“Demobilization chord” by Governor Pasler
Is the Kremlin looking for a replacement for the Orenburg governor?
Publications continue to appear in the press about the upcoming resignation of the head of the Orenburg region Denis Pasler. This time, Vedomosti reported his possible departure, citing sources close to the presidential administration. Previously, the media wrote that Pasler was ready to resign from his position of his own free will, but the Kremlin refused to approve his resignation. Today the situation has changed and an official who showed himself far from the best side as a business executive can return to the structures of the Renova group of billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, where he once held senior positions. The main reason why the Kremlin may make a personnel decision regarding Pasler was the flood situation in the region, where 14.4 thousand residential buildings and about 23 thousand household plots were flooded, and the amount of damage caused exceeded 40 billion rubles. The loud scandal with the breakthrough of a dam in Orsk, on the construction of which nearly a billion was spent, has not subsided either. Shortly before the accident, the mayor of the city, Vasily Kozupitsa, convinced the townspeople of the strength of the structure and the absence of a threat of flooding, and after it it turned out that Rostechnadzor had identified dozens of violations in the maintenance of the dam, and orders to eliminate them could be simply ignored. Now the federal center will deal with the causes of the emergency, and the Investigative Committee will have to give a legal assessment of the actions of officials. Accusations of committing crimes of a corruption nature were repeatedly heard against members of Pasler’s team: Minister of Architecture Natalya Ibragimova, Deputy Minister of Culture Anatoly Chakheev, head of the transport department of the regional Ministry of Construction Dmitry Mikhailov and his deputy Sergei Levin were involved in criminal cases. Searches were carried out at the mayor of Orenburg Vladimir Ilinykh, but in 2021 he managed to be elected to the State Duma and received parliamentary immunity. It is not surprising that during the period of Pasler’s governorship, the Orenburg region was among the most corrupt regions, while demonstrating the worst indicators in socio-economic development ratings.
Is Denis Pasler preparing to go into business?
Vedomosti, citing its own sources close to the presidential administration, reports about the possible resignation of three heads of Russian regions within the next month. Despite the fact that, with a high degree of probability, resignations will not affect governors whose first term of office expires this year, the head of the Orenburg region may become an exception Denis Pasler.
On Pasler’s possible resignation from his position in the spring of 2024, Vedomosti wrote back last November. And in early April, his name appeared among potential retirees in research “Influence rating of heads of constituent entities of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism). Russian regions and regional policy in March 2024″, prepared by “Agency for Political and Economic Communications” (APEC).
By the way, back in 2021, according to information portal RBC, the presidential administration discussed the resignation of the Orenburg governor, and this was allegedly his personal initiative. However, after consultations, the federal center came to the conclusion that there were no complaints about Pasler’s work. In turn, in publications “Novye Izvestia” states that in 2022-2023. The official repeatedly “signaled to the Kremlin” of his desire to resign from his post, but all this time they stubbornly refused to approve his resignation.
All sources unanimously agree: Pasler is openly burdened by the governor’s work. How write same Vedomosti, it’s much more comfortable “felt like I was in business”. Speaks out opinion according to which the official may well return as a top manager to the oligarch’s structures Victor Vekselberg: it is known that at one time Pasler held the post chairman of the board PJSC “T Plus” – the largest private company included in the group “Renova”operating in the electricity and heat supply market.
The governor’s career was damaged by the flood
Today the situation has changed radically and one of the main reasons prompting the Kremlin to consider replacing Pasler was the situation with floods in the region where they found themselves flooded 14.4 thousand residential buildings and about 23 thousand personal plots. The extent of damage caused by regional authorities appreciated more than in 40 billion rubles. And the big question is whether this figure will be adjusted upward.
An indicative incident occurred in Orsk, where due to a dam break it was necessary to evacuate more than 2.5 thousand inhabitants, and several human deaths occurred, although the city authorities categorically deny their connection with the flood. The cost of a protective structure that could not withstand the pressure of water exceeded 910 million rublesit was built with funds from the regional budget.
It is noteworthy that literally two days before the large-scale emergency, the mayor of Orsk Vasily Kozupitsa in your Telegram channel convinced citizens in the strength of the dam and the absence of the threat of flooding. After the city streets went under water, the director of the company responsible for the construction of the structure “Spetsstroy” Sergey Komarov publicly blamed for the disaster… those who undermined the dam rodents .
In response, the head of the federal Ministry of Construction, who arrived in Orenburg Irek Faizullin, stated about the upcoming investigation the causes of the accident, including the role of pest animals. An attempt to extinguish the scandal was made by Denis Pasler: according to him words , a dam break in Orsk occurred due to a record release of water that exceeded the level of the structure itself. At the same time, the governor called for abandoning the search“witches”without specifying, however, whether by such he means rodents, businessman Komarov or the overly optimistic mayor Kozupitsa.
The notorious dam is associated with a number of scandals. It turns out that back in 2014, the Federal Financial Supervision Service identified violations when spending budget funds during the execution of the contract for its construction: acting as the customer State Unitary Enterprise “Oblzhilkomkhoz” paid for uncompleted work in the amount of 51.2 million rubles.
But this was still during the period of governorship Yuri Berg, and in June 2020, that is, already under Pasler, Rostechnadzor identified 38 violations in the maintenance of the dam. As a result, the municipality got off with a pittance fine V 20 thousand rubles and promises to eliminate shortcomings, but whether they were fulfilled remained unknown due to the moratorium on unscheduled inspections. From publications portal “74.Ru“It follows that the supervisory agency sent warnings to the Orsk administration until February 2024. Almost until the thunder struck…
Pasler’s corrupt cadres
The fact that Pasler is really depressed by the performance of his duties as governor became obvious during a meeting with an initiative group of Orsk residents. Then he not only demanded in an ultimatum form that visitors put away their phones, but also complained and the interrupted vacation he took “for the first time in five years”. The Kremlin, and specifically the presidential press secretary, had to stand up for the official Dmitry Peskov, explained behavior of the head of the region “intense work with the population”.
