Despite the fact that Andrei Yuryevich Vorobyov is a public person, the initial stage of his biography is, if not a mystery shrouded in darkness, then, in any case, raises many questions for a meticulous researcher.

Judge for yourself. It is known for sure that Andrei Vorobyov was born in the city of Krasnoyarsk, in the student family of Yuri Leonidovich and Lyudmila Ivanovna Vorobyov. It is known for sure that Andrei Vorobyov graduated from school in his native Krasnoyarsk in 1987 (his father by that time was the first secretary of the city committee of the small town of Sosnovoborsk, actually a suburb of Krasnoyarsk, where the Krasnoyarsk plant of automobile and tractor trailers was located). And then the ambiguities begin.

For example, in the official biography of Andrei Vorobyov it is indicated that in the period from 1988 to 1989 he served in the internal troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the Special Purpose Operational Division named after. F.D. Dzerzhinsky. It is clear why he served for a year; at that time, full-time university students, among others, were subject to conscription, and in 1989 they were all dismissed from the ranks of the Armed Forces, regardless of their length of service. But then the question arises: why is the university where Vorobiev studied before being drafted and where he returned after being transferred to the reserve not indicated?

True, all official biographies of Andrei Vorobyov indicate that in 1995 he graduated from North Ossetian State University. K.L. Khetagurova with a degree in commerce. But this fact gives rise to many new questions. Vorobyov was called up after his first year, which means he had to study for another four years, why did he study for six years? How did he combine his studies at a Vladikavkaz university with business in Moscow and the Moscow region? Why did he choose North Ossetia, and not Moscow or, for example, his native Krasnoyarsk? Maybe someday Andrei Yuryevich Vorobiev will answer these questions, but for now we can only guess how everything really happened.

For example, it is quite possible that Andrei Vorobyov, having entered one of the universities of Krasnoyarsk (such as polytechnic or non-ferrous metals), did not succeed much in his studies there, and, having served his military service, did not return to the institute, but remained in Moscow and took up business. Fortunately, at that time his father, being an inspector of the Krasnoyarsk City Committee, was in charge of the cooperatives and small enterprises that were emerging as part of the “reform of the socialist economy.”

Andrei Yuryevich Vorobyov became too busy a person to waste time on such trifles as studying at a university, so he most likely acquired a diploma of higher education by “solving the issue.” Although, it is quite possible that all this is not so and Vorobiev was indeed a diligent student, attending sessions between transactions. He himself has not yet bothered to clarify this matter.

Business of Andrey Vorobyov

Be that as it may, Andrei Vorobyov started a business that was very diverse and even included the supply of alcohol from North Ossetia. But Vorobyov’s business was especially successful when he began importing pollock and salmon from Norway.

In 1997, he acquired an abandoned vegetable warehouse in Noginsk near Moscow, building a fish processing plant at Bogorodskryba CJSC in its place. The company successfully survived the 1998 crisis and gradually increased its turnover. Soon the Russian Sea group of companies was created, which after some time became the largest supplier and distributor of chilled and fresh-frozen fish and seafood.

Politician Andrey Vorobyov

But Andrei Vorobyov was already cramped in the business world; he wanted to try himself in politics, fortunately such an opportunity presented itself in 2000. In January of this year, an old friend of his father, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Sergei Shoigu, became Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Government, without leaving the post of minister.

Andrei Vorobyov was appointed his assistant and remained in this position until May, when Shoigu remained in the new cabinet of Mikhail Kasyanov as a simple minister. Well, Andrei Vorobev, remembering his business background, was entrusted with a very important task: to be the custodian of the Unity party fund. His task was to attract money from donors for various party projects.

Every month it was possible to raise from 10 to 150 thousand rubles from each of the 42 regional branches of the party. Andrey Vorobyov also interacted with sponsors who made donations through unofficial channels.

The activities of Andrei Vorobyov in this post were appreciated. In 2002, he became a member of the Federation Council from the executive branch of the Republic of Adygea. Well, a year later he was elected to the State Duma from United Russia. In the Duma, he immediately took the post of deputy head of the faction (the chairman of the faction was then Boris Gryzlov), and in 2005 he was elected head of the party’s Central Executive Committee. This is how Andrei Vorobyov rose to the top of the party Olympus.

Offshore Vorobyov

Being a prominent United Russia member, Andrei Yuryevich Vorobyov could no longer engage in business. In 2002, he resigned from the post of general director of Russian Sea CJSC (the parent structure of the company group) and sold his 60 percent of shares to his own brother Maxim. However, Vorobiev was in no hurry to retire completely. He is still, through an intricate network of offshore companies, one of the main beneficiaries of the Russian Sea Group of Companies. The other main beneficiaries, besides his brother, are the parents of Andrei Vorobyov.

In general, the Vorobyov family is known for the fact that, having insider information and the necessary connections, they almost openly trade in the “needed” signatures. They even said that it was not a problem for the Vorobyovs to get an autograph from Putin himself. For example, they say that it was Andrei Yuryevich Vorobyov who contributed to the resignation of the governor of the Murmansk region, Yuri Evdokimov, who “did not have a good relationship” with him, to the more flexible Dmitry Dmitrienko, who turned out to be much more favorable to the “Russian Sea”.

