Vladimir Putin and Alexander Brechalov (Photo: Alexey Danichev / RIA Novosti)
Reasons for detention
On April 4, the head of Udmurtia, Alexander Solovyov, is in Moscow. According to investigators, he is suspected of receiving bribes of 139 million rubles, which he took over two years from the builders of a bridge across the Kama and Bui rivers near the city of Kambarka. The media reported that along with Solovyov, the head of the State Unitary Enterprise Udmurtavtodor, Alexander Korepanov, was also detained, but his secretary denied this information to RBC.
It was planned to announce Solovyov’s detention on Monday, April 3, an interlocutor close to the leadership of one of the security forces told RBC. However, the plans of the security forces were dashed by the terrorist attack that occurred that day in St. Petersburg, the source noted.
“There is no political background to the case, this is a fight against corruption,” an interlocutor close to the leadership of United Russia assured RBC. The source recalled recent publications in the regional press about facts of corruption and problems with roads in the republic. Solovyov’s membership in the party “was suspended automatically according to the charter after the initiation of a criminal case,” the United Russia member emphasized.
At a meeting with the Chairman of the Government of Udmurtia Viktor Savelyev, the detention of the head of the region was not discussed, the head’s press secretary told RBC Udmurt Republic Elena Kapitonenko. “Nothing was said [about the detention], the usual issues that were on the agenda were being resolved,” she said.
Scandal with Putin
Solovyov has held the position of head of Udmurtia since 2014, in this post he replaced Alexander Volkov, who headed the republic for almost 20 years. Until 2014, Solovyov represented the republic in the Federation Council, and before that he headed the regional parliament for six years.
According to political scientist Mironov, during his governorship a clan formed around Solovyov, which was also involved in road construction. The governor’s namesake, Republican Deputy Minister for Construction Alexander Solovyov, was also involved in this area; according to the expert, he is a close friend of the daughter of the head of Udmurtia.
“They had a megaproject - a bridge across the Kama. Solovyov personally asked Putin for money for it. They named the amount 30 billion rubles. (federal and regional budgets together). Putin was supposed to come [in September 2016] to open the bridge. But the bridge was not ready. Violations were found. A scandal arose. Soon, Deputy Minister Soloviev (namesake and family friend) was arrested. There were arrests in the traffic department and offices close to it. Putin personally ordered work on it,” Mironov told RBC.
According to Yevgeny Minchenko, “it was no secret to anyone” that the head of the republic was being dealt with by law enforcement agencies. “For the last month and a half, secret work has been carried out to find his successor. There is a combination of factors here: the lack of a serious roof in Politburo 2.0, the situational appointment of Solovyov. Availability of complaints law enforcement- this is surprising, considering how intimidated the governor’s corps is now. They say that the investigators were surprised at how carelessly he behaved,” Minchenko clarified to RBC.
Alexander Soloviev (Photo: Vladimir Trefilov / RIA Novosti)
Solovyov was a “middle peasant governor”, not the most a good example changes in long-time leaders in the regions, political scientist Mikhail Vinogradov told RBC. “The clouds began to gather in December-January, and he was considered an obvious candidate for a quick replacement. But they thought they would wait until the summer so that elections could not be held this year. It seems that they decided to combine this topic with corruption,” the expert says.
Bridge problems
The general contractor for the construction of the bridge across the Kama, for the opening of which the head of state was supposed to attend, was the Tyumen company Mostostroy-12. Its owner, Alexander Zabarsky, is affiliated with other enterprises that appear in the Solovyov bribery case - Regional Investment Company (RIK), Udmurtstalmost, Resurs-Invest, Dom-Invest and Stroy-Invest. . This was reported by Den.org.
Interfax reported that Arbitration court Udmurtia has scheduled a meeting for May 11 at which it will consider the claim of the Ministry of Transport of the Republic against the Mostostroy-12 company. The company is accused of “improper fulfillment of obligations under a government contract,” and the plaintiffs estimated the penalty at 75.5 million rubles.
