The Yaroslavl region is one of the most politically active Russian regions, where gubernatorial elections will be held in the fall. In 2012, Yevgeny Urlashov, an open opponent of United Russia, was elected mayor here, and in 2013, Boris Nemtsov became a deputy of the regional Duma. Yaroslavl has a good reputation among election observers and consistently votes poorly for United Russia. With the new acting governor, security official Dmitry Mironov, frosts have begun in the region, but Yaroslavl political life has not yet been completely cemented.

Elusive interim

— Elections? When will they be? Mironov will probably be there? — YarSU physics department student Kirill is puzzled by my question. He likes Dmitry Mironov: “I see what he does for the region from the news. He came to my village, there was some kind of meeting there. But in a way that openly communicated with him - ​this did not happen - ​you feel that Kirill would like direct communication with the governor.

Acting Governor Dmitry Mironov, a KGB and FSO officer, former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, communicates little even with those with whom he is forced to work: Yaroslavl deputies and officials complain that the governor almost never attends meetings of the Yaroslavl Regional Duma, does not hold meetings with heads of municipalities, and when they see him, he speaks exclusively from paper. Yaroslavl residents were not accustomed to such closeness of the first person: past governors Anatoly Lisitsyn, Sergei Vakhrukov and Sergei Yastrebov were from the Yaroslavl region, lived in the city, and walked to work. Dmitry Mironov comes to work by car from a country base, where, they say, FSO officers were always stationed during high-profile visits.

“When Lisitsyn was governor, he gathered the heads of districts every week, and the heads of settlements—​there were 80 of them—​every month. Now there is no dialogue,” notes Oleg Vinogradov, the new head of the Yaroslavl branch of Yabloko. — Mironov does not meet with anyone, neither with deputies, nor with heads. I drove through 30 municipalities - there is devastation there. There is no sewage system in the settlement administrations, the toilet has a hole in the floor - this is a shame in the 21st century. Fences are painted over in Yaroslavl, pedestrian crossings are painted yellow, and the roads are full of potholes.”

“If earlier the governor had not come to the Duma meeting on an important issue, the deputies would have dispersed, saying: we will not consider the issue until the first person comes. Now third or fourth persons come, and everyone is silent,” says United Russia member Pavel Isaev, vice-speaker of the Yaroslavl Regional Duma. — We are trying to achieve meetings with the governor, but it is very difficult. During the year there was only one meeting with the leadership of the Duma. Previously, the governor gave out his cell phone to everyone; any deputy could dial him at night. Now there is no dialogue in principle - ​there are “happy” deputies who always agree with what the governor introduces.”

Dmitry Mironov was in the Yaroslavl Regional Duma three times: when he was just appointed, when he himself appointed the head of government, and when he reported on the work done for the year on June 6.

“It’s hard for him to even communicate with people. When the governor’s report was in the regional Duma, all the deputies sent their questions in advance, but we didn’t send them,” says the leader of the Yaroslavl communists, Alexander Vorobyov. - But they figured out my question, and I have information that they wrote him an answer ( Alexander Vorobyov asked the governor why he invited so many Muscovite officials and did not rely on local personnel. — Ed.). He could not find this answer in the pile of papers and said something incomprehensible. Previously, all the answers that we sent to the governor were signed by the governor, but now, at best, they are received by some deputy chairman of the government.”

The Novaya correspondent was also not lucky enough to talk with the acting governor during a business trip to Yaroslavl: when asked about an interview, the press service said that Mironov would not be in the city, and it was also not possible to organize a conversation with anyone from the government.

Great Varangian Revolution

Dmitry Mironov was appointed acting governor of the Yaroslavl region a little less than a year ago. He brought with him a team of officials from the Moscow region and almost completely replaced the managerial class in the region with them. The new chairman of the government, Dmitry Stepanenko, took over personnel policy and current management of the region, as did Dmitry Mironov, an FSO officer and a graduate of the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School.

Before becoming prime minister in the Yaroslavl region, Stepanenko served as minister of agriculture in the Moscow region. Dmitry Stepanenko brought his former advisers to the position of deputies - Maxim Avdeev, Roman Kolesov and Valery Kholodov, his former deputy Ekaterina Troitskaya, and secretariat employee Yuri Valdaev.

Soon after the arrival of the new governor, the leadership of the main municipalities changed, and Muscovites appeared here too: the former head of Kraskov near Moscow, Vladimir Volkov, headed the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky, and Alexey Konstantinov, who also graduated from the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School, became the head of the Rostov region.