It should be noted that even after selling his business, Vorobiev continued to root for his brainchild and made every effort for its prosperity. For example, he pulled off such a profitable business as purchasing the assets of the former governor of Primorye Sergei Darkin. Thus, in 2012, the Russian Sea Group of Companies acquired the Nakhodka Base of Active Marine Fisheries OJSC (NBAMR), the main shareholder of which was Darkin’s wife Larisa Belobrova.

The Russian Sea paid about $300 million for the NBAMR. Considering that NBAMBR is the second Russian fishing company in terms of quotas for the extraction of aquatic biological resources, has 17 of its own vessels and catches about 170 thousand tons of fish and seafood in the Bering and Okhotsk Seas, then the Vorobyov family has seriously increased its assets.

Vorobev's dissertation

As the head of the Central Election Commission of United Russia, Andrei Yuryevich Vorobyov became involved in a scandal related to his dissertation, which he defended in 2004. In his 165-page dissertation, 107 were plagiarized from other sources.

Of course, all this can be explained by the fact that Vorobyov himself did not write any dissertation, but simply gave instructions to “specially trained people.” But these people were too cool about their work. Why Andrei Yuryevich Vorobyov needed such profanity is unknown. After all, being an intelligent person, he perfectly understands that such work does not have any scientific value. Was all this really so that Vorobiev could show off his PhD in Economics?

In 2011, United Russia received much fewer votes than expected during the elections to the State Duma. Party leader Dmitry Medvedev demanded that organizational conclusions be made regarding those responsible for the failure of the election campaign.

As a result, Andrei Vorobyov became one of the “extreme” ones, who, according to Dmitry Anatolyevich, was too carried away by parliamentary activities to the detriment of party activities. Thus, Andrei Vorobyov was forced to leave his post as head of the Central Election Commission of United Russia. But in the parliament of the new convocation, he headed the party faction.

Vorobyov in Krasnogorsk

In 2012, the head of the military department, Anatoly Serdyukov, fell from his chair with a bang, soon retraining from a minister to a defendant in a criminal case. In his place was appointed governor of the Moscow Region, Sergei Shoigu, who not only had been an all-Russian rescuer for a long time, but was also an old friend of Andrei Vorobyov’s father from the time they worked together in Krasnoyarsk.

Thus, the position of head of the administration of the Moscow region became vacant, and Yuri Leonidovich Vorobyov made it clear to his friend that his son had “stayed too long” in the Duma and really wanted to work independently. Sergei Kuzhugetovich, of course, did not refuse and soon Andrei Yuryevich Vorobyov was appointed acting governor.

Having transferred the reins of the faction into the hands of Vladimir Vasilyev, Vorobiev immediately began to settle down in Krasnogorsk and prepare for the elections, which were scheduled for September 2013. Andrei Vorobyov was not worried about his election. He did not advertise his business, and only politicized bloggers knew about the scandal with his PhD thesis. As for the remaining weaknesses, that is, participation in and the presence of property and accounts abroad, Vorobyov had nothing to “present” here either. He knew how to find a common language with voters, especially older ones, and besides, he had not only the full power of the propaganda machine as a candidate from the party in power, but also Shoigu’s charisma.

Therefore, it is not surprising that during the voting Andrei Yuryevich received 79 percent of the votes (for comparison, Sergei Sobyanin on the same day in the Moscow mayoral elections with 51 percent of the votes barely managed to avoid the second round), while his closest pursuer, candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Konstantin Cheremisov did not receive even eight percent.

The regional elections were also a failure of the so-called. white-ribbon opposition. Her candidate, Gennady Gudkov, with four percent of the votes looked very pathetic, especially compared to the almost triumph of Alexei Navalny in Moscow with 27 percent of the votes. True, the turnout in the elections in the Moscow region was not much higher than in Moscow (38 percent versus 32), but, unlike Moscow, the Moscow region “Protestants” were unable to mobilize their electorate, while Andrei Vorobyov succeeded in this.

Governor Andrey Vorobyov

Having successfully been elected to the governor's post, Andrei Yuryevich continued the line pursued by Shoigu. In particular, he continued to purge the “overstaying” heads of administrations and initiated a number of criminal cases against particularly “presumptuous” individuals. He began to seriously engage in forests near Moscow, to restore order in the land sector and the construction of the Moscow region, the situation in which during the time of the former governor Boris Gromov it was impossible to characterize anything other than “lawlessness.” The government of the Moscow region also began to work more openly.

However, continuing Shoigu’s line, Andrei Vorobyov was still not Shoigu. His political weight did not allow him to begin a full-scale purge of the Moscow region elite. He fired mainly second- and third-tier officials who “took inappropriately.” Andrei Yuryevich Vorobyov was afraid to touch serious people; in the worst case for them, he simply sent them into retirement, like the long-term head of the Odintsovo district administration, Alexander Gladyshev. Therefore, the “old cadres” that had been quiet began to raise their heads again.

