Katanandov resigns
The last elected Governor in the Russian part of the Barents Region resigned on Wednesday. The leader of the Karelian Republic Sergey Katanandov leaves the office because of unspecified personal reasons.
Russia’s President Dmitri Medvedev signed the document on Katanandov’s resignation from the post as governor of the Republic of Karelia on Wednesday, reports Gazeta.ru.
Sergey Katanandov (55) has been head of Karelia since he first was elected in 1998. In late May, BarentsObserver reported that Katanandov was listed among the 100 most powerful politicians in Russia, the only governor in the Russian part of the Barents Region to be on that list.
According to the newspaper Vedomosti, Katanandov himself wrote the letter of resignation, but the newspaper quoted a source close to Kremlin saying it was Moscow that insisted Katanandov to write the letter.
Read also: Katanandov also on black-list
Just after Medvedev approved the resignation letter from Katanandov on Wednesday, the President appointed Andrei Nelidov as acting head of Karelia. Nelidov is Karelia’s former representative in the Federation Council.
The Russian President’s official web portal has published the decree where Medvedev accept the resignation by the Governor of the Republic of Karelia.
With the resignation of Katanandov, all five Russian member regions in the Barents cooperation have governors not elected by the people, but appointed by the President.
Read also: Medvedev threatens Governors
It was former president Vladimir Putin who abolished the popular elections of provincial governors in 2004 by introducing a law which gave the president the right to dismiss and appoint governors.
The first Barents governor to be dismissed was Nenets Governor Aleksey Barinov. He was arrested in May 2006 accused of fraud and then subsequently dismissed from his position. Barinov was sentenced to three years in prison in 2007, although he still claims that the case against him has been initiated by political opponents, BarentsObserver reported in 2007.
Then, Arkhangelsk Governor, Nikolay Kiselyov, was sacked and replaced by Ilya Mikhalchuk in April 2008. Mikhalchuk came to Arkhangelsk from Siberia where he earlier was city Mayor in Yakutsk. At the same time, Mikhalchuk brought with him a mass of other bureaucrats from Yakutsk.
Read also: Medvedev turns down idea to elect governors
In March 2009, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on termination of Murmansk Oblast Governor Yury Yevdokimov’s authorities.
Yevdokimov was sacked after Medvedev gave him “one last warning” and told him to concentrate on solving domestic problems instead of “fooling around abroad,” BarentsObserver wrote. That warning came just few days after the governor had been in Norway to sign a cooperation agreement with the Norwegian county of Troms.
Read also: Karelia and Troms to strengthen university cooperation
The, in January this year, Governor of the Republic of Komi Vladimir Torlopov was replaced with Vyacheslav Gaizer. Torlopov had been governor in Komi since 2001.
After he was replaced Torlopov said in a comment President Medvedev’s decision to replace him with Gayzer is a sign of political development:
- This is not a revolutionary alternative. After I was elected as head of the region in 2001, the political elite and administrative apparatus were replaced, but now the team that has been built up during these eight years will be kept. I will continue to work within politics, he adds.
