Unanimous vote for Murmansk Mayor’s dismissal

All 28 council members present at the meeting (of a total of 30), voted for the dismissal of the mayor. Not a single one of the members declined from voting, Murmansk television company TV21 reports.

As BarentsObserver reported yesterday, even the Governor of Murmansk Oblast Dmitry Dmiriyenko has taken the side of the City Council in the fight against the Mayor.

Right after the meeting today, Subbotin declared that he plans to take the City Council’s decision to court, where he is convinced he will win.

Governor Dmitrieynko has suggested that the Head of the City Council Aleksey Veller should also abandon his post, but according to TV21he will only do this if the council gives him a vote of non-confidence.

The relationship between the independent Mayor Subbotin and the United Russia dominated City Council has for some time been complicated. The conflicts cumulated in April, when Subbotin was accused by the editor of the Murmansk newspaper Vecherni Murmansk Nataliya Chervyakova for censorship and threats. Subbotin answered by accusing the editor for insults and reported her to the police.

As BarentsObserver reported, Subbotin dismissed Chervyakova from the post as editor for Vecherni Murmansk, a newspaper owned by the city administration. Vecherni Murmansk is one of the biggest newspapers in Murmansk Oblast.

Sergey Subbotin was elected Mayor of Murmansk in March 2009. He ran as an independent candidate and received some 60 percent of the votes, while United Russia’s candidate Mikhail Savchenko got 35 percent. Then Governor of Murmansk Oblast Yury Yevdokimov openly expressed his support to Subbotin, and was forced to leave the post less than a week later.