A court hearing is scheduled for April 18 Tyumen region, at which the claim of Sberbank of Russia for the joint recovery of debt in the amount of 627.6 million rubles from Mostostroy-12 and its affiliates SP Fonika, Tyumenstalmost named after the Tyumen Komsomol and ArktikStroyMost will be considered.
Work on the construction of a bridge across the Kama was suspended in mid-December, when Mostostroy-12 faced financial problems associated with, in which it held 1.5 billion rubles. In December, VTB, which is a creditor of RIK LLC, gained control over it and changed the general contractor. In March, RBC sources spoke about the impending bankruptcy of the Mostostroy-12 company.
In the November Kremlin rating of governors from the Development Center regional policy the head of the republic received a “D”. The compilers indicated that the ONF calls the roads of Udmurtia the worst in federal district, the republican authorities were unable to prepare for the heating season, and according to Roszdravnadzor, there are serious problems in the field of medicine.
The authors of the study also wrote about the growing conflict with the federal authorities. It was noted that the republic’s budget was poorly balanced and heavily debt-ridden (the deficit at the beginning of the year was almost 2 billion rubles). According to the Ministry of Finance of Udmurtia, the state debt of the republic amounted to 47.7 billion rubles, and municipal debt increased by 34%.
“The personnel reserve is poorly developed. Nepotism, continuity, corruption components... Overall score - 39 out of 100 points (DD, or 2). Conclusions: the conflict with the federal authorities is growing: the embassy in the Volga Federal District and some ministries and departments, in particular due to a negligent attitude towards housing and communal services. If the heating season this year is disrupted, then the issue of the resignation of the head of the region may become relevant,” the experts concluded.
Our correspondent Vladimir Vorsobin tried to figure out why Alexander Solovyov was actually arrested [video]
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PIZZA OF ALEXANDER THE THIRD
There is a law in Russia: the new tsar is obliged - and with all his might! - be the opposite of the old. Appearance. With speeches. With gestures. With all my guts. So that the subjects, God forbid, do not get confused.
Even if you are the ruler of Udmurtia and rule for only three days.
I’m sure that’s why we and the new Udmurt governor Alexander
om Brechalov we are not sitting in his main office, under typical portrait Himself, and we huddle at the table of a small pizzeria in the town of Sarapul under the radium Leps. The governor bravely bites into his pizza. For video cameras. Taking pictures with the waitresses. And here he is walking through the town, jumping over Udmurt puddles with sparkling boots.
(“Come on, let’s go, everyone, I’ll treat you to pizza!” Brechalov winks at the journalists in a familiar way, and the whispers of random Udmurts rush around: “Ah-ah, this is the same one who was sent from Moscow...”)
Brechalov, of course, is not wearing a boring suit and an old-fashioned tie, like the previous governor, but hiking trousers and a khaki jacket (not cheap, by the way, the military style, which, although it was begging to be paired with ankle boots, would be too much). And most importantly, Alexander Vladimirovich is 43 years old, not 66...
Brechalov had just landed in Izhevsk. Instead of ex-governor Alexander Solovyov arrested and taken in handcuffs to Moscow...
An elderly, conservative man, suspected of bribes...
Brechalov is the complete opposite of him in his biography - the head of the Public Chamber, co-chairman of the headquarters " Popular Front", who fought in the regions against unreasonable spending by officials. His project " Honest purchases"revealed dubious tenders on Sakhalin, which (as Brechalov assures) led to the arrest of the local governor Khoroshavin. Political scientists once called Brechalov “the most promising politician of 2016.” But is it because personnel changes in the Kremlin, or, on the contrary, the prodigy was sent to Udmurtia for his fashionable anti-corruption fervor.
And Brechalov frightened the locals in front of me with words from the capital, sophisticated. And “crowdfunding” and “revitalization”.
You better tell us - did you bring bread? - the men in the abandoned village grinned.
No bread?! Can you imagine?! - shouted the impressed governor at the meeting.
You are good, kind, smart people, he convinced Sarapul officials. - Let's work in a new way. For people!