For three and a half years, Andrei Vorobyov has been at the head of the Moscow region. And for at least two and a half years he has been actively trying to build municipal power for himself. This is done simply - through the abolition of the main democratic institutions - direct elections of heads of districts and cities. At the same time, Mr. Vorobyov forms a support matrix of financial and business structures - they become monopoly partners of the regional administration in key areas. The redistribution of the political and business field did not occur without the participation of Sergei Shoigu, who in 2012 hastily transferred the region “inherited” to the son of his deputy. However, neither Vorobyov’s city managers nor the large financial and industrial groups that have entered the region are capable of systematically solving the problems of the Moscow region. Instead, they constantly generate discontent not only among local residents, but also among local elites.

Old people - get out! Honor to the young!

The thesis that Andrei Vorobyov voiced at every corner when embarking on personnel changes in municipalities near Moscow was the following: it is necessary to create a non-corrupt management system of people who think in a new way and are capable of developing the region. Those who do not understand this, we will break through the knee - it was read in his speeches.

Indeed, by 2012, the Moscow region resembled a reserve of appanage princelings who not only sat out the collapse of the country in the early 90s, but created their own business empires and provided for their descendants for as much as a hundred years to come. And, of course, they had a well-established system for taking into account the interests of all their friends and enemies. Judge for yourself: Leonid Kovalevsky (Domodedovo district) ruled the district for 23 years, Alexander Taskin (Serebryano-Prudsky district) - 21 years, Nikolay Moskalev (Podolsky district) - 21, Pavel Chelpan (Stupinsky district) - 21, Vladimir Laptev (Noginsky district) - 21, Alexey Filippov (Orekhovo-Zuevsky district) - 21, Alexander Gladyshev (Odintsovo district) - 21, Valery Prokh (Dubna) - 21, Valery Shuvalov (Kolomna) - 21, Valery Gavrilov (Dmitrovsky district) - 21, Alexander Postrigan (Klinsky district) - 20, Boris Rasskazov (Krasnogorsky district) - 16, Mikhail Lavrov (Egoryevsky district) - 16, Vladimir Demin (Ramensky district) - 16, Alexander Khodyrev (Reutov) - 16, Anna Shcherba (Istrinsky district) - 15 years. It is clear that with such baggage there could be no talk of any reforms. Personnel required replacement.

It was obvious that Vorobiev would put his own people in line - the banal logic of the “team”. The question is how he did it. Here, his very appointment played a cruel joke on the governor. Being a member of the so-called “Shoigu clan,” at first, when making personnel appointments, he was forced to take into account several factors at once. First of all, of course, the “wishes” from federal structures when choosing their closest circle. Thus, the son of the Prosecutor General of Russia, Igor Chaika, joined Vorobyov’s team, and the son-in-law of the Minister of Defense, Alexey Zakharov, became the regional prosecutor.

However, as the media have repeatedly written, the newly appointed governor made appointments in the government and, a little later, in municipalities not only based on family and friendly ties. It is very likely that the criminal business also had an influence on his personnel policy. So, they say that the former Minister of Ecology of the region Anzor Shomakhov was added to the office by Gavriil Yushvaev (known as Garik “Makhachkala”), a former co-owner of the Wimm-Bill-Dann company, and now one of the co-owners of the former flour mill No. 4 in Moscow, on the territory which is about to begin construction of 500,000 sq m of housing. His protégé is Dmitry Golubkov (Mosoblgaz), the mayor of Losino-Petrovsky - previously convicted Asfan Vikhraev (known to townspeople as Andrey Vikharev), the head of the Odintsovo district Andrey Ivanov (husband of Garik’s niece).

And formally, the governor’s “pure” appointees were not actually such. Take, for example, Alena Sokolskaya, the wife of ex-Deputy Moscow Prosecutor Alexander Kozlov. She overnight became the head of the Klinsky district. And she made the notorious Eduard Kaplun her deputy, the same one who was on the federal wanted list and was hiding in Israel from investigators because of the famous “gambling case” about underground casinos in the Moscow region. Mr. Kozlov also appeared in this matter...

Statements about the fight against corruption and new and untainted personnel clearly did not add faith in the new governor.

Georgadze's unlearned lesson

The appearance of the “Krasnogorsk shooter”, who shot two local administration officials, became a litmus test for the work of new political realities. We will not go into details of what prompted Amiran Georgadze to commit lynching and suicide. After this story, one of the last heavyweight heads, Boris Rasskazov, resigned. Previously, he was re-elected to the position of head of the district at the same time as Andrei Vorobyov, in the fall of 2013 and, apparently, was agreed upon with the new administration. At that time, decisions on such cases were made by the head of the political department, Andrei Ilnitsky. He has a couple more “problem” nominees on his account – the head of the Solnechnogorsk region Alexander Yakunin and the head of the city of Khimki Oleg Shakhov. Didn’t Vorobyov know about what was going on in Krasnogorsk? Hardly. But he agreed with the appointment. And even after Georgadze’s action, when it became clear to everyone to what extent corruption had reached in the nearest suburb, the governor did not retire Rasskazov and, moreover, did not initiate any proceedings with sanctions. He simply took him on as an adviser. Agree, this is more than indicative.