Another deputy prime minister was Vitaly Tkachenko, a former top manager of Olympic construction projects and Novatek structures. CEC employee Oleg Zakharov, who participated in organizing the Crimean referendum, was appointed head of the election commission. Along with the new bosses came rank-and-file officials, and it is already difficult to calculate how many “Varangians” came to the region: some put the figure at 180 people, others at 250. The composition of entire government departments and the Yaroslavl mayor's office has changed, and territorial election commissions have been updated.

Some officials did not take root in their new places: the new mayor of Yaroslavl, Vladimir Sleptsov, who also owes his position to Mironov and Stepanenko, has already replaced the heads of departments that came with him several times in less than a year. Sleptsov, a former police officer and then an official of the mayor's office, has headed the administration of Khimki for the last few years - from there he took several leaders with him when he returned to the Yaroslavl mayor's office as head.

“The first group [of officials] in housing and communal services, already when they were fired, exhaled and said: “In the Moscow region, everything has been rebuilt on the municipal line. You sit down in a position, and everyone immediately comes to you and brings it to you, but you have to create everything from scratch,” says a member of the regional Duma, who asked that his last name not be used. — ​One person became the director of municipal baths. The first tenant came to meet him. He tells him: “You’ve got a million, then we’ll say hello and get to know each other.” But the bathhouse attendants raised such a fuss that he was imprisoned. (Sergei Lapshinov headed the Volna municipal unitary enterprise in October 2016, but had not worked even three months before he was convicted of bribing Novaya.) There are always bribes in municipal enterprises, but there has never been such impudence.”

The heads of regulatory agencies in the region have also changed. The regional prosecutor was dismissed by the decision of the president, along with a party of regional security officials who lost their posts in June.

The head of the Yaroslavl OFAS was fired in April - this was due to the fact that the antimonopoly authorities did not meet the new executive power halfway: they canceled the results of several road tenders and were openly against the introduction of a new single settlement center for housing and communal services "YarObleIRTs", requiring a 3.9% commission for intermediation , which many in Yaroslavl considered an undisguised tribute to the Moscow founders. In addition, confusion began with receipts: some received two payments at once, while others simply did not understand why the tariff had changed. However, slowly but surely the region is moving towards payments into a new structure.

“Before, everyone was from Yaroslavl, everyone knew each other, somehow everyone found ways to interact and promote their own interests. Now it’s impossible to come to an agreement, because there is a feeling that the Moscow team has come, they don’t perceive the Yaroslavl team at all - “this is a hostile environment for them,” says Yaroslavl sociologist Evgeny Golubev. — Everyone understands that the Moscow team has come for at least one term, Mironov will win the elections, there is no doubt about it, no one wants to quarrel openly. There is hidden discontent within many elite groups, but no one will go into open conflict: they don’t want to get involved. Mironov is an amazing person: he doesn’t decide anything, the chairman of the government decides.”

Yaroslavl State Duma deputy from A Just Russia Anatoly Greshnevikov, on the contrary, is very pleased with the new governor and his team: “They came, started a personnel purge, removed a huge number of those officials from the authorities who over the past ten years have destroyed both politics and civil society , underestimated the turnout in the elections. I meet with them every week, we resolve a huge number of issues, I am in good contact with the governor and with the chairman of the government Stepanenko. We have wonderful dialogues for an hour or two. Stepanenko is young and proactive. We are talking to him - he immediately recruits the minister, immediately recruits the prosecutor’s office. He resolves every complaint on the spot, without leaving. I like this style of work!”

“Everyone expected that a person like Mironov would come, but no one expected that with such assistants,” a former official in the housing and communal services sector, who was forced to resign with the arrival of the new governor, shared with Novaya. “And now people say: it seems like life wasn’t so bad!”

The collapse of the legendary Pashiks

The personal trust of the president is perhaps the main trump card of the new acting governor. “Mironov has access to the body, he can call [the president],” says the leader of the Yaroslavl communists, Alexander Vorobyov. — ​As far as I know, our antimonopoly officers were removed following a personal call from Mironov — ​without any presidential administration! But he won’t rule the region at the drop of a hat!”

The governor has a good relationship with Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika: in April he held an All-Russian meeting on protecting the rights of entrepreneurs in Yaroslavl. And in the fall, the son of the Prosecutor General, businessman Igor Chaika, established the “Center for Social Initiatives of the Yaroslavl Region” Charitable Foundation in the region. It is still unclear what exactly initiatives the fund is involved in. On Easter he brought the Holy Fire from Jerusalem to Yaroslavl. There are rumors in the local United Russia that the center is Dmitry Mironov’s election fund.

According to Novaya’s various interlocutors, such an appointment was initially expected in the region. The former governor Sergei Yastrebov was considered by many to be a dependent politician who was influenced by more active and ambitious representatives of the elite. They expected Mironov to “establish order” and an influx of federal money.