The officials did not object. Yes please! And they looked at the new boss with devotion... With that nationwide readiness for any changes, with which, I remember, they looked into the mouth of the progressive governor Nikita Belykh (who also loved democracy and camouflage).
In parting, I asked the governor:
- Do you know what nickname the officials here have already given you?
Which? - Brechalov was wary.
- Alexander the Third.
“The previous ones were also Alexanders,” I say. “I don’t think they see much difference in you all.”
I’ll try to make sure they see... - Brechalov winced.
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Governor of Udmurtia in a pizzeria. The new head of Udmurtia Alexander Brechalov visits a pizzeria in the city of Sarapul Vladimir VORSOBIN
And I looked at the youthful, fresh governor and wondered if he knew what really ruined the arrested Solovyov. Does he understand why he is Alexander the Third...
I also thought that this story was primitive, like 140 million in a suitcase for the governor (according to the investigation). But it turned out...
BUSINESSMAN OF SAND QUARRY
On the very first day in Izhevsk you are filled with fierce anger towards the arrested governor. By the way, this is another Russian rule...
I remember a year ago, after the arrest of the head of Komi Gaizer, I spent a long time looking in Syktyvkar, teeming with eyewitnesses of his atrocities, for a person who would dare to say something good about him. It’s the same story in Udmurtia. A couple of hours of communication with the local elite paints a seemingly clear picture.
So, the former head of Udmurtavtodor, Senator Alexander Solovyov, unexpectedly for everyone, became governor in February 2014. According to one of his close associates, the quiet Alexander Ivanovich suddenly “came out of demons.” “Grandfather is going crazy.” Alexander Vasilyevich decides that “he is the king here.”
Considering that since 1979 Soloviev was firmly in the road business, he makes a natural and, as it turns out, fatal decision. Throw the lion's share of the republican money into repairing and building roads. Fortunately, his youngest daughter Yulia Bashkova is the Deputy Minister of Road Construction of the region. The eldest, Evgenia Sirik, is the owner of enterprises involved in the development of gravel and sand quarries.
By the way, it’s about eldest daughter governor in Udmurtia, there were not very pleasant rumors.
Everything was not enough for her! - says one of the officials, listing a dozen stories when the Sirik business empire, consisting of shops and quarry enterprises, diligently took advantage of the successful situation - “dad-king”.
Fortunately, her common-law husband is the head of Avtodormostproekt OJSC, through which almost everyone went design work in the republic.
So in Udmurtia the hasty family business, understandable (if you put your hand on your heart) to every official - how can you miss the chance to provide for your great-grandchildren?
Fellow villagers and friends of the governor gathered with plates at the “road pie”, having occupied all the positions in the ministry of any kind. Moreover cash flows were traditionally concentrated in the hands of one of them (the irony of fate here) - the namesake, namesake and, as they say, a distant relative of the governor - Alexander Solovyov. Who received the nickname Soloviev-Little.
It is known that the future governor (Soloviev-Bolshoi) and Malenky had been doing business together for a good dozen years.
Because of which, by the way, they tried to initiate a criminal case against Bolshoi at the beginning of the 2000s.
That’s why the younger Solovyov was also busy with the construction of the ill-fated bridge across the Kama, for which the governor was arrested.
The little one was the first to be arrested for the bridge. Still in the fall. He eventually surrendered the Bolshoi, talking about 140 million rubles allegedly transferred to the governor in 2014 - 2016.
According to the investigation, Alexander Solovyov, for this money, was supposed to make “extraordinary and immediate payment for the work performed from the federal and regional budgets, the allocation of licenses for the geological study of the subsoil area and for their exploration, as well as the extraction of sand and sand-gravel mixture.”
And everything seems to be reliable. And the fate of the Solovyovs is as clear as a tear.
“ON THE TUNDRA, BY RAILWAY...”
But one inconspicuous detail alarmed me.
It’s not even that half of Udmurtia didn’t believe the investigation’s version (unlike the elite, who handed over the former governor right away, the common people, by inertia, continue to see him as a countryman rather than a villain).