The continuity of personnel policy in the Moscow region administration was preserved even after the departure of Andrei Ilnitsky in October 2014. Which was logical, since Ilnitsky was from Shoigu’s circle. The leaders of the political bloc who replaced him continued to support the creatures he nominated. Thus, deputy chairmen of the regional government Mikhail Kuznetsov and Elmira Khaimurzina continue to supervise the previously appointed heads. Before the resignation of the mayor of Khimki, Oleg Shakhov, against whom a criminal case was opened for fraud, he received large-scale support from the regional authorities. The head of the Solnechnogorsk district, Alexander Yakunin, and his first deputy, Roman Kalinkin, received even greater support from regional officials. The case with Yakunin was special - with his appointment, Vorobiev resolved the conflict in neighboring Klin. For Solnechnogorsk residents, he was at best a neighbor, and the political aspirations of the owner of the Borodino chain of stores were alien to them. For several years before his appointment as head of the Solnechnogorsk region, Yakunin himself waged an irreconcilable struggle with the head of the Klin region, Postrigan. He created the “Consent and Truth” movement, published a newspaper, and ran for municipal elections from the “Patriots of Russia” and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Yakunin became the head of the Solnechnogorsk district with a zero rating - but if the process was controlled, as they say, by Vorobyov’s deputy Mikhail Kuznetsov, then one could not expect a different result from the pseudo-elections.

It can be assumed that under the guise of administrative reform and efficient spending of budget funds, Vorobyov began to unite cities under his own and the “necessary” people, for which purpose the popularly elected heads are everywhere replaced by tame “city managers”. Thus, Balashikha and Zheleznodorozhny were “soldered together” under the large businessman Evgeny Zhirkov, who was built into the vertical. The result is a fat cow - a city larger in population than, for example, Kaluga or the entire Kamchatka Territory. The experience, apparently, turned out to be positive, and the “Podolsk” people wanted to have their share in the region. They are already “spudging up” their hometown, stationed their people in Chekhov (Ilya Ponochevny and Sergei Yudin), and now, apparently, they have “bought out” the Podolsky district and Klimovsk, which “by unanimous decision of the local Councils of Deputies” merged into a single Bolshoi Podolsk .

However, such experiments are fraught with the creation of pockets of discontent in which the interests of the ordinary population and local elites may coincide. And then Andrei Vorobyov’s plans encounter insurmountable obstacles.

Those who disobeyed the Varangians

And such examples are not isolated. Thus, in the science city of Korolev, residents publicly express distrust of the new head Alexander Khodyrev, the administration and the council of deputies. The claims include falsification of legislation, changing the appearance of the city, demolition of monuments, imposition of services in the housing and communal services sector, etc. Science city Zhukovsky, where back in March 2014 a campaign began for the resignation of mayor Andrei Voytyuk (former member of Sergei Shoigu’s team), elected with the personal participation of Andrei Vorobyov back in 2013. He was accused of uncontrolled construction, “strange” distribution of budget funds, inattention to housing and communal services, etc. With great difficulty, it was possible to level out the scandal after the election of a new head of Balashikha, where the elections were held, to put it mildly, in the “atmosphere of the 90s.”

In July 2015, the city of Zvenigorod held a rally for the resignation of the head of the district, Alexander Smirnov, who was appointed to the post in April 2014. The rally, as the participants themselves noted, took place in a symbolic place - near an abandoned, dried-up fountain, opened with great fanfare under the former mayor Leonid Stavitsky. The city's housing and communal services were in the same condition as this fountain, debts for gas exceeded 48 million rubles, city boiler houses were turned off, the former Spartak stadium was given over for development. Even the holy of holies - the judo academy, which Vladimir Putin personally opened in 2012 - is inactive and collapsing. For all three years, no training or competitions were held there. The facility, in the construction of which about 1 billion rubles were invested, is deteriorating due to lack of heat supply. In the Chekhov district, the public ensured that the head, Ilya Ponochevny, was dismissed due to unsatisfactory work results for the first six months. In Protvino, the council of deputies in May 2015 removed Vorobyov’s protege Dmitry Vityaglovsky from the post of head of the administration of the science city. He was appointed acting city manager in November 2014, at a visiting council in Krasnogorsk. In the Shchelkovsky district, the public is dissatisfied with the appointment of Alexey Valov, the former deputy head of the city of Khimki, to the post of head of the district. In the Volokolamsk region, many are dissatisfied with the elected head Evgeny Gavrilov.

"Evil rules the Moscow region"

The biggest bone in the governor’s throat is, perhaps, the head of the Serpukhov region, Alexander Shestun. The figure is quite unpredictable and calculating, extremely contradictory in dating and relationships. On the one hand, he rubbed shoulders with Ramzan Kadyrov and his entourage, was seen in the company of “Surgeon” and Konstantin Malofeev, and was close to the security forces. On the other hand, he communicates with human rights activists Lyudmila Alekseeva, Lev Ponamarev, Elena Panfilova, and crossed paths with Irina Khakamada. High-ranking members of the presidential administration also appeared at public events in his area.

