12:27 — REGNUM “The resignation of Sergei Mitin from the post of governor of the Novgorod region does not look like a voluntary one. It happened not at the will of Mitin, but on instructions from the Kremlin. This confirms exactly how he made a statement to the press today, ”Novgorod journalist and political strategist Alexander Vlasov commented to a REGNUM correspondent.

He stressed that all of last January, Mitin made it clear that he would remain in the post of governor of the Novgorod region and put forward his candidacy for the next term of office.

“Exactly two weeks ago, on January 31, Sergei Mitin held a meeting with journalists and bloggers, and what did we hear then? He made plans, shared with us his hopes to improve the lives of Novgorodians. He spoke for a long time and answered all questions. And according to him appearance and it was impossible to say that he was ready to retire. In my opinion, he was going to run for a third term, ”Vlasov said, noting that two weeks later the journalists heard “just the opposite.”

“I was very surprised that Anatoly Gusev, the head of the media holding Agency for Information Communications, informed us, journalists, that it was forbidden to ask questions. I still asked Mitin about my future plans, but he walked by silently. What is the relationship with the press? Alexander Vlasov also noted.

As REGNUM reported earlier, today, February 13, the governor of the Novgorod region, Sergei Mitin, made an official public appeal and announced his resignation.

“This year my term of office as governor of the Novgorod region ends. For almost 10 years, my life has been inextricably linked with the Novgorod land. And I made a decision: not to participate in the gubernatorial elections in September and informed the president about this in advance Russian Federation asked him for new assignments. This is my thoughtful and balanced step. Today I want to sincerely thank everyone who has worked with me all these years, all the residents of the Novgorod region. During this time, I sincerely fell in love with the Novgorod land, everyone who lives on this wonderful land and, wherever I work, I undertake to devote all my strength and knowledge to the development and prosperity of the Novgorod land, ”said Sergey Mitin.

Recall that Sergey Mitin worked as governor of the Novgorod region from August 7, 2008, in 2012 he was re-elected to this position, his term of office expired on October 20, 2017.

Novgorod Governor Sergei Mitin may not make it to the 2017 elections. There are several reasons for this. The Novgorod region became the first region that actually committed a technical default last year. The region's debts are growing. The housing and communal services system is in a deplorable state, and the situation has remained unchanged for many years. Corruption scandals occur with enviable regularity in the region, in which, one way or another, local leaders of all levels are involved.

Not a year without trial

The activities of the governor of the Novgorod region, Sergei Mitin, began with a scandal. In the spring of 2008, the governor decided to demonstrate his achievements in shooting at a pleasure trip on the water. In the circle of his subordinates, he began to shoot from small-caliber weapons. Shooting governor, to tell the truth, so-so. As a result, he hit the back of the fisherman Alexander Vasiliev. The fisherman, fortunately, survived. The scandal was carefully hushed up. But this fact did not add popularity to Sergei Mitin.

Many of Sergei Mitin's ideas, including the construction of a pulp mill in the region, caused dissatisfaction with local residents. For this purpose, the company "Continentalinvest" appeared in the region. The holding is known as a participant in conflicts with raider overtones. However, this did not bother the head of the region at all. The media say that the plant cost the region a huge amount - 500 million euros. And it is not clear when these investments will pay off.

There was another bad story. Sergei Mitin was suspected of involvement in the raider takeover of Splav Corporation, one of the leading manufacturers of equipment for nuclear power plants. On this basis, a conflict arose with the general director Vladimir Fedorov. Sergey Mitin won. Fedorov ended up behind bars.

Representatives of "Splav" decided to help the former leader. They asked Sergei Mitin to apply to the court to change Fedorov's preventive measure. According to the representatives of the enterprise, Sergei Mitin asked for a general power of attorney to manage the property of the corporation in return for the petition.

The governor's subordinates looked no better either. Four years ago there was a big corruption scandal. The head of the local Federal Property Management Agency, Viktor Mitr, was accused of stealing property worth about 8 million rubles.

In 2013, searches were carried out in the administration, and on April 4, Mitin's first deputy, Arnold Shalmuev, was detained. The investigation suspected him of embezzling 22 million rubles, which were to be used to repair roads.