And it’s not that the stolen millions were never found during the search. Mastering them correctly is a matter of technique...
I was interested in the words of Presidential Envoy Babich during Brechalov’s meeting with the deputies.
It could, of course, have been done differently (this is about the arrest of the old governor. - Author), he noted. - But we acted according to the law. That is a serious achievement of power.
And then Babich praised another ex-governor who ruled Udmurtia before Solovyov, Alexander Volkov - for agro-industrial complex, for urban planning... They say that the managers here are normal, but the corrupt official Soloviev has wormed his way among them. Happens.
And I remembered the words of one of the local construction “subchiks” (subcontractors).
Soloviev didn’t change anything,” he was surprised at the anti-corruption hype. - As it was under Volkov, 10% of kickbacks remained the same. Alexander Vasilyevich simply removed the Volkovskys and installed his own. Since this all started…
ALEXANDER THE FIRST
Let's take a walk back 10 years, to be clear, into the past. The reign of Alexander Volkov was a whole era for Udmurtia - 19 years (1995 - 2014). Typical, by the way, for the first Russian governors. In the 2000s, a monetary and oil rain fell on the regions, which gave different results. For example, in the capital of Udmurtia, as, by the way, in Grozny, Saransk, Yoshkar-Ola (the list goes on), construction has bloomed beautifully. Volkov built the famous Izhevsk Zoo with a “governor’s” statue of a wolf at the entrance. Circus. Ozhilo Agriculture.
And it would seem that the governor is good. And they respected Volkov, almost like Solovyov later, but for some reason Moscow became worried. Investigators began visiting Izhevsk frequently, and the press grumbled, calling Udmurtia one of the most corrupt republics.
And it turned out that the scheme of this apparent well-being is ours, every day. Russian. First, the Prosecutor General’s Office issued an order to Volkov “for violating laws on civil service, as well as the procedure for placing orders for government needs.”
And a year before his resignation, searches began in connection with the “family” distribution of budget funds to support the local agricultural industry.
But then they treated the “feeding troughs” with understanding, they did not imprison anyone, but simply dismissed the “eternal governor.” And so suddenly that there was no time to search for something new. Solovyov’s candidacy appeared by chance: the former road worker and speaker of the local Legislative Assembly was completing his term as a senator, where Volkov sent him into an honorable but offensive exile. And the career of a road foreman, which was heading towards sunset, suddenly rushed to the stars.
Soloviev, having accepted Volkov’s republic, did not change anything in it. He simply turned the money from the agricultural industry and urban development into his “family.” From other people's children to our own.
He immediately removed the “Volkovsky” minister of road construction. And in Udmurtia, full-scale construction of roads began.
ALEXANDER THE SECOND'S MISTAKE
But here Solovyov lacked bureaucratic flexibility. He made too many promises before the elections influential people- promised high positions in local government, parliament. And I forgot. Former paratrooper and road worker Soloviev distributed posts like brothers. Old friends, relatives. That is, with his own hands he organized an influential front against himself - those deceived went to work in federal structures. It was from there, I am sure, that Moscow received the first alarming signals about the unlucky Udmurt leader.
The crisis has let the governor down even further. The good old Udmurt kickback system, swollen with oil money, endured the all-Russian lack of money very hard.
The system worked like this - there is a state enterprise “Udmurtavtodor”, to which the republic gives almost all the money for construction,” says the head of one of the local construction companies. - “Random” people are not allowed to participate in the auction. Then the money is scattered among contracts. Those are under subcontracts. At each stage, in order to obtain a subcontract, there is a 10% kickback. As a result, the company, in order to pay a bribe to the official, saves on road construction. This is not tragic if the customer has enough money, and the amount of the contract allows him to withdraw the profit, give a bribe, and build it for a C grade. But when road budgets across the country began to be ungodly squeezed, the rollback system began to malfunction.
The situation was complicated by the fact that the suppliers of building materials were also “family” people and wanted fierce profits - as masters.
As a result, the money for new roads in Izhevsk was stolen so indefinitely that they began to fall apart the very next year, along with the governor’s rating.