Mr. Shestun is known for the fact that at one time he was a complainant in the sensational “gambling case”, because of which the regional prosecutor Mokhov lost his posts, and his more notorious deputy Ignatenko and members of his group - Urumov, Bazylyan, Nishchemenko, Glebov , Drok and others ended up behind bars. A high-ranking employee of the Prosecutor General’s Office, Abrosimov, who holds a general’s position, also went there with Shestun’s light hand.

With his anti-governor rhetoric, the head of the Serpukhov region gained the broadest support among the population. He does not hesitate to criticize Vorobyov’s policies in many areas - from personnel appointments to failures in housing and communal services, lobbying the interests of large financial and industrial groups, etc. Among the latest high-profile statements, it is worth noting what was said about the regional government’s refusal to build a school in the Kalinovsky settlement and its intention to open a solid waste landfill near residential buildings in the village of Bolshevik. “The governments of the Moscow region have no principles,” he said live on “Police Wave.” “Or they are some other kind, mafia, or some other secret society.”

Vorobyov’s team especially got it for the solid waste landfill. “Do you know what the government of the Moscow region is doing? He brazenly posts everything that they want to post,” Shestun commented on the situation with undisguised irritation. - Deputy Governor Alexander Chuprakov openly threatens me. They demand thirty hectares for a landfill free of charge, without paying taxes. This is just some kind of chaos. I don’t know where the governor recruited these ministers, who cannot be criticized either in terms of moral and business qualities or mental abilities.”

The radicalism of the district head’s statements has crossed any limits allowed by officials - however, the reaction of any normal person to what is being done to the Moscow region today cannot be otherwise. “You shouldn’t think that there is a good governor and evil ministers,” Shestun continued. - This, of course, is a fairy tale that old grandmothers and small children do not believe in. Naturally, everyone there (apparently a hint at Andrei Vorobyov - P.) knows. I alone cannot save people. We need complete consolidation of society, we need everyone to be together. We all need to unite to fight this evil, which is headed by the government of the Moscow region.”

The authoritarian policy of Andrei Vorobyov, who placed exclusively “the right people” at the helm of the Moscow region, is already bearing fruit. And all of them are far from sweet. But the apparatus of the regional government is now swollen to incredible proportions. The region is now governed by 12,000 officials. For comparison: under Governor Anatoly Tyazhlov, the entire staff of the regional government was only 500 people. The quality of the Vorobyov team is also “matching”. For example, since June last year, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Moscow Region has been a certain Ekaterina Semenova. A native of the town of Urai in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, whose business is said to have been personally helped by Sergei Semenovich Sobyanin, she has made a good career from the head of a stationery trading company to a State Duma deputy and a regional government official. At the same time, Semenova has neither specialized education nor the necessary work experience. They say that in a narrow circle she calls her subordinates “Tajiks”; she tries to reduce the work of the commissioner’s representatives in municipalities to campaigning work in elections, saying: “we’ve had enough of receiving grandparents – let’s get busy with the elections...”. From time to time, she calls certain subordinates for interviews, forcing them to resign “at their own request” using profanity and intimidation.

As a result, more than a dozen qualified specialists quit within a few months. Instead, unqualified people who lack basic experience and knowledge are hired. Thus, the accounting department hired an employee as a consultant who does not know the 1C Accounting program and has no accounting experience. A woman who has a law degree, but does not have basic legal and managerial knowledge and experience, has been hired to the position of chief of staff. All attempts to contact Governor Vorobyov and the deputies of the Moscow Regional Duma did not receive an adequate response. Only unsubscribes are received.

Without your business - nowhere

The redistribution of the Moscow region, which began with the arrival of Vorobyov, affected not only politics and local government, but also the spheres of economic influence of the largest financial and industrial groups and business structures.

This is especially noticeable in the activities of construction corporations, whose activity in no way corresponds to those “promises for the people” that Vorobyov is so rich in. Among them is the Morton Group of Companies, whose scandalous projects have been repeatedly reported by the media. Formally, the structure is associated with Sergei Shoigu, but the company began the dramatic development of projects near Moscow precisely under Vorobyov.

Another favorite was the Granel Group, which is said to be close to the governor himself. It was she who was recently given permission to build 500 thousand square meters of new housing in Balashikha, despite the moratorium on construction, which Vorobyov himself spoke about at the beginning of the year. There, in Balashikha, the group of Andrei Ryabinsky’s MIC is also doing well, and will begin to build what is essentially a new city.

Among the major players with political weight, it is worth highlighting Sergei Chemezov (CEO of the Rostec corporation), who plans to build 15 waste incineration plants in the region, for which the state can allocate about 320 billion rubles. Arkady Rotenberg could not do without his interest in road projects - at least within the framework of the M11 Moscow-St. Petersburg highway, fares for which will remain prohibitively high. The owners of Strategy Bank, brothers Yakov and Alexander Urinson, are still developing their business in Khimki.

Of course, all these figures leave a certain imprint on the political landscape of the Moscow region, but their influence is situational in nature - they use political levers at the federal level exclusively to solve local, albeit large-scale, business problems. They do not provide political support to Vorobyov in his fight against the municipalities - not their scale and interest.