Two years ago, Telman Mkhitaryan, former adviser to the governor of the Novgorod region, was also sentenced to 13 years. It was said that he was considered " gray cardinal» region. He, in turn, was accused of illegally taking shares in several Novgorod enterprises.

And finally, in August 2015, Deputy Viktor Nechaev was detained on suspicion of bribery.

Last year, the region began collecting signatures for the resignation of Governor Sergei Mitin. All this happened against the background of a long and long conflict between the governor and the mayor of Novgorod, Yuri Bobryshev (both from United Russia). The mayor and the governor did not find a common language with each other - Sergei Mitin tried to dismiss Yuri Bobryshev.

On the verge of default

The officials, carried away by their important affairs, apparently forgot about the main thing - economic situation region. And it got worse.

For example, in February last year, the regional government failed to pay off VTB's two-billion-dollar loan on time. After that, the regional government asked VTB to refinance the debt. As a result, according to experts, the Novgorod region has become the first Russian region to have, in fact, a technical default. Now the state debt of the region is about 15.5 billion rubles.

In addition, experts believe that the collapsing system of heat and water supply and the high tax burden on municipalities remain the region's problems.

Lagging behind the all-Russian in the Novgorod region and the pace of housing construction. So, since the beginning of the year, 119 thousand square meters housing. This is only 28% of the housing commissioning plan for 2016 and 73% compared to the same indicator last year. The projected commissioning of housing in 2016 is 364,000 square meters of housing, or 87% of the original plan for the current year.

Reduced local budget revenues. Yes, non-tax income consolidated budget amounted to 664.9 million rubles, which is 8.5% lower than in 2015. The receipt of income from the use of property decreased by 23.0 million rubles (or by 8.5%), income from the sale of material and intangible assets by 55.3 million rubles (32.1%).

Official from the "60s"

However, Sergei Mitin does not like to talk about the problems of the region. As a human being, this is understandable, why get upset once again. Naturally, the Novgorod governor had bad relations with many journalists. Some media call him an official from the "60s". They even made psychological picture Sergei Mitin. If you believe him, then the Novgorod governor is an insecure person who is distinguished by suspiciousness, resentment, rancor.

The governor also does not remain in debt and periodically arranges reprimands for journalists.

And now, against the backdrop of an obvious economic downturn and the upcoming elections in the region, the struggle for governor's chair. Local media report on several groups with different interests. On the one hand, Sergei Mitin and his team are clearly under pressure from law enforcement agencies who intend to have their own man as governor. True, the governor himself also has protection in the person of certain business elites. He is predicted to resign "due to loss of confidence." True, given the series of gubernatorial scandals, it is hardly worth expecting that the resignation will be so soon. Probably, we should just wait until Sergey Mitin's turn comes.

Sergey Mitin, long years worked in government. He was Deputy Minister of Economy in the government of Viktor Chernomyrdin. (1997). He retained his post in the government of Sergei Kiriyenko (April - August 1998). He remained in this position in the office of Sergei Stepashin in 1999 and Vladimir Putin in 1999-2000.

Sergei Mitin took the post of Deputy Minister of Industry, Science and Technology in the government of Mikhail Kosyanov. He worked as director of the Department of Industry and in the Ministry of Industry and Energy. In 2004 he was appointed Deputy Minister Agriculture in the government of Mikhail Fradkov.

In 2007, President Vladimir Putin appointed Mitin as interim governor of the Novgorod region.

Later, Vladimir Putin proposed that the regional legislative assembly approve Mitin's candidacy for the post of governor.

In 2012, Sergei Mitin was elected governor of the Novgorod region.

After the trial of the ex-vice-governor of the Novgorod region Viktor Nechaev, will the security forces take up the head of the region?

Case of Nechaev

After a series of gubernatorial resignations carried out by the Kremlin on July 28, 2016, the heads of a number of regions became wary, as they, too, could join the list of resignations. A similar situation is typical for the Novgorod region, which since 2007 has been headed by Governor Sergei Mitin, who was previously Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation.