But the local road inspection, subordinate to the “family” ministry, simply turned a blind eye to this.
HOW PUTIN TOOK SOLOVIEV
But even this was not fatal for Solovyov until he made one decisive mistake, without which he, I am sure, would still have led Udmurtia. And even in the survival ratings it would remain in the good category.
Are there many such governors in Rus'?! Yes, there are a dime a dozen such governors!
In Izhevsk they know that it wasn’t even “the bridge over the Kama” that was shot by Solovyov. And the head’s fantastic self-confidence.
The grandiose construction project was started under Volkov. Moreover, it was a very bold project - the first construction of a bridge in Russia under a concession. Part of the money is from Moscow, part from Izhevsk, the rest from a private investor.
The bridge here is really very necessary - it not only saved time (otherwise it would be a hundred kilometers long detour), but also connected the deeply unhappy town of Kambarka, cut off by the river, with Udmurtia.
Its residents are historically angry at the state. The salary is 15 - 20 thousand to get to the “mainland” - either a “two hundred ruble” ferry, or a full gas tank to Izhevsk and back. (The officials here are also abnormally angry. As the local press writes about the latest mayor: “The official beat up his fellow countryman and threw a handful of coins in his face. So Kambarka,” the journalist ends the news, “has lost its head again.”)
“We live like monkeys on an island,” growl the local men, who have attended a rally against... the bridge a couple of times.
350 rubles for one way travel?! - the town literally screamed with indignation when it learned about the plans of the “concessionaires”. - So, if you drive across the bridge to work, you have to give your entire salary to some bastards?!
That is, the very idea of a rich “concession” in the middle of impoverished Russia was explosive. Well, when the local men who were contracted for construction were abandoned without paying their salaries, the fame of the “bad bridge” spread throughout the region. For Solovyov, the decisive catastrophe was already approaching.
The main “concessionaire” Alexander Abramovich Zabarsky, for all his good connections in Moscow, had a troubled reputation. For example, the construction of a bridge by his campaign in Nadym ended in a scandal - the audit discovered additions to the cost of the work by as much as 2 billion rubles.
But in Udmurtia, things were going even worse - a bridge of nosebleeds had to be donated before the arrival of the President of Russia in Izhevsk. That is, by September 20, 2016.
But already in the spring of that year it became clear that everything was going to hell.
Underfunding on the part of the concessionaire is almost 2 billion rubles, reported the local Minister of Transport Vakhromeev. - The salary debt of Zabarsky’s company to the builders is 80 million rubles.
Construction has stopped. Workers begged Zabarsky to give back the money he had earned.
“Dear Alexander Abramovich, your employee of the Tyumen branch of Mostostroy-12, Oleg Aleksandrovich Yamkovoy, a 6th category installer, is addressing you,” a worker writes to him on a construction Internet forum. - I haven’t seen my salary since September 2, my vacation pay since March 2016. There is nothing to pay for my daughter’s education, there is nothing to pay off the loan, public utilities I have nothing to pay, they turn off the electricity and water, my salary arrears are 95,500 + vacation pay 60,000, please give me money, I’m not asking for too much, give me what I earned!”
Where did the billions go - the question, you see, is already boring (according to the investigation, Zabarsky, for example, handed over 140 million to the governor). The instinct of self-preservation is more relevant here - what to show the president?
Udmurt builders still remember the bustle a month before Putin's arrival. When they were painting, they made markings and laid asphalt at the same time. When the arrived students jostled around the bridge in a daze, not understanding why they were brought here. When officials called subcontractors and begged, swore, conjured, promised to pay - if only they would return to the construction site.
And then a blow in the back - the state examination does not accept the bridge. They say that someone replaced reinforced concrete structures with metal ones. Well, that is, according to the old scheme, another billion was stolen as usual.
But even here the situation could still be saved...