In the meantime, it becomes obvious that the growth of organized actions against the lawlessness of Vorobyov’s team can be channeled into the “hottest” areas of the region’s internal politics. Especially if there is a strong position on the part of the deputies, as in the Serpukhov region. The intention of the Moscow region authorities to abolish direct elections of Soviets, as well as heads of cities and districts, was called by local deputies “a restoration of dictatorship” and “a bad example for the rest of Russia.” The bill, which, in essence, destroys local government with its institutions of democracy and creates an authoritarian form of government in the region, tied to the governor, did not receive support in many municipalities, including in the south of the Moscow region, in particular in the Serpukhov, Chekhov, and Stupinsky districts . It is obvious that not all residents of the Moscow region want to turn the region into a kind of dwarf totalitarian powers. “The exclusion of the population from participation in local government elections, excessive concentration of financial resources and administrative functions, nepotism and nepotism, wild growth of the administrative apparatus and the costs of its maintenance, ignoring the vital interests of the indigenous population in matters of local importance lead to the rapid degradation of state authorities and local self-government in the Moscow region,” says Nikolai Dizhur, deputy of the Serpukhov Council of Deputies. If the healthy forces of the Moscow region unite, then Vorobyov’s political blitzkrieg will not work. All that remains is to unite...

https://www.site/2018-03-23/kak_protesty_v_volokolamske_mogut_otrazitsya_na_sudbe_glavy_podmoskovya_andreya_vorobeva

Garbage wind for the governor

How protests in Volokolamsk could affect the fate of the head of the Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov

According to the site, Andrei Vorobyov is again going to participate in the gubernatorial elections, but the problem with the landfill in Volokolamsk will complicate his campaign Press service of the governor of the Moscow region

The situation in the small town of Volokolamsk near Moscow, where residents have been suffocating from gas emissions from the Yadrovo landfill for several months, may affect the career prospects of Governor Andrei Vorobyov. Dozens of children have already been hospitalized with signs of poisoning, local residents are storming the city hall and organizing rallies. Vorobyov himself, who arrived at the hospital a few days ago, was pelted with snowballs - with the help of security, he barely made his way to the car while the crowd whistled. This is not the first conflict between the authorities of the Moscow region and residents in recent times, and experts admit that Vorobyov’s position has weakened, but at the same time they argue that the chances of his re-nomination are high.

Andrei Vorobyov is an influential governor; Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who worked for many years in the Ministry of Emergency Situations together with Vorobyov’s father, is considered his political patron. The future of such a figure in Russia, with its clannishness and nepotism, should have been cloudless. Elections for governor of the Moscow region will take place this fall. Interlocutors close to the presidential administration say that Vorobyov was confidently planning to run for a new term. But at the same time, it was discussed that he would not mind going for a promotion in the government of the Russian Federation, which will be formed after the presidential elections (held on March 18), especially since Shoigu will retain his post as part of the new government with a probability of almost 100%. So, according to the site, Vorobiev could, for example, head the Ministry of Emergency Situations instead of the current head of the department, Vladimir Puchkov.

But the events in Volokolamsk, as well as the presence of a huge number of “pain points” throughout the region, gradually developing into mass protests, call into question the possible prospects for promotion, and even a new gubernatorial term. It is worth paying attention to the video distributed on the Internet, in which the governor and his guards are making their way through the crowd: snowballs are flying at him, people are shouting: “Murderers.”

An interlocutor close to the presidential administration says that the background to the current situation lies in the economic sphere.

In addition, in places where factories are planned to be built, for example, in Voskresensk, there are protesting residents who do not want to breathe in potential emissions. The clans fought, the smell from the landfill intensified, and as a result, “the situation got a little out of control, and so far it does not appear that the governor and his team have regained this control,” the site’s interlocutor says. He adds that the current situation is unlikely to completely deprive Vorobyov of a political future, but it could “slightly worsen” his initial one hundred percent chance of retaining the position of governor, if not being promoted.

Political scientist Gleb Kuznetsov recalls that the current events in Volokolamsk only continue the general negative background of news about Vorobyov’s initiatives: “he is now at the epicenter of bad news.”

How Volokolamsk lives after the mass poisoning of children and the visit of Moscow region officials

Indeed, protests are already underway in Balashikha - the problem of the landfill there is similar to the problem of Volokolamsk, Rospotrebnadzor refuses to notice the nauseating smell, while the unbearable stench has already reached the areas of Moscow adjacent to Balashikha. Voskresensk is protesting against the construction of a waste incineration plant, the northern Moscow region is protesting against the construction of a private-state toll road “Vinogradovo - Boltino - Tarasovka”, for the sake of which residential buildings will be demolished and forests will be cut down in the protective zone of the Mosvodokanal.

