Exhumation of communal protest
On August 5, a rally was held in Novosibirsk against increasing tariffs for heating and hot water. In general, an ordinary event (tariffs are raised regularly - prices are rising after all) gave rise to a storm of indignation among the politicized public of the city. The last time such passions flared up in the Siberian capital was at the beginning of 2017, then the owner of the city’s thermal power plants, the SIBEKo company, tried to immediately raise the tariff by 15 percent. The power engineers’ argument pointed out that the tariff in Novosibirsk is the lowest in Siberia, that the networks are worn out, etc. The so-called “public”, led by a number of former high-ranking officials of the regional government and city hall, brought people to the streets.
The scandalous initiative of the energy workers was then killed. A year later, SIBEKo changed its owner, and a year and a half later, Governor Vladimir Gorodetsky, who most insisted on the need to change the payment for heat energy, resigned. All these dubious, frankly speaking, “achievements” were credited to the newly emerged leaders of the Novosibirsk protest movement - Viktor Kozodoy, Sergei Boyko, Sergei Dyachkov and Andrei Gladchenko. The first and last “heroes” of this list were in the past high-ranking officials of the regional government under Governor Vasily Yurchenko. One was the vice-governor responsible for the political bloc, and the second was the head of the information policy department. And that’s how they suddenly became associates of Alexei Navalny, who even visited Novosibirsk and spoke at the largest anti-tariff rally on Lenin Square.
What made fairly systemic and adequate people exchange the quiet of government offices for the fury of street protest?
The answer should be sought in the spring of 2014. When the protege of Yurchenko and United Russia, Vladimir Znatkov, miserably lost the city mayor election to the communist Anatoly Lokt. A few days before the final of the election campaign, Vasily Alekseevich was removed from the post of governor with the wording “loss of trust.” This formulation put an end to Yurchenko’s further political ambitions. Moreover, a criminal case was opened against the ex-governor for abuse of power. Yurchenko and the structures oriented towards him were politically defeated, disoriented and deprived of opportunities for further development. There were attempts to restore the reputation, but they came to nothing. Yurchenko's team continued its marginalization.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Gorodetsky became the governor of the region, who was able to retain the governor’s post and stabilize the political situation in the city and region for a short period. The idyll did not last long - first, Vladimir Filippovich took away part of the personal income tax from the municipality - more than 3,5 billion rubles. And for some time he blocked the growing influence of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the Novosibirsk region. But already in the next year, 2015, the communists were able to increase their representation in the Legislative Assembly of the region and the city council. The result of the disastrous elections for United Russia was the election of Andrei Shimkiv, who was inconvenient for the Governor, as speaker instead of the loyal Ivan Moroz.
There was no point in negotiating anymore. A protracted war between the regional government and the municipality and the regional committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation began. In 2016, after the elections of deputies to the State Duma, the owners of the energy company SIBECO decided to sharply raise the heat tariff for residents of the region. Subsequent events showed that the company was being prepared for sale and a reasonable decision was made to increase capitalization by increasing revenue.
Since the sale was in a hurry - and the events of this year have shown why, the tariffs rose sharply. Vladimir Gorodetsky was appointed as the popularizer of this tough decision. It is unclear why the already not very popular Governor suffered. Maybe he was fulfilling his previously assumed obligations? It is quite possible, because the 2014 gubernatorial campaign, in a city that the Communists had just won, could not have been cheap. But these are just assumptions.
Be that as it may, Gorodetsky, having secured the support of deputies at all levels and the loyalty of Mayor Lokot, went to the podium to persuade and exhort. By the way, the deputies and the mayor's office, who are accused of supporting the increase in heat tariffs, find themselves in a very difficult situation - if you do not support the decision of the Governor and the Regional Government, personal income tax will be cut again and the city will find itself in an even greater debt hole. Of course, this in no way relieves officials and deputies of responsibility, but still...
And so, when the decision had already been practically formalized at all levels of government, there were enterprising comrades who set out to “shake up” the situation. Why was this necessary? Well, firstly, to demonstrate their readiness for the next round of inter-elite Novosibirsk wars. The growing economic crisis has shown the extreme vulnerability of the fragile Novosibirsk economy. The closure of the Gusinobrod flea market, which was demanded by the federal center for many years in the form of an ultimatum, has taken place. The breeding ground for black cash, tax evasion schemes and other financial irregularities has been given a long life. And along with it, the income of a number of influential business clans in the city sharply decreased. It was necessary to open new corridors of opportunity. Information blackmail as a tool came in handy. And deep awareness of the essence of economic processes in the city and region allowed a marginalized group of elites to express themselves loudly and convincingly.