“Everyone expected that Yastrebov would be replaced, and many expected that he would be replaced by a Muscovite - such conversations have been going on for a long time,” says Anton Golitsyn, editor of the Yaroslavl editorial office of the Regnum agency and a deputy of the Yaroslavl municipality from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. - But this was associated with establishing order, with clear rules of the game. With a weak governor, some people believed that politics in the region was being led by people who should not be leading.”

“People who should not lead,” part of the Yaroslavl elite considered the top of the local “United Russia”: regional Duma deputies Ilya Osipova (former secretary of the regional branch of the party, last year he was promoted to the State Duma), Ilya Kruglov and Pavel Isaev, deputy governor for internal politics of Yuri Boyko, as well as the former head of the Yaroslavl municipality Pavel Zarubin. Ilya Kruglov is the head of the Avangard group of companies, which is involved in almost everything in the region: construction, pharmaceuticals, cafes, pharmacies, shops, cinemas, food production. People from Avangard form the main group of influence in Yaroslavl politics - ​it produced, for example, the former acting Mayor of Yaroslavl Alexey Malyutin.

Pavel Zarubin and Pavel Isaev are a tandem of United Russia political strategists who, according to popular belief, until recently had a great influence on the outcome of any elections in the region. The deputies even received a common nickname - Pashiki - and became an almost legendary phenomenon of Yaroslavl politics. It was this tandem that coordinated all the main campaigns of the Yaroslavl United Russia members and held in its hands the electoral machines that ensured the victory of the “necessary” United Russia candidates in elections at any level, from internal party primaries to the regional parliament.

The fact is that Yaroslavl election commissions are known for their cleanliness. “They looked more decent than other regions, the last chairman of the regional election commission was adequate, there were no loud scandals,” says Grigory Melkonyants, deputy executive director of the Golos association. “This is the result of the general development of civil society in the region; there is a fairly competitive environment there.”

“In the last 5-6 years, the election results [in the Yaroslavl region] have never been drawn,” says Yaroslavl sociologist Evgeny Golubev. Under these conditions, the desired result for United Russia was ensured by mobilization networks, in which the required number of voters must be agitated or bribed by specially hired foremen. The system works with low turnout and conscientious foremen. Since Zarubin and Isaev control these mobilization networks, many Yaroslavl deputies owe their victory to them, Yaroslavl observers told Novaya and was confirmed by a United Russia member who participated in the spring primaries before the municipal elections. Pavel Isaev, when asked by Novaya whether this was true, replied: “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“They were the main political strategists, the main “spreaders”: they interacted with all elite groups to one degree or another - ​these are internal diplomats who, using various contradictions, different interests, found interaction between these groups - ​dexterous, effective political managers" “, says Evgeny Golubev. But the new government did not need such managers, and even those with their own interests, and soon received “black marks.”

Yuri Boyko was dismissed - now the government, in principle, does not have a vice-governor responsible for domestic policy. Pavel Zarubin was stripped of his mandate after the prosecutor's office discovered a garage inherited from his father and not listed in the declaration. Pavel Isaev still retains both the mandate and the place of vice-speaker of the regional Duma, but now he does not control the United Russia campaign.

Ilya Osipov lost his place on the General Council of United Russia and control over the party in the Yaroslavl region: although the deputy still coordinates the work of United Russia in the Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Ivanovo and Tver regions, the elections of Dmitry Mironov will be personally supervised by Sergei Neverov.

Boulevard of the Invictus

Yaroslavl political life was quite lively until recently. Anatoly Ivanovich Lisitsyn, governor of the region from 1991 to 2007, and now a senator, is considered the founder of local democratic traditions - he is called in Yaroslavl by the respectful, well-known abbreviation AIL. The diplomatic Lisitsyn was replaced by Sergei Vakhrukov, a much tougher and more authoritarian leader. The residents of Yaroslavl did not appreciate the “strong hand”: in 2011, United Russia received one of the lowest results in the country here, not gaining even 30%, and Yabloko accelerated to 4.8%. In 2012, when opposition candidate Evgeny Urlashov appeared in the Yaroslavl mayoral elections, he defeated United Russia member Yakov Yakushev with a crushing score of 69.7% versus 27.8%.

Urlashov, encouraged by the victory and support of Mikhail Prokhorov, assembled perhaps the most capable branch of the “Civic Platform” in history and prepared to go to the gubernatorial elections. Thousands of citizens came to the “Rally against swindlers and thieves” on June 19, 2013 on the main square of Yaroslavl; Urlashov’s speech that “United Russia” is the most corrupt party, but nothing will work out for the swindlers in Yaroslavl, was greeted with applause. And less than a month later, Urlashov was detained and accused of extorting a bribe.