Now in the Novgorod region, the security forces have seriously increased their activity, and Mitin's deputies are under investigation. At the same time, some "Novgorod cases" have already reached the federal level. So, for example, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Viktor Grin approved the indictment in a criminal case against the former deputy governor of the Novgorod region Viktor Nechaev, as well as his accomplices Sergei Alexandrov and Ulyana Zhuravskaya. They were charged under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud committed on an especially large scale) and part 3 of Art. 30, part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (attempted fraud on an especially large scale).
Previously, Mr. Nekipelov headed the Novgorod Vodokanal Municipal Unitary Enterprise. In 2008, his organization signed a contract with Transstroy for the reconstruction of water and sewer networks on Derzhavin Street. At the same time, according to the security officials, the company did not carry out any work, but almost 30 million rubles were paid to it from the city treasury. As a result, Nekipelov became a defendant in a criminal case, and Nechaev wanted to “get rid of him”, but then he himself ended up behind bars.

Did the vice-governor "work part-time" as a "fixer"?

In order to "agree" on the price of his "services" to close the criminal case, Viktor Nechaev sent his assistant Ulyana Zhuravskaya to Mikhail Nekipelov. In the end, the amount was agreed upon. As it turned out, the transfer of the materials of the investigation against Nekipelov to Moscow was estimated at 3 million rubles, and the termination of the persecution - another 2.5 million rubles. It is interesting that Nekipelov himself wrote the statement against Nechaev. Apparently, the head of the Shimsky district doubted the "lobbying capabilities" of the vice-governor and thought that he was simply "bred" for money.

Episode #2

Incidentally, the incident with Nekipelov does not end the scandals associated with Nechaev. As it turned out, even earlier, the now former vice-governor had already played the role of a “fixer”. As the security forces established, in the period from July to August 2013, Nechaev and his accomplice Alexandrov informed a local resident about their alleged opportunity to facilitate the release from custody of her husband, who was brought to criminal responsibility. The attackers also promised that he would be given a suspended sentence. Having deceived the woman in this way, the scammers received 6.5 million rubles from her.

After this scandal, it makes sense to call the ex-vice-governor not a “fixer”, but a “scammer”, since he, promising to help people in resolving issues related to the closure of criminal cases, tritely “untwisted” them for money.

Is the governor next?

Immediately after the vice-governor of the Novgorod region, Nechaev, was caught accepting a bribe, information appeared in the local media that the next (in line for arrest - ed.) would be the governor. This version is connected with the fact that the security forces are more and more actively approaching the inner circle of the head of the region. And recently, in the Novgorod region, rumors began to circulate about the imminent resignation of Sergei Mitin. Moreover, these rumors are connected not only with corruption scandals but also with the appalling state of affairs in the economic sphere of the region.

Recall that the Novgorod region became the first Russian region to default on the definition of Standard & Poor's. Already after the appearance of information about the default, the head of the region was predicted to resign. But, most likely, Mitin will be removed from his post after the elections to the State Duma, which will be held in September 2016.

Deadline for Shalmuev

Some associates of Sergei Mitin are already sitting on the bunk. So in March 2016, the first deputy head of the administration of the Novgorod region, Arnold Shalmuev, was sentenced to 8 years and 10 months in prison for embezzling 15.4 million rubles from the budget intended for road improvement. The so-called "road file" consists of 255 volumes, and 160 witnesses were questioned during the investigation. The head of the regional department of finance Elena Soldatova, businessmen Nikolai Rasputin and Valery Tyan were recognized as victims (he was shot by unknown people in the fall of 2015 - ed.).

Earlier, three persons involved in the "road case" have already received real and suspended sentences, having confessed. The case of another defendant is being considered separately, former boss"Novgorodavtodor" Nikolai Zakaldaev, who was charged with taking a bribe of 250 thousand rubles. According to the investigation, in 2012-2013, members of the group implemented a criminal scheme to embezzle budget funds intended for the repair and maintenance of roads. During the judicial review, the established damage to the state decreased from 35 million rubles to 15.4 million rubles.

Bandits "in the service" of officials

It is interesting that the businessman Valery Tyan (even before the start of the investigation of the “road case” and before his murder) was seriously “assaulted” by local organized crime groups.
As soon as the investigators established a connection between Shalmuev and the leaders of the criminal world of the Novgorod region, Mr. Kravchenko suddenly died in a pre-trial detention center. However, the investigators still began to continue to look for connections between Novgorod officials and criminal authorities.

