullback "operation in the budget alone ... Such chains cannot occur without the participation of the governors themselves."
“But while the Tula law enforcement bodies were investigating similar cases, Vyacheslav Dudka remained beyond suspicion,” the publication notes. - However, in January 2011, a new juicy smear appeared on the corruption canvas of the Tula province. A bribe of 40 million rubles was seized from the director of the regional property committee Viktor Volkov. Such was the shadow price charged to the GREENN Corporation for the unhindered allotment of land. Revelation of a large-scale crime engaged in federal investigators.
Being outside the sphere of influence of Mr. Dudka, Volkov gave more logical testimony than the two previous defendants. The manager of the Tula property admitted that he took the money for the governor. "
Next - a confrontation, an attempt to make Volkov almost crazy, a letter from Volkov himself with another portion of confessions to the governor ...
But everything was overshadowed by the scandal in the administration of the regional center. Not even a scandal, but simply chaos and convulsive attempts to break through to the power pie.
Everyone was eager, and not lazy, changing promises, friends and party tickets on the way.
The essence of the struggle for the seat of a city manager, but essentially a manager of city finances, is that the governor, having lost authority and found himself one step away from resignation and two from a criminal case, no longer controls either deputies or officials.
Despite the explicit support of the administration of the region, Andrei Agapov for the position of a city manager (he holds the post of deputy governor and, unlikely without the permission of the patron, decided to participate in the competition for the head of administration), city deputies defiantly submitted documents to participate in the competition and voted to Three candidates were submitted to the Duma, including Mikhail Ivantsov.
For some time, talk of a possible resignation seemed to have subsided, and here again about the same thing: in early June, information appeared again about the resignation of the governor of the Tula region. The head of the region himself in an interview with the newspaper "Young Communard" denied this information.
However, later there was information from a source in the Kremlin that a decree on the resignation of Governor Vyacheslav Dudka would most likely be signed in July this year. Before the election, the Kremlin plans to part with a number of governors who, according to the administration, are not doing their job.
Also, according to the source, the governor still wrote a statement of his own free will. And even the name of the future governor seems to be already known. And already his candidacy is being discussed on the sidelines of the authorities, as if there was no Vyacheslav Dudka ...
The head of the regional administration’s press service Igor Ivchenko told the Tula News correspondent that Vyacheslav Dudka had not vacated the governor’s chair and continued to hold his post.
For how long - hardly anyone can make forecasts. Everything has its time. So far, one thing is clear: the region does not shine with achievements, but more and more appears in the lists of lagging, breaking, worst, etc. Change is needed here. At least in order to somehow stir up the electorate on the eve of very responsible elections.