“All problems are in one way or another related to the fact that the regional administration is trying to either radically change the rules of regulation and the conditions in which people live, or, as in Volokolamsk, is not coping with the negative consequences of these changes. Regulation is an initiative to create a law that simplifies the seizure of land and buildings from the owner, an initiative to make a preliminary archaeological examination optional when implementing large projects, an initiative to soften the rules for land use in the Moscow water intake zones (it didn’t seem to pass, but it was put forward and caused a lot of negativity ),” lists Kuznetsov. In his opinion, this is being done because “investors want easier access to land, infrastructure and construction.” “But we must understand that this easy access is fraught with conflicts, and in the future, active protests. People don’t get rich, they’re irritated and they think in approximately the following logic: “Well, ok. If you cannot provide us with an increase in prosperity, do not touch our usual life. Don’t give more money, give clean air and preservation of the usual way of life.” But instead, a bulldozer or garbage truck arrives under their porch while they talk about the happiness of the investor. The logic doesn’t work here: “the more construction and economic revival there is, the better your life will be someday,” the expert believes.

According to Kuznetsov, Vorobyov faces an extremely difficult time. “If the regional administration does not adjust the system of explanations why residents’ opinions should not be taken into account when implementing large projects, if it does not learn dialogue, then, I believe, the Volokolamsk events will seem like a cakewalk to the governor,” the expert concludes.

Political scientist Vitaly Ivanov believes that recent events have greatly complicated the life of Andrei Vorobyov, although his situation is not yet hopeless. “Vorobiev has a chance for a second term if he changes his rhetoric, reaches out to the people and radically updates internal political management,” says Ivanov.

Political scientist Abbas Gallyamov recalls that President Vladimir Putin does not like to dismiss people under pressure from protesters and this could play into Vorobyov’s hands. “Of course, after the events in Volokolamsk, Vorobyov’s position weakened. However, don’t think that it will be removed now. So his chances of being re-nominated remain high,” says Gallyamov.

This marathon, according to the expert, will last until his inauguration and reappointment of the government. “It is not a fact that those who are behind at the beginning of the marathon will not finish last. All the battles of the elites have just come out from under the carpet, and in the coming months we can see a lot of unexpected things,” Davydov notes philosophically.

Vorobyov’s enemies will now take advantage of the situation and stir up protests, Konstantin Kalachev acts as the lawyer for Vorobyov’s team. “Rumors about Vorobyov’s transfer to another job have been circulating since the first year of his governorship. The Moscow region is always visible, and there are plenty of interested people who want to take its place or put their own person there. According to objective indicators - economy, investment, fulfillment of social obligations - the Moscow region occupies a worthy position in the country. So there should be no reason for dissatisfaction on the part of the federal center. The garbage problem, of course, in this situation does not benefit Vorobyov at all. But it is not only regional. And it affects at least Moscow. And there are no instant solutions here. An active protest over garbage began last summer. It is obvious that initially the popular theme was “ridden” by professional dissatisfied people, of whom there are many in this region. The topic received a second wind, external interests became involved, and everyone who is looking for signs of an impending popular revolt in any local protest became animated,” Kalachev believes.

Vice-President of the Center for Political Technologies Alexei Makarkin is confident that Vorobyov’s position and chances of remaining in the region for another term have worsened not even because a scandal occurred, but because the protests could not be hidden. “There are different protests and scandals in different regions, but if the conflict comes out, if they show how the crowd is pushing the head of the region, this is already a matter of the prestige of the authorities, which reduces his chances of a new term. At the same time, I would not exclude the option of his transition to the government. For example, there was a precedent when the former governor of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Yakovlev, became the Minister of Regional Development. Vorobyov has very serious connections, so even a move to the Ministry of Emergency Situations cannot be ruled out. For elected officials, the issue of preserving the prestige of power is important, but for ministries this is not so important. The population does not really pay attention to who occupies ministerial chairs. For example, I remember we once conducted a poll to evaluate the work of Igor Sechin, then deputy prime minister. The majority chose the answer “I don’t know.” If we now conduct a survey on the Ministry of Emergency Situations, many probably believe that it is still headed by Shoigu. Therefore, the presence of public problems may not become a reason for not including a person in the government,” Makarkin sums up.

For a whole year, various media outlets have been discussing the politics and possible departure of the Governor of the Moscow Region Andrei Vorobyov. Almost all commentators agree that Andrei Vorobyov overdid it with the reform of local self-government, drove municipal districts into urban districts, abolished direct elections of heads of municipal formations, redistributed powers for construction and land use, creating an ephemeral Urban Planning Council, quarreled with both locals and federal elites.

The most amazing thing is that Andrei Yuryevich was awarded “temporary” status in the very first weeks; they thought he wouldn’t survive. It turned out that the godson of the Minister of Defense not only served 5 years, but also broke the entire management system in the Moscow region.

Andrey Vorobyov will resign as governor news: change of government in the region

At the end of May 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on local self-government, the procedure for electing which regions regulate independently.

2 days after this, the Moscow Regional Duma received a project from Governor Andrei Vorobyov, according to which direct elections of mayors with real functions remained only in Reutov.

In other cities, mayors will either be elected from among their ranks by local deputies, or the position of city mayor will be removed from the system of executive power, depriving it of managerial functions. In the latter case, real power will be in the hands of district heads or heads of administration (city managers) appointed by the governor. The law also affects the interests of municipalities that do not have city status, where direct elections of their heads are also abolished.