New wave of searches

The journalists learned that the search was being carried out in the office, which was previously occupied by the first deputy governor, Arnold Shalmuev. Experts believe that investigators could be looking for evidence of a criminal connection between Mitin and Shalmuev. It is possible that the former deputy governor could give kickbacks to the head of the region for patronage. After the July searches in the regional administration, rumors about Mitin's imminent resignation only intensified.

"Criminal" United Russia

Interestingly, often Novgorod officials themselves are members of organized crime groups. So in June 2014, the former adviser to the governor of the Novgorod region, Telman Mkhitaryan, was sentenced to 13 years. He was accused of misappropriation of shares in Spektr OJSC, as well as the assets of Novgorodkhleb OJSC. Rumor has it that the attack on the assets of the Novgorod plant for the production of electronic equipment OJSC Spektr, as well as the local bread factory OJSC Novgorodkhleb, was carried out with the active participation of the same Nikolai Kravchenko (and his representatives).

By the way, Mkhitaryan is also associated with the chairman of the Novgorod Regional Duma in 2008-2011, and now a State Duma deputy from the faction “ United Russia» Sergei Factory. The media directly write that Sergei Fabrichny was "under the control of the organized criminal group Mkhitaryan-Kravchenko". And earlier, Fabrichny was also the head of the political council of the Novgorod “United Russia”. The links of the deputy Fabrichny with the “Novgorod mafia” indicated in the press give every reason to believe that criminals in the region have penetrated not only into the executive branch of power, but into the legislative one.

Claims against the Governor

It is worth noting that the security forces also have a lot of questions for the head of the Novgorod region. The thing is that the governor himself was involved in a number of scandals. So, for example, once the governor in the circle of his subordinates opened illegal shooting from small-caliber weapons. It happened during a pleasure walk on the water, and the fisherman Alexander Vasiliev from the village of Seltso, who was shot in the back, turned out to be a random target.

Surname of the head of the region magically” was not recorded in the police protocol. In this story, a person almost died, but the governor not only did not bear any responsibility for this, but also successfully “hushed up” this matter. This is how Mr. Mitin "takes care" of his voters.

The governor's "concern" about the region's ecology is also obvious. In 2010, Sergei Mitin brought the Continentalinvest company (owner Nikolai Makarov) to the region to build a pulp mill. The holding is known not only as the owner of the infamous Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill, which was opposed by many environmentalists, but also as a participant in corporate conflicts with obvious raider overtones. Sergei Mitin, ignoring this, risked a huge sum for the Novgorod region - the construction of the pulp and paper mill costs about 500 million euros.

Of course, then the inhabitants of the region spoke out against the construction of this pulp and paper mill, which could destroy the Volga, but the governor did not accept their protest, in fact, he did not give a damn about the interests of his own voters. Wherein locals they whispered that the head of the region betrayed their interests because, perhaps, he received a good “bribe” from Continentalinvest.

It should be noted that the media wrote about the involvement of Sergei Mitin in the raider seizure of the Splav corporation, one of the leading manufacturers of equipment for nuclear power plants, gas industry enterprises and the defense complex. In 2007, Vladimir Fedorov, then the general director of Splav, proposed introducing the enterprise into Rosatom.

In response, Mitin hinted that without an intermediary structure, the integration of the corporation into Rosatom is impossible. Fedorov refused, and almost immediately after the conflict with the governor, he ended up behind bars. He was charged with stealing two buildings from himself. And in the management of the enterprise, people immediately “surfaced” who were ready for any schemes for handing over the enterprise to the governor.

When representatives of Splav came to an appointment with Governor Mitin to ask him to apply to the court to change the preventive measure for Fedorov, Mitin, according to the walkers, answered this without any allegory: let him sell the enterprise or give a general power of attorney to manage the property of the corporation. Then, they say, the issue of release will be resolved. Very confusing, but the interest of the first person in the region is quite obvious.

It is possible that soon the security forces will turn their attention to all these "governor's scandals." It is quite possible that after that Sergei Mitin will not be limited to resignation “for own will", but will be under investigation. Experts believe that after some time, after Shalmuev and Nechaev, Governor Mitin himself may end up behind bars.