But Governor Vakhrukov did not sit still in his place. According to many, on the wave of protest, Urlashov could well have won the gubernatorial election, and the ominous image of the “people’s mayor”, who turned all the existing protest against the party and government, still frightens the local elite. Before the upcoming gubernatorial elections, maximum precautions were taken to ensure that none of those who “could repeat” would go so far as to register.

In 2013, RPR-PARNAS went to the elections to the regional Duma with Boris Nemtsov at the head of the list. The party received one mandate, and Boris Nemtsov suddenly appeared on the Yaroslavl political arena. The politician exposed abuses in government procurement and demanded the resignation of the new governor, Sergei Yastrebov. “When Nemtsov entered, he simply crushed people with his federal fame alone. It was very interesting to watch the deputy chairmen of the government, how they sweated when he asked them questions,” says Sergei Balabaev, deputy of the regional Duma and candidate for governor from PARNAS. On February 27, 2015, this short era in the history of Yaroslavl ended.

Social and political life here is still not fully cemented by the new government. In the regional Duma, there remains one mandate of PARNAS (now it is with Boris Nemtsov’s former assistant Vasily Tsependa), but the main parliamentary opposition is the Communist Party of the Russian Federation faction and its very authoritative leader Alexander Vorobyov. In the media sphere, a certain amount of life and fresh air also remains: there is a small branch of “Echo of Moscow”, opposing elite groups squabble in local anonymous telegram channels “YarPolitika” and “Urlashov’s Dreams” - the former is rumored to be associated with Zarubin and Isaev , and the second - with the mayor's office of Yaroslavl, which is hostile to them.

Alexei Navalny’s headquarters in Yaroslavl opened and exists without much interference: the first meeting with volunteers took place in the large hall of the local fashionable film club “Neft”, about 300 people came. Now the headquarters works peacefully in a small room in the center of Yaroslavl. Before the Saturday action on July 8, as throughout Russia, circulation of propaganda products disappeared in Yaroslavl: activists simply could not get them at the Delovye Linii terminal; newspapers and leaflets had already been confiscated. But, unlike the Moscow and some other headquarters, there were no searches or arrests. According to the head of the headquarters, Elena Lekiashvili, in Yaroslavl, as elsewhere, oppositionists are denied approval for locations for cubes under the pretext that everything is occupied.

Over the course of four days in Yaroslavl, I find three political events on the street, two of which take place as part of presidential campaigns: collecting signatures in support of Yabloko’s campaign against the war in Syria “Time to return home” (the beginning of Grigory Yavlinsky’s presidential campaign), a cube in support the nomination of Alexei Navalny for president and the collection of signatures against the replacement of cast iron barriers on Pervomaisky Boulevard. There are no police visible at any of the pickets, and no one is being detained.

The new mayor's plan to change the cast iron barriers on Pervomaisky Boulevard and replace them with steel ones caused a real scandal in the city. Unlike Moscow, Yaroslavl has not yet gotten used to the wave of fresh improvement initiatives that the new authorities brought from the capital region. Temporary shopping chalets on the embankment, an attempt to make the largest pancake (pancakes were collected from all schools, but then they had to be thrown away), installation of flower installations in the shape of hearts on the central boulevard (Yaroslavl residents compare them with another part of the body) - all this with tired skepticism would be accepted in Moscow, but for Yaroslavl this is still nonsense.

When city deputy Anton Golitsyn announced on his Facebook that the mayor's office was going to replace the cast-iron barriers of Pervomaisky Boulevard, installed seven years ago, with metal ones, such a commotion arose that the mayor's office was forced to hold a round table with the public, and then partially cancel its plans: the fences will be replaced, but not everywhere, and the boulevard will be left alone.

“This is a small part of the general style of work of the new mayor’s office, when, without consulting people, first they arrange the largest pancake in the country, then you need to make the longest scarf, and so on - ​this is window dressing that has come to the city,” says Alexander Vorobyov, standing at the red tent of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation: communists are collecting signatures against the replacement of fences.

A grandmother in jeans and a sports vest comes up to Vorobyov and asks: how to avoid choosing Mironov? The communist responds by asking: who do you want?

— Why do we need another Muscovite? Everything has already been given to Moscow. Where do we have benefits like Moscow? — ​another pensioner joins. — ​The zombie-box is taking over! I already tell people at work: “You take the money, but don’t vote for United Russia!” No one will come into the booth after you!

And 20-year-old accountant Yulia, acting governor, likes:

— He came to our area, he has answers to all questions.