However, journalists noticed to those characteristic of Pasler “isolation from the common people”And “inability to manage situations”, which failed him even in those years when he headed the government of the Sverdlovsk region. Returning to the topic of Orsk and the ill-fated dam, we will add that the Investigative Committee has initiated criminal case under articles of negligence and violation of safety rules during construction work. Now the security forces will have to give a legal assessment of the actions of officials responsible for the construction, maintenance and operation of the structure.
It is possible, however, that the answer to the question into whose pockets part of the funds allocated for the construction of a structure that could not withstand the flow of water was “washed away” will be given under the new head of the region. Members of Pasler’s own team have repeatedly become anti-heroes of corruption scandals. Thus, in March 2021, employees of the regional department of economic security and counteraction corruption The Ministry of Internal Affairs visited with searches to the Orenburg mayor’s office, as well as to the home of the mayor of the regional center Vladimir Ilyinykh.
Ilyinykh himself fact of carrying out operational activities confirmed , emphasizing, however, that no specific charges have been brought against him. The searches were related to government contracts for the improvement of the city, in particular, police interested financial and economic activities of municipal enterprises “Komservice”,“BiOz” And “Orenburgservice”. Despite the resonant nature investigations, there were no consequences for Vladimir Ilinykh. Moreover, he even went for a promotion, being elected in September 2021 State Duma and receiving parliamentary immunity.
This turn of events caused violent indignation among the residents of Orenburg. It even appeared online petition addressed to the president, prime minister Mikhail MishustinProsecutor General Igor Krasnov and Governor Denis Pasler. Its author demanded that the Ilins be deprived of their mandate and listed the dubious “merits” of the newly-minted parliamentarian, such as the failure of the garbage reform, reluctance to respond to citizens’ appeals and refusal to participate in the adoption of amendments to the city charter. It is noteworthy that Ilinykh is a long-time acquaintance of Pasler, in 2016-2019. occupied job title Deputy Chairman of the Sverdlovsk Regional Legislative Assembly Committee on Youth politicsdevelopment of physical education, sports and tourism.
It seems that the head of the region managed to “please his dear little man” by promptly removing him from the attack. But to the Minister of Architecture of the Orenburg Region Natalia Ibragimova no luck: last year she became person involved criminal case of theft 19 million rubles when implementing improvement programs. Another member of Pasler’s team is the former Deputy Minister of Culture Anatoly Chakheev got burned on bribes received from the management of one of the construction companies “for general patronage” and assistance in obtaining contracts for the repair of facilities, including within the framework of the “Culture” national project.
Ended up under house arrest for bribes arrest head of the transport department of the regional Ministry of Construction Dmitry Mikhailovand in relation to his deputy Sergei Levin the court limited itself ban to perform certain actions. Pasler categorically comments on the criminal prosecution of his subordinates refused , citing his lack of “operational information.” However, he emphasized What “time will put everything in its place”And “the time will come, conclusions will be drawn”.
Unenviable ratings of the Orenburg region
Perhaps Pasler made the appropriate conclusions long ago and decided to “give up” the governorship. But the Kremlin did not approve his departure. Perhaps, because at first glance, according to the main indicators, the Orenburg region is a typical “middle peasant” region, which according to the results of 2023 took 40th place in ranking subjects of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism), prepared by experts from RIA Novosti.
Meanwhile, in terms of the level of material well-being of the population, last year’s results turned out to be much less impressive: the region entrusted to Pasler’s care was in 59th place rating . When compiling it taken into account the ratio of the median income of citizens to the cost of a fixed set of consumer goods and services, the average monthly volume of deposits and other funds of individuals in banks per inhabitant, the share of families able to take out a mortgage on real estate, as well as the share of the population with a monthly income exceeding 60 thousand rubles.
As recently as early March, the media, citing Orenburgstat data, reported about the low birth rate in the region and the natural population decline, which amounted to 9,096 people as of December 2023. By information According to FederalPress, over 20 years the number of residents in the region has decreased by 18%: losses exceeded 330 thousand people. Among reasons Experts call the demographic crisis a decrease in the number of women of childbearing age and the insufficient effect of government measures to support families with children.
Residents complain to the so-called “optimization” of the healthcare system, which consists of merging a number of medical institutions, and deterioration in the quality of medical care provided. For example, last year the Orenburg region was among the regions where the issuance of ventilators patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. An incident became widely known when a resident of Orenburg was sued for poor quality medical care during childbirth collected from two hospitals more 1 million rubles.
But in terms of level criminogenicity at the end of last year, the Orenburg region took 23rd place: the number of crimes registered per 10 thousand residents was 120.6, of which 34.3 were serious and especially serious. Also, under Governor Pasler, the region was repeatedly among most corrupt subjects of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism).
Against the backdrop of such unimpressive “successes,” the dam in Orsk can indeed become a kind of symbol of the final act of not only the governor’s, but also the political career of Denis Pasler. Is the former boss, head of the Sverdlovsk region, ready to take him back under his “wing”? Evgeniy Kuyvashev – big question. Apparently, the only option left is to go into private business, or more precisely, like the “prodigal son” to return to the Renova structures to Viktor Vekselberg.