MURMANSK, February 13 - RIA Novosti. The head of the Novgorod region, Sergei Mitin, said on Monday that he was resigning as governor, and asked the president to give him a "new assignment." According to the decision of Vladimir Putin, the head of the Agency will temporarily act as the head of the region strategic initiatives(ASI) Alexey Nikitin.

Mitin has become the third governor in a week to resign. Earlier, the media reported on the possible resignation of several governors, including Perm's Viktor Basargin, who resigned last Monday, as well as the head of Buryatia, Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn, who announced his resignation a little less than a week ago.

At the end last week unconfirmed information was published in the media that Mitin would announce his resignation on Monday, February 13, and the general director of ASI Nikitin would become the new governor of the Novgorod region. However, last Friday this message was called rumors in the Agency for Strategic Initiatives.

A thoughtful and balanced move

On Monday, Mitin made an official public address. The head of the region announced the resignation of his powers. According to Mitin, he has decided not to run for governor in September. In addition, he asked the President "to give him a new assignment."

"I informed the President of the Russian Federation about this in advance. I turned to the head of state with a request to give me a new assignment. This is my deliberate and balanced step," Mitin said.

The ex-governor thanked everyone who worked with him, as well as all the residents of the region. “I sincerely fell in love with the Novgorod land, I consider it my native land. And no matter where I work, I undertake to devote all my strength and knowledge to the development and prosperity of the Novgorod land,” Mitin said.

The retired head of the region is 65 years old, in different years he was deputy minister of economy, industry, agriculture. In 2007, the Novgorod Regional Duma approved Mitin as governor, and in the fall of 2012, in the elections for the head of the region, Mitin won 75.95% of the vote.

The need for staff renewal

Experts interviewed by RIA Novosti believe that the resignation of Mitin, who has a "good reputation" with the federal authorities, may be due to the need to update managerial personnel in the region. Such an opinion, in particular, was expressed by Mikhail Vinogradov, President of the Petersburg Politics Foundation.

“Currently, (management) decisions are being made on a large group of governors whose term of office expires in 2017, and Mitin is one of them. Perhaps his resignation is connected with the desire to make the Novgorod region another platform for personnel renewal, for generational change in management elite," Vinogradov said.

According to the political scientist, Mitin was "in good standing" with the federal authorities. "On federal level the attitude towards him was quite benevolent," the expert noted, suggesting that in the future former leader Novgorod region may expect an "honorary appointment", including to federal bodies state power.

Speaking about the attitude towards Mitin in the region, the political scientist called him "different". However, in his opinion, disagreements with local politicians and officials, including the mayor of Veliky Novgorod, Yuri Bobryshev, could hardly seriously affect the decision to change the leadership of the region. "I don't think this is the reason for the resignation," Vinogradov added.

Remove barriers to business and attract investors

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree appointing Andrey Nikitin, CEO of ASI, as acting governor of the Novgorod region. The President held a working meeting with Nikitin, offered him a new position, noting that before his appointment he consulted with the resigned head of the region.

At the meeting, Putin asked Nikitin what areas he considers the most important and promising. “We have many iconic places in the country, but the Novgorod region occupies a special place, meaning that this is one of the places where the Russian land came from, as we say. If you look at the development prospects, how do you see this prospect? " Putin asked.

“Of course, Novgorod merchants, Russia has been known on world markets for several hundred years thanks to Novgorod merchants. And in addition to attracting investors, I think it is very important to remove all restrictions to the maximum extent, all barriers for those entrepreneurs who are already working in the Novgorod region, to give they have the opportunity to build a small, medium, and maybe even a large business," Nikitin said, noting that, in his opinion, these are the first steps that need to be taken from the point of view of the economy.

He stated that he intends to rely on the opinion of the inhabitants of the region, to deal with improvement and problems related to improving the quality of life. According to Nikitin, the Novgorod region is also very interesting from a logistical point of view.

“In fact, this is such a corridor between the two capitals. Probably, the priorities that could be (in the development of the region) are, firstly, the tourism industry; secondly, the industry associated with processing, which works for our main cluster population, which is located between Moscow and St. Petersburg. These may be Russian, foreign investors," he summed up.