In the first hour, the communists easily collect several hundred signatures—Yabloko and Navalny activists can only envy such a pace. By and large, few people here are interested in elections yet, but pressing urban problems are quickly mobilizing society. At the same time, city authorities have less and less power to solve such problems: the new regional administration is actively taking resources from municipalities. Among the most painful losses is the cancellation of direct elections for the mayor of Yaroslavl and the transfer of the Yaroslavl Vodokanal to the jurisdiction of the region.

Political institutions that had real influence on the state of affairs in the region are rapidly losing it under the new governor. “Previously, deputies of the regional Duma had a certain influence on the budget. Now a regional Duma deputy is a nobody: they don’t give him anything, he can’t do anything,” says Anton Golitsyn. — [Requests] are refused: simply no, that’s all. The mechanisms stopped working."

Dissatisfaction with the new order is still muted, but during Vladimir Putin’s visit to Yaroslavl, the communists went to Sovetskaya Square (near the regional administration) with a picket against Dmitry Mironov. "IN. Putin, you sent us the wrong one! We’re giving it back,” one of the posters frankly read. There are rumors in the region that Mironov, accustomed to non-public work, is himself burdened by his post and expects further career growth after the presidential elections. And Dmitry Stepanenko can take his place.

Elections with a filter, but without intrigue

There could have been truly competitive gubernatorial elections in the Yaroslavl region, but the possible intrigue was extinguished in advance: State Duma deputy and Socialist Revolutionary Anatoly Greshnevikov changed his mind about nominating his candidacy. One of the most popular public politicians in the region, he could compete with Dmitry Mironov. Back in the spring, there was talk about the nomination of Greshnevikov, but then it became known that it would not take place, and indeed no one from A Just Russia would apply for the position of Yaroslavl governor.

According to Kommersant, the non-nomination of Greshnevikov was part of a complex deal in which the leader of the Karelian Socialist Revolutionaries, Irina Petlyaeva, participated - she, too, was not supposed to run against the recent presidential appointee Arthur Parfenchikov and in return become a senator. The deal, however, did not take place. According to Greshnevikov, he was also offered a seat in the upper house, but he refused: “I was offered to go to the Federation Council, but I do not enter into such connections.” And the Socialist Revolutionary explains his refusal to be nominated by his reluctance to compete with “Putin’s friend.”

“It wouldn’t be difficult for me to collect a sufficient number of signatures: we have large representation in all municipal districts,” Greshnevikov told Novaya. - We have calculated everything, prepared everything. But then Dmitry Yuryevich Mironov was appointed from Moscow. There would be problems with passing the municipal filter, because this is a Kremlin man and a personal friend of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. An instruction would have been given: they signed it wrong, they did it wrong. And an important factor is that I have established good friendly relations with him. They came and did so much work in six months, fighting corruption and that unprofessional personnel policy that affected all regional and city departments. Therefore, we weighed everything: we do not pass the municipal filter, we have established good relations.”

As a result, in addition to Dmitry Mironov, communist Mikhail Paramonov, Yaroslavl Yabloko leader Oleg Vinogradov, Sergei Balabaev from PARNAS, Andrei Vatlin from the Liberal Democratic Party and Kirill Panko from the Communists of Russia were nominated for elections. Everyone passed the municipal filter except Vinogradov. According to several Yaroslavl deputies of different levels and parties, the acting headquarters collected signatures for all candidates who were eventually admitted to the elections - in the Yaroslavl region, the standard technology of total signature collection was used, which did not allow unwanted candidates to pass the municipal filter.

According to Oleg Vinogradov, it happened that deputies who wanted to sign for him were not accepted by the notary, while signatures for other candidates were collected in a directive manner. “Some district leaders told me: “We will be fired tomorrow and Muscovites will be assigned to the district if we do not collect signatures for Mironov.” “I don’t want these people to be removed,” says the Yabloko man. — ​The task of United Russia political strategists, as I understand it, is for Mironov to compete with his shadow. But it was important for me to try.”

Oleg Vinogradov is a veteran of Yaroslavl politics; he competed in the gubernatorial elections with Lisitsyn, and then worked with him as vice-governor. Afterwards there were several terms as a deputy in the regional Duma, and the post of adviser to the mayor of Urlashov. Vinogradov was not allowed to participate in the last elections to the regional Duma in 2013: the list of the “Civic Platform”, headed by Urlashov, who was already in prison, was not registered because the financial ombudsman disappeared at the last moment. Vinogradov recently headed the local branch of Yabloko: before that, it was headed by city deputy Vladimir Zubkov, but in Moscow they began to notice that the branch was not working as well as they would like, the powers of the branch were suspended, and the leadership was re-elected.

