It's a shame - a risky reshuffle in the Crimean government
The head of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov, is known for taking the risk of defending his creatures before the federal center, which raise questions among the security forces. In 2015, he shocked the entire expert community of Russia by entering into a controversy with the FSB over the arrest of the Minister of Industrial Policy of Crimea, Andrei Skrynnik, who illegally re-registered state property as private.
Aksenov not only publicly ignored the remarks made then from Moscow, but three years later he repeated his “feat”, when ex-mayor of Yalta Andrei Rostenko was recently detained on suspicion of abuse of power.
That is why Aksenov’s calm reaction to the October 17 arrest of Crimean Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Nakhlupin, who is suspected of taking a bribe, is so revealing and incomprehensible at first glance.
“Here there was pure group extortion from contractors for conducting competitive procedures in Crimea. Now the contacts and connections of Mr. Nakhlupin and other detainees are being checked,” Aksyonov said on the First Crimean TV channel.
Observers explain Aksenov’s calm reaction to the deputy’s arrest by the fact that Nakhlupin’s candidacy was forced on him at one time.
A replacement for the arrested deputy prime minister was quickly found. This is a well-known large developer in Sevastopol and deputy of the State Council of Crimea Evgeny Kabanov. Aksenov calls him “young and promising.”
“I can already see that the person has systematically, toothily clung to the implementation of the program. I always hope that people who come from business will remember that they already have enough money and they don’t need to put their hand into the state’s pocket,” Aksenov said.
However, the New Day agency explains the appointment not by Kabanov’s youth and wealth, but by his closeness to the families of Aksenov and State Council Speaker Vladimir Konstantinov. He worked in parliamentary committees headed by relatives of the head of Crimea. And with the speaker’s son Oleg Kabanov, he owns the Crimean Aerated Concrete Plant in equal shares. Kabanovsky's Interstroy is building the Primorsky Park in Yalta together with the Konstantinovsky Console.
Can we expect that the “rich” Kabanov, having entered the civil service, will forget about his business and other interests? Journalists from the publication Reedus drew attention to the strangeness of the Crimean developer’s claim against their publication. The subject was a publication dedicated to Kabanov’s scandalous objects in Sevastopol, for which the plaintiff wanted to recover a million rubles from the journalists.
In the court of first instance, the claim was quickly rejected, but for some reason the consideration of the appeal is constantly postponed. Reedus believes that Kabanov, having received a high position, hopes to influence justice.
“Using administrative resources, he can influence the court’s decision even in Sevastopol. The delay in considering the appeal, I believe, is directly related to its possible purpose. This is very similar to the fact that a resource is being turned on in order to overturn a decision made not in his favor,” says lawyer Oksana Mikhalkina.
At the same time, she believes that if the developer Kabanov oversees multimillion-dollar federal targeted program projects, we can talk about a conflict of interest.
“By holding such a position and supervising the Federal Targeted Program, Kabanov will have the opportunity to carry out a number of actions aimed at obtaining personal benefit. Will he be able to conscientiously perform his functions, understanding that this is his industry, and he can make good money here?” says Mikhalkina.
"Reedus" hints that in his new position, Kabanov will be able to profitably complete other lawsuits - on the claim of creditors against his company. Genbank is trying to get several debts from Interstroy totaling almost 30 million rubles, another 132 million 251 thousand are received by Krechet LLC, the Management Company Upravdom Interstroy owes another 800 thousand.
“The main disadvantage of this appointment is the team of the current Crimean government. Will Kabanov be able to resist in such conditions and will he want to work for the good of the republic and for the implementation of the Federal Target Program - or will he merge with this team and end up the same way as Nakhlupin,” said the head of the public movement “Anti-Corruption Bureau” in an interview with the Sevastopol publication “Forpost” Republic of Crimea" Andrey Mezin.
There is another story in the Crimea involving the replacement of one official who had committed a crime with another potential participant in the scandal. Last year, the head of the Crimean highway, Igor Kravchenko, lost his position after the scandalous publication on social networks of a photo at the Mriya Hotel, where the price of a vacation did not correspond to the income of a civil servant. Two months later, the new head of the Crimean highway service, Alexey Safronov, “showed up” in the same hotel.
Personnel reshuffle and scandals in the Crimean authorities have long irritated the federal center, but Aksenov as a hero of the Russian Spring is not so easy to remove. Moscow is banking on peaceful rotation after the next State Council elections in 2019. Indirect confirmation of this is Vladimir Solovyov’s recent tirade about Crimean mismanagement on the morning broadcast of Vesti FM radio.
Director of the Center for Regional Policy Development Ilya Grashchenkov believes that after Nakhlupin’s arrest, Aksyonov’s chances of retaining his position are quite low.
“The transitional post-Ukrainian period has passed. Aksyonov, as a conciliator of the Ukrainian elites, fulfilled his task. Given the difficult political situation for Russia, and with Moscow finding it difficult to trust the unreliable elite of Crimea, there is a desire to move on to creating a more understandable and solid foundation. To do this, we need to start changing people - to those more affiliated with Moscow. If Aksyonov refuses to support team members who are not close to him personally, then we can say that Aksyonov generally agrees with Moscow’s scenario of redistribution within his own team, just to stay for a second term,” Grashchenkov said in an interview with the New Day agency "
In light of this forecast, the announced appointment of Kabanov generally looks meaningless.
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