The fact that the first two rallies, organized in the cold and in inconvenient places, were paid for, that is, the protesters were paid from 1000 rubles for two hours of standing, is a well-known fact in Novosibirsk. Then, when the technology was tested and when the federal protest star Alexei Navalny arrived from the capital, people began to reach out on their own. After all, a show, on the main square of the city, with speakers, a microphone and a skillful toastmaster. The main question is who paid for the banquet?
And here the figure of the former vice-governor Kozodoy comes to the fore. Which did not hesitate to declare its fundamental importance in organizing festivals of the permanent process. Well, behind him, the figure of ex-governor Yurchenko is already clearly and clearly visible, who at that moment was facing a real sentence for the “murky” sale of a land plot in the center of Novosibirsk.
Having financed the protest, the former head of the region could well have “bargained” with his influential opponents and received a suspended sentence, which is what ultimately happened. As a result, everyone was happy: tariffs did not increase sharply, Viktor Kozodoy received excellent compensation from power engineers and drove off to Bulgaria, leaving lower-ranking associates like Konstantin Antonov and Sergei Dyachkov to take the rap at urgently organized round tables, at which the public delved into the sophisticated heat supply schemes of Novosibirsk .
Vladimir Gorodetsky, who had been fearful of street protests throughout his entire political career, began to prepare for resignation. Well, the newly-minted “social activists” felt the taste of blood and their own strength. Regularly reminding admiring fans of their talents on Facebook about their “feat.”
Moreover, they believed in their power so much that they regularly remind everyone and everything that “they can repeat it.”
So, why again, Kozodoy and company exhumed the “stewardess” of the communal protest? And is there anyone today willing to pay for the “professor’s” next tour to sunny Bulgaria and finance the publication of his next monograph?
It's 2019. Outside the window, the election campaign is sluggishly going on. Opponents of the current mayor, communist Anatoly Lokt, who intends to be elected for a second term, have no chance. The only hope is to transform the political confrontation into street protest. To begin with, the nomination and collection of signatures of Navalnist Sergei Boyko was organized. The signatures were “collected” so that the informal leader of the non-systemic opposition would not be registered. The hope was that the actions planned in Moscow would be picked up by liberal Novosibirsk, and the communist regime would be “shaken.” But the unexpected happened. Boyko was registered, which he, frankly speaking, did not expect. In interviews that he generously distributed to journalists, it was openly stated that he did not count on registration and, moreover, planned several dozen protest rallies in his support. No luck. Everyone was registered, even frankly random characters.
Sergei Boyko now has to do campaigning - something he is completely unaccustomed to. His APM contains only outright “attacks” on the current mayor and methods of inept, even naive counter-positioning. It is logical to assume that if the Navalnist had not been registered, then a federal landing of the main leaders of the protest movement of the Russian Federation could have been expected in Novosibirsk. But alas and ah - almost all of them, including the super-loyal Dmitry Gudkov, went to rest in temporary detention centers that were comfortable by the capital’s standards. Now yesterday's allies no longer need Boyko - moreover, they run from him like a leper. Today you take a photo with Boyko and sign in his support, and tomorrow you polish the uncomfortable bench in the courtroom, awaiting the well-deserved 30 days of arrest and an impressive fine.
So, instead of the legendary Alexei Navalny, an opposition discounter was assigned to the communal rally. Nikita Isaev. It is he who will “light up” today in Narymsky Park, vilifying the energy workers, the government, the governor and the mayor. What does it have to do with the last two? It’s completely incomprehensible. Moreover, the government has already filed a complaint and most likely the tariffs will be cancelled.
So what was the joke? And why did the SGC set itself up like that? It can be assumed that the logic of the management of energy corporations, which have recently increasingly become victims of information blackmail, is as follows: - we were allowed to increase tariffs by 3,5 percent, let's apply for an increase of 7-8 percent, we, of course, will kill this initiative, will be reduced to 3,5 and we will remain at our own level. That is, due to the incompetence of political management in the regions, energy campaigns are beginning to behave like cherry traders in the markets. That is, bargain. Quite intelligent and unscrupulous political “figures” like Kozodoy and company have learned to take advantage of this, pushing crowded rallies at the right moment to the decision-making point, paid for with sponsors’ money or ensured by the turnout of “bus tourists” from Pashino.
The same “tourists” ensured attendance at city “Forums” and “Assemblies”. The calculation is made that the authorities, municipal and regional, will be “scared” and will give the information blackmailers what they require. In this case, obviously, there are guarantees for all participants in the protest movement to be included in the parliamentary corps in 2020.
The sudden destruction of Alexei Navalny’s headquarters in Moscow and the harsh measures taken by the police against the protesters show that no one is going to stand on ceremony with the liberals.
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