Communist Alexander Vorobyov complained that his fellow party members were also interfered with with the municipal filter: the signatures of some deputies of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation were “intercepted” by United Russia. “In general, during these elections I was surprised why they put a spoke in our wheels. After all, the authorities objectively benefit from our participation in the elections. I know that they are tasked with ensuring a turnout of at least 35% in Yaroslavl, and for this the elections must be of some interest. They did these machinations not to hinder us, but to block Vinogradov’s path. Maybe he’s inconvenient for them because everyone who was expelled from United Russia is now running to Yabloko,” says Vorobiev. Vorobiev did not put forward his candidacy in the elections instead of the not-so-famous fellow party member Mikhail Paramonov, according to him, because he is “not a business executive.”

PARNAS candidate Sergei Balabaev became a local sensation - he is the first nominee of Kasyanov’s party who was able to pass the municipal filter. According to several local deputies from United Russia, who asked not to be named, Balabaev was helped by district administrations in collecting signatures. Balabaev himself denies the help of United Russia, noting that he toured municipalities until late at night, collecting signatures.

Sergei Balabaev’s political biography is rich: in the early 2000s, he created “Youth Unity” in the region, then quarreled with United Russia. When Evgeny Urlashov created a branch of the “Civil Platform” in the region, Balabaev was elected from it to the regional Duma. In the 2016 State Duma elections he ran for A Just Russia. According to Balabaev, he left the Social Revolutionaries because he was tired of “sitting on the bench,” and spending his whole life in the regional Duma was not his dream.

“They ask me: will you smash Mironov? Why destroy him? I believe that we needed another person, not from the authorities of the Yaroslavl region. Certain elites were formed, which, due to their organizational capabilities, are not able to offer anything, which ate up the region. We are similar to Mironov, right?” - the oppositionist asks me.

None of my interlocutors in Yaroslavl gives the other candidates - Rybinsk regional Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Mikhail Paramonov, LDPR member Andrei Vatlin and unemployed Kostroma resident Kirill Panko from the Communists of Russia - ​none of my interlocutors in Yaroslavl much chance of success. “If Greshnevikov and Vorobyov had gone to the polls, there would have been a second round, and the result could have been unpredictable,” says Anton Golitsyn. “But they wouldn’t pass the municipal filter.”

“If the gubernatorial elections were held today, Mironov would have more than 52%,” Evgeny Golubev shares poll data from mid-June. - Sinners could get 7-8%, Balabaev - 5%. A quarter of voters are undecided. But if something serious happens over the summer, even if the situation turns a little negative now, there will be a second round. Today, no one is calculating what will happen in March. In our last elections, barely more than 50% voted for Putin. And if this time there are no more than 50, there will be organizational conclusions, and the elite will begin to shake again. By hook or by crook, they must gain more than 50%, but, in my opinion, they will not succeed using legal methods, and the president banned illegal methods in his elections. Now there is an overdose of information about Mironov - only Mironov is in all the media, and it will just play to reduce turnout. There will be administrative mobilization, but they don’t show up for one mobilization.”

“There is a very serious intrigue in the elections, not about who will become governor, but whether they will be able to make the required percentage,” says Anton Golitsyn. — ​The number of mistakes made by both regional and municipal authorities, the number of people who have already been personally negatively affected by them (the same receipts for housing and communal services) is already very large, a considerable part of the business is also affected, and ordinary administration employees are dissatisfied. And everyone understands that the Moscow bosses are above us, and we have somehow become accustomed to our own people - bad, drunk, thieving, but our own. If in the remaining time it dawns on people that this is not an election, but some kind of referendum of confidence in the new government, and the candidate against the government is any candidate except Dmitry Mironov, then the results may be unexpected.”

“The general came, marching in full formation - ​what good? “But nothing else is offered,” says Oleg Vinogradov. — ​Yaroslavl is a city of free people, and thank God. The authorities still need to bring serfs from the Moscow region, they still need to replace the people so that they can calmly cut money, and the people would remain silent. But we won’t give them such joy.”

By the end of the year, the region will receive 25 new school buses and 16 ambulances. This follows from the order signed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. In total, the federal budget will allocate more than 10 billion rubles for the purchase of such necessary transport for the country. For our part, we are also investing in updating the fleet. This year we bought 5 school buses, and over the past ten years we have handed over 240 PAZs and Gazelles to the districts for transporting students. They are used by

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Classes 2

The student parade today brought together more than five thousand youth representatives from the region. The column walked from the Spartakovets stadium to Sovetskaya Square. Cheerful, young, active! Student life is perhaps the brightest and most interesting time in the life of every person. I wish our students to spend these years usefully, so that the knowledge gained during their studies will be useful in their future work. Special attention today to freshmen. Scientific discoveries, meetings, creative and social activities await them. Not about