Governor Soloviev is making a decisive stupidity, says one of the subcontractors for the construction of this bridge. - He doesn’t call the presidential administration, doesn’t apologize for missing deadlines, doesn’t ask to reschedule the president’s visit. Soloviev brazenly decides that if Putin opens the bridge, then the state expert will automatically sign all the papers. And all problems will be solved. But the administration did a good job...
The President did not cancel his visit to Udmurtia. He finally arrived on September 20th. Only, as they say, he did not shake hands with Governor Solovyov at the airport. And the fake opening of the bridge was no longer on the visit program. But the head of the Udmurt Ministry of Internal Affairs did not leave Putin a single step.
And a month later, I’m sure, especially on the road builder’s professional day, Solovyov-Menenky was arrested. Six months later it was the Bolshoi’s turn.
The first reports of the arrest appeared in the Izhevsk press early on Tuesday morning. According to Den.org, the head of the republic was seen on a flight to Moscow in handcuffs and accompanied by four people - two in uniform and two in civilian clothes. Later, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reported that the Main Directorate for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases had opened a criminal case against Alexander Solovyov on two counts falling within the definition of Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code (taking a bribe by an official in a position public office Russian Federation, especially large size).
According to investigators, elected in September 2014 from high level support (more than 84%), the head of the region almost immediately began to receive bribes from contractors for the construction of two bridge crossings over the Kama and Bui. The total bribe amounted to 141 million rubles.
“For this, Alexander Solovyov had to provide extraordinary and immediate payment for the work performed from the federal and regional budgets, as well as the allocation of licenses for the geological study of the subsoil area and for exploration, as well as the extraction of sand and sand-gravel mixture,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Soloviev himself was associated with road construction in the republic all his life. From 1979 to 2003, the future head of the republic worked at the Udmurtavtodor Production Association, from where he moved from the position of head of department into politics, becoming a deputy of the State Council (parliament) of the republic. Almost immediately he was elected deputy chairman of this body, and in 2007 he himself became chairman.
In 2013, with the support of the then head of the republic Alexander Volkov and the United Russia faction in the local parliament, Solovyov briefly became a senator. However, already in February 2014 he returned to his native republic to become acting head - Alexander Volkov, who was not distinguished by high academic performance, was not reappointed for a fourth term.
It is obvious that the situation with road construction and the transport sector has been under the control of FSB operatives for a long time. Last fall, Deputy Minister of Transport and a good long-time acquaintance and namesake of the head of the region, Alexander Solovyov, was arrested on suspicion of abuse of power.
Another deputy minister of transport is the daughter of the head of Udmurtia, Yulia Bashkova, and she and Minister Viktor Vakhromeyev have worked together in the road construction of the republic since the 70s of the last century.
At the end of last February, the chief investigator of the Russian Investigative Committee for Udmurtia, Vladimir Nikeshkin, criticized the Ministry of Transport during a staff meeting. In particular, he said that in exchange for bribes, employees of the weight control system allowed overloaded cars to transit through the road system of the republic, and “every taxi driver knew that it was possible to transport citizens without going through medical examinations, technical inspections, etc., if he paid a bribe to the employees of the Ministry of Transport.”
Obviously, given the close ties between the leadership of the department and the head of the republic, this was the last signal to Solovyov, who was not very successful politically either. In the 2016 elections, United Russia received 50% of the votes, and the national rating of governors placed it approximately in the middle of the list in terms of success - 52nd place.
However, according to another rating - the survival rate of governors, compiled by the St. Petersburg Politics Foundation, Solovyov was “good” - 4 out of 5. The president of the fund, Mikhail Vinogradov, explained this to Gazeta.Ru by the fact that “in the fall, the collapse began and a change in the head of the republic was expected from day to day".
According to the political scientist, “they took an obviously weak figure, who they were going to change starting from the new year.”
The head of the political expert group, Konstantin Kalachev, also agrees that Solovyov’s positions were weak, and draws attention to the fact that elections to the State Council will be held in the republic this coming fall, and the detention current head and the appointment of an acting official will change a lot in the pre-election situation.
“Their elections were problematic, the results were not easy,” Kalachev notes. “And the election of the head, where he won more than 80%, was simply virtually uncontested, and even in the wake of the renewal request.”