Nikitin is 37 years old, in different years he worked in the Ruscomposite group of companies, including as a manager. In 2011 he was appointed to the position CEO ANO "Agency for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New Projects".

Hopes for the development of the economy

Representatives of parliamentary factions in the Novgorod Regional Duma, with the appointment of Acting Governor Nikitin, hope to develop the region's economy and attract investment.

According to Sergei Busurin, head of the United Russia faction in the regional Duma, the Novgorod region, like many other regions, needs economic acceleration. "Let's hope that the acting governor will justify the expectations of the population in terms of raising, improving, accelerating the pace of economic growth, creating new jobs. The appointment itself and his activities indicate that he is connected with the economy, with innovative development. And just the Novgorod region, like no other, located between St. Petersburg and Moscow, has every opportunity for this," Busurin told RIA Novosti.

The head of the LDPR faction in the regional Duma, Alexei Chursinov, hopes that the new appointment will help improve investment climate in the region. "It's hard to say so far, we, unfortunately, have not seen him in action. But it is a generally accepted practice that young people have more energy, more enthusiasm ... We naturally hope, since he worked at the ASI, his appointment will serve as an influx of "new blood" for existing business in the Novgorod region," Chursinov told RIA Novosti. The representative of the Liberal Democratic Party noted that his faction has repeatedly stated that for last years in the Novgorod region there was a "not very good" investment climate. "Let's hope this situation will change with the arrival of a new person," the regional parliamentarian said.

Alexander Kashitsyn, a member of the Just Russia faction in the Novgorod Regional Duma, hopes that Nikitin will attract new investments. “I want to believe in it… We need to make sure that the region develops dynamically,” Kashitsyn told RIA Novosti, noting that Nikitin “knows the problems of Russia in general and the Novgorod region in particular from the inside.” In his opinion, the replacement of the head of the region was necessary for the further development of the region.

Valery Gaidym, head of the Communist Party faction in the regional Duma, is cautious about the new appointment. “My opinion can only be formed based on the results of the activities of the new head of the region. I can’t give an assessment now ... I haven’t heard his (Nikitin’s) speeches, his program, I don’t know his goals, at least what priority plans he sets for himself, how establish interaction with political forces. Only time will tell," he said.

Constant rotation process

Some experts interviewed by RIA Novosti after the resignation of Viktor Basargin suggested that it should not be considered as a single, separate action, but "as new system which will now work.

HSE professor Oleg Matveichev, a political scientist, told the agency that in the fall, on the instructions of the first deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, a system for evaluating the performance of governors was developed, which was applied to all heads of regions, especially those whose terms of office are expiring.

“The task of this system is to have objective indicators, so that there is no taste: someone likes someone, doesn’t like someone, someone takes care of someone ... So that all this does not exist, so that the rating system works, so that there is nothing personal," the expert told RIA Novosti.

A similar point of view was expressed by the Chairman of the Board of the Development Fund civil society(ForGO) Konstantin Kostin, who believes that over the next few years it will be possible to observe the arrival of a new generation of managers at various leadership positions, including the positions of heads of subjects of the federation.

“This is an unconditional trend that was clearly marked last year, and, of course, it will continue. This process of generational change in this sense is extremely important for the entire system of state power,” the agency’s interlocutor noted.

Matveychev suggested that in the foreseeable future it would be possible to see a change of a dozen more regional leaders. “We have 15 governors whose terms of office are coming to an end, plus, probably, there are several more people who, as they say, did not meet the criteria for some reason. So, in principle, within six months or a year, maybe ten governors will be replaced: now five in the near future, then a few more after a while," he said.

Who is next?

On Monday it became known that the head of Karelia Alexander Khudilainen may resign this week. As a source in parliament told RIA Novosti, a director may be appointed instead of him. Federal Service bailiffs (FSSP) of Russia Artur Parfenchikov. However, the Kremlin did not comment on this information.

"We never announce information of this kind, if any decisions are made, we will inform you," said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the head of state.

He commented on the question of whether the "practice of the Varangians" justifies itself in the regions and why there are no worthy candidates in place.

“The “practice of the Varangians” is not always and far from everywhere used, as you call it, the president actually invites people to work who come from regions who began their careers as very expert in these regions, so I don’t think to put the question like this right," Peskov said.