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Classes 3

Today we will discuss the implementation of the federal project “Improving the Volga” at a meeting in Astrakhan, which will be chaired by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. As part of this project, we plan to build, reconstruct and modernize sewage treatment facilities in Tutaev, the villages of Krasny Profintern, Kamenniki, Sudoverf and other settlements in the region. Our goal is to reduce the volume of untreated wastewater by three times in 5 years. The region will receive more than 7 billion rubles from the federal budget for this

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Classes 1

A large-scale project “Mobile Medicine” is being launched in the region with the participation of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia. I managed to coordinate this issue with the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and the leadership of the FMBA, as a result, mobile complexes will start in early September. Highly qualified specialists will advise patients and conduct diagnostic tests. This is especially important for residents of rural areas. On working trips to the regions of the region,

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Classes 8

We believed and rooted for her - and she did not disappoint! Yaroslavna Anastasia Kamneva is a gold medalist at the WorldSkills World Championship! In her most complex competency, “Laboratory Chemical Analysis”, she managed to beat competitors from 8 countries. This victory of the fifth-year YSTU student rightfully also belongs to the university, along with the Industrial and Economic College and the R-Pharm company, whose specialists prepared her for the competition. Congratulate everyone! At such moments you feel real pride in our youth,

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Uglich garbage connected the governor-silovik and the son of the Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika.

An unusual order from above came to all schools and kindergartens in Yaroslavl last school year. They were required to place on the stands next to the portraits of the president and prime minister a photo of the recently appointed acting governor Dmitry Mironov.

The scandal with the “cult of personality” had to be quickly leveled out. The initiative was attributed exclusively to employees of the Department of Education, and its head was approximately punished by deprivation of his position. However, the question of what it was in the first place - fawning or an unsuccessful attempt to “documentarily” consolidate the regime of authoritarian power in the region - remained open.

"Occupation Government"

While walking around the center of Yaroslavl, for a while you get the feeling that you are on the streets of Moscow. The painfully familiar blocked sidewalks where workers from Central Asia are creating “urbanism.”

Total show off. Houses in the city are falling apart, facades are collapsing. What do officials do? They move tiles from place to place, laundering budget money,” the former deputy is indignant. Mayor of Yaroslavl, and now the leader of the local Yabloko, Oleg Vinogradov.

He attributes the borrowing of capital improvement methods to the fact that over the past year, about 200 officials from the Moscow region moved to the region to work:

Mironov appointed Dmitry Stepanenko, his hunting and fishing friend, as head of government. He filled the region with “Varangians”. This is an occupation government.

Stepanenko, like Mironov himself, previously worked in the FSO, but before his appointment to Yaroslavl he managed to briefly serve as the Minister of Agriculture of the Moscow Region. Hence the appearance of non-local personnel in the region, including the former adviser to the governor - the son of Yuri Chaika. Dmitry Mironov himself was born in 1968 in Khabarovsk. He graduated from a military school and served in various positions in state security and defense agencies of the Russian Federation. Then he moved to serve in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and was an assistant to the head of the department. Almost nothing is known about the governor’s personal life. Before his appointment as acting head of the region, he did not have any experience of participating in politics or working in the civil service.

All key positions in power were occupied by non-Yaroslavl residents. And this choice is not clearly commented on. In fact, some elites were simply replaced by others, local journalist Alexey Yakovlev confirmed.

A well-known politician in the region, ex-head of the Yaroslavl municipality Pavel Zarubin, in a conversation with Sobesednik, claims that the war between “locals” and “non-locals” has been going on all year since Mironov’s appointment as acting governor:

In any case, this negatively affects work efficiency. There is a total replacement of all power - from senior leaders to even village chiefs. Yaroslavl has always been famous for its democratic pluralism. It seems that the new head decided that it is easier to change people than mentality.

They are removing everyone who is accustomed to a policy of agreements and compromises, and not to following the command “fall and do push-ups.” In their place are put those who are ready for strict subordination.

With closed visor

Mironov is reproached for avoiding publicity. Having worked in law enforcement agencies almost his entire life, he became accustomed to a different political style. And even the proximity of the single voting day - September 10 - did not encourage him to open up.

The election campaign in Yaroslavl hardly feels intense and competitive. During the two days I spent in the city, I noticed only one election billboard with a photograph of Mironov. And this is a region that has always been famous for political battles! Suffice it to remember that Boris Nemtsov was a deputy of the regional Duma here, and the subsequently convicted Evgeny Urlashov, who refused to join United Russia, was elected mayor of Yaroslavl. On the other hand, as for the Yaroslavl “Yabloko”, it once included Elena Mizulina and Sergei Vakhrukov.