The law was approved in three readings in 24 hours, and representatives of United Russia refused the initiative to discuss the project with local authorities. According to opposition representatives, the hasty adoption of the law was due to municipal elections, and the authorities carried out the division of districts with the abolition of elections for political and economic reasons. Thus, direct elections were eliminated or formalized in the largest cities in terms of population and economic potential. According to political scientist Rostislav Turovsky, with this law, regional authorities refuse dialogue with local elites, building a vertical line and imposing centralized management.

To restore the forests near Moscow that suffered from the bark beetle epidemic and subsequent sanitary felling, in September 2014, Vorobiev launched the “Our Forest. Plant your tree."

Andrey Vorobyov will resign as governor news: activities

In 2014, Vorobiev approved the governor’s program OVVV, which provides for the sterilization of female stray dogs and their return to the street to live freely in the urban environment. The implementation of this program is designed for the period 2014-2018. The program is carried out with money from the regional budget by public activists and organizations fighting for animal rights.

In May 2016, on Vorobyov’s initiative, a law was adopted according to which the heads of city districts and municipal districts are appointed directly by the regional governor.

The possible resignation of Andrei Vorobyov was actively discussed at the end of May 2017, 3 months before the September elections; apparently, something went wrong and the resignation was cancelled. The next elections will be held this year and Andrei Vorobyov’s term of office ends - 5 years. And the Kremlin’s policy regarding the timing of resignations of Governors is well known and is no secret: a change 3-10 months before the elections, so that the new Governor gets comfortable, warms up and people get used to him.

This time the Governor of the Moscow Region, Andrei Vorobyov, also made it to the Club of Regions. Experts have noticed that people criticize the head of the Moscow region mainly for environmental problems and for defrauded shareholders. They came to the fore, however, according to experts, in total he publicly fell into disgrace with the people seven times.

His first “misfortune,” judging by the rating, was massive complaints from residents of the region about numerous violations of laws committed by MosObleIRTs LLC. According to the complainants, this private company, registered in the city of Protvino, is like a “pocket” of the regional leadership and takes on a lot. He interferes with his powers and performs functions not provided for by law.

At the same time, this cheerful bunch arbitrarily and unreasonably limits the time for receiving meter readings. And on top of that, private traders hide money transferred by the public in obscure bank accounts. In this case, so-called “transit” technologies are used, which makes it possible to direct resources anywhere and to anyone. The result is debts to resource companies.

The second informational reason for Vorobyov’s sadness was the scandal surrounding the shareholders of the Western Gates of the Capital residential complex, who, after 16 years of waiting for their problems to be solved, began a hunger strike. As they say, some minister came and even the vice-governor visited, but then they disappeared along with the promised “agreement.” Pedaled, as they say, it's a shame to the public Maria Pogrebnyak, wife of the famous football player Pavel Pogrebnyak (https://www.instagram.com/p/BegbNhUBaMa/?taken-by=mariapoga_). It was she who stood up for the shareholders and recorded her indignant appeal personally to Vorobyov.

The unrest in and around Kolomna, associated with a large-scale increase in the flow of garbage to landfills, caused a great resonance to the detriment of the image of the first person of the Moscow region. People are already fed up with problems over the Volovichi landfill, and they are about to be loaded with hundreds of thousands more tons every year. In addition to all this, there is also a waste incineration plant in historical Kolomna. And then Vorobyov also came under the indignant information shot fired by Anatoly Talitskikh, a member of the Kolomna Officers’ Union.

But this officer's shot was not the last. The specialists who compiled the rating of “targets” also noted the speeches of Chekhov City Council deputy Nikolai Dizhur. In February, he spoke frankly more than once on this same, as political scientists say, “toxic” topic and harshly criticized the governor for the environmental problems that he is creating through his ministers.

Vorobyov should also be concerned about the alarming speeches in Chernogolovka. Even experts analyzing the situation in the Vladimir region noted that a rally was held there against the construction of a landfill near the settlement of Filippovskoye. As the compilers noted, among the governor’s “misfortunes” were protests by residents of the Moscow region against the construction of the Vinogradovo-Boltino-Tarasovka highway.

The compassionate creators of the rating write that they want to help governors and their “specialized deputies.” They will supposedly sit, evaluate their image in the media and “once again” think whether they are doing everything right and “what is the reason for their information misfortunes.” It is impossible to say how other regional leaders will react, but Vorobiev is unlikely to pay serious attention to these messages.

After all, recently the head of the Russian Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, announced to the whole country that, in connection with violations of election legislation, she would personally send a letter to Andrei Vorobyov. This seventh “hit” of the governor in this rating was caused by complaints from residents. They are outraged that people wearing uniforms with party symbols go to voter rounds.

And we can already guess how the governor will treat his political “misfortunes” in the Moscow region in early autumn. It is unlikely that in the remaining six months he will seriously engage in solving environmental and other problems in order to achieve a positive vote on his candidacy. More likely, people in uniform will appear on voters' doorsteps again. It doesn’t matter what party they are equipped with, but despite this, in many cities and villages there will definitely not be a forgiven Sunday on the day of the gubernatorial elections.