In fact, this is not an election, but a referendum. High or low voter turnout will show the degree of trust in Mironov, says Pavel Zarubin.

Journalist Yakovlev notes that fewer and fewer people dare to openly object to the governor:

Any public discussion ceased. She went to the kitchens. The media is also being purged.

Alexey himself also suffered for criticizing the head of the region. After a series of materials, he was fired from his position as chief editor of the Yaroslavl branch of the Regnum news agency.

Garbage Seagulls and corruption

In winter, for almost a month in the ancient Yaroslavl city of Uglich, no one took out garbage, and the number of spontaneous landfills increased. The “garbage” topic is actively discussed by Yaroslavl politicians: they say that the youngest son of Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, Igor, is showing interest in the business of removing household waste in the region. Charter LLC, associated with it, had already concluded the first cleaning contract with officials - naturally, the company had no competitors. Other agreements are not far off - it is not for nothing that Igor Chaika appears next to Dmitry Mironov during church services. By the way, on the Instagram of the current Yaroslavl Prime Minister, a year ago, photographs were also posted of the then Agrarian Minister of the Moscow Region, Dmitry Stepanenko, with Igor Chaika at a conference in China, where Stepanenko represented the Prosecutor General as a “Russian investor,” with whom he was “developing new sales markets.” for Russian food producers.

Dmitry Mironov and Igor Chaika defiantly appear in public places together

The region expected Mironov to fight corruption, but not a single high-profile criminal case was opened in a year, and all the dark schemes continue to exist. Those officials who are not ready to work are subject to dismissal, says Alexey Yakovlev.

He calls the creation of a single information and settlement center the main scam of the year. This private structure was given the authority to collect payments for housing and communal services from the entire region. The regional department of the FAS spoke out against the creation of such, as journalists put it, a “feeding trough for our own,” but immediately after that its head had to resign.

"Discontent will grow"

If pensioners in Yaroslavl are teetering on the brink of poverty, then officials are not at all. The region turned out to be one of the leaders in terms of salaries for employees of the executive authorities of the Central Federal District after Moscow and the Moscow region. The average salary is 49 thousand 527 rubles per month.

The budget also incurs costs for servicing “foreign” officials - they are paid 35 thousand rubles monthly to pay for rented housing. It is interesting that Dmitry Mironov himself lives in Yaroslavl at the expense of the people’s treasury, although, according to his declaration, he has a spacious apartment in Moscow. However, of course, you don’t drive the governor’s Mercedes-Benz GL 350 from the capital to work every day.

Many hoped that thanks to their proximity to President Mironov, it would be possible to obtain additional funding for the region from Moscow. But the amounts raised cannot be called exorbitant. Propaganda posters report that “more than 8 billion rubles have been raised from the federal budget for the development of our region.” In the capital, more is spent on light bulbs on trees for the holidays.

Over the course of a year, Mironov failed to overcome the chronic underfunding of many important areas, points out Pavel Zarubin. Oleg Vinogradov warns that due to unfulfilled hopes for a new Kremlin appointee, the situation in the future threatens a social explosion.

They expected the person to restore order, but this did not happen. They just plunder the region. Yaroslavl residents are disappointed, and discontent will grow, predicts Alexey Yakovlev.

Among Mironov’s merits are the repair of the Kotoroslny Bridge and the closure of a garbage dump near Pereslavl. Not a very long list for 12 months of work. True, there are still 5 years ahead, because the candidate has little chance of losing the elections, which have been turned into a formality.

Biography

• 1968

• 1990

  Graduated from the Moscow Higher Military Combined Arms Command School named after the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.

• 1990

  From 1990 to 2013, he continuously served in various positions in the KGB of the USSR and state security agencies of the Russian Federation.

• 2013

  In 2013, he joined the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs as an assistant to the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.

• 2014

  In February 2014, he was appointed first deputy head of the Main Criminal Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

• 2014

  From May 12, 2014 to December 2015, Dmitry Mironov headed the Main Directorate of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

• 2015

  In 2015, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.

• 2016

  On July 28, 2016, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, he was appointed acting governor of the Yaroslavl region.

• 2017

  Governor of the Yaroslavl region

• Dmitry Mironov was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree with swords. Lieutenant General of Police.

Authority

Governor of the Yaroslavl region:

1. Represents the Yaroslavl region in relations with federal government bodies, government bodies of other constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local government bodies and in the implementation of foreign economic relations, while having the right to sign contracts and agreements on behalf of the Yaroslavl region;

2. Determines the main directions of state policy of the Yaroslavl region;

3. Promulgate laws, certifying their promulgation by signing, or reject laws adopted by the Yaroslavl Regional Duma;