According to Kalachev, political chaos is now expected in the republic and the group will strengthen former head Volkov region, which was the initiator of the bridge construction project. At the same time, it will not be easy for the acting incumbent and will have to rely on administrative resources, since all the local elites have remained in their places.
According to the presidential press service, Putin has already been informed about the detention of Alexander Solovyov.
Experts talk about the political and socio-economic legacy of the deceased head of Udmurtia, Alexander Volkov
Last Saturday, at the age of 66, the former president of Udmurtia, deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture, Alexander Volkov, died. This happened in Germany, where he was undergoing treatment. By and large, with the departure of Alexander Alexandrovich, the great post-Soviet era ends for Udmurtia. For more than two decades, he held leadership roles in the republic: from 1993 he served as chairman of the Council of Ministers, in 1995 he was elected chairman of the State Council, and from 2000 to 2014 he was president of Udmurtia.
« Real time» asked Izhevsk and capital experts what they remembered about the ex-head of the region.
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Senator from the Republic of Tatarstan, member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Committee on Agricultural and Food Policy and Environmental Management
His fellow senators spoke exceptionally well of Volkov. According to generally accepted opinion, this man always defended the interests of the republic in the Senate and sincerely worried about his region.
His death is a loss for the Russian legislative branch, and for Udmurtia. In this regard, I express my sincere condolences to the relatives and people from his circle who respected and loved Alexander Alexandrovich.
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Public figure(Izhevsk)
Volkov is remembered primarily as a builder. Under him, many different objects were built - a circus, a zoo, an embankment, and stadiums in regional centers. True, many say that the latter are not very much in demand.
As for the negative results, they primarily include the privatization of large enterprises. In our country, unlike in Tatarstan, it was carried out in such a way that the beneficiaries were not the republic and not local businesses with state participation, but third-party structures. Udmurtneft was privatized at one time through SIDANCO, then it was part of Rosneft, and now it has been privatized by the Chinese corporation Sinopec. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Udmurtneft is Chinese. The Kalashnikov plant is part of the Rostec structure, the mechanical plant is a private enterprise, the owner is not local. And so on. And many blame Volkov for the fact that he (again, unlike Tatarstan) did not have enough lobbying resources, and privatization passed by the region.
So the image of Volkov in the republic is negative. If we compare him, for example, with Solovyov, who was recently arrested, the second president’s rating was much higher. As we used to say, Volkov should sit in prison, not Soloviev. Because this whole system was built by Alexander Alexandrovich. And Soloviev himself comes from the Volkov team.
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Political scientist (Izhevsk)
About the deceased - either good or nothing. The good thing is that he was a strong political fighter and a strong-willed person. But: the man left for another world, but his era, alas, did not pass away. Therefore, “nothing” has a context that I cannot help but voice.
20 long years - the years of his political leadership - certainly left their mark on Udmurtia. And this trail is by no means the best: the republic, which had a unique economic potential, has largely lost it. In the region where share of defense industry in the economy once accounted for 70%, there is not a single defense enterprise of regional subordination left. In the same way, Udmurtia lost its oil industry and control over many industrial enterprises. The republic has lost many prominent political figures and managers, and is mired in colossal debts...
All this was, in my opinion, sacrificed to the irrepressible political ambitions. The 20th anniversary was marked by an endless series of conflicts. He had conflicts with municipalities (which became the reason for intervention Constitutional Court), ousted a number of unique managers from the political field of Udmurtia (Nikolai Ganza, Yuri Shestakov, Anatoly Saltykov), subjectively interfered in the development of universities, etc., etc. The style is unchanged - full support for those who are pleasing and the removal of those who are undesirable from the game.
The extension of political longevity by a successful reshuffle to the Federation Council elevated Volkov to a certain educational Olympus. He is a Doctor of Economics (the dissertation, by the way, was devoted to the grandiose prospects of the Izhevsk Automobile Plant during the period of its real crisis), and was one of the arbiters of the destinies of our education...
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Professor of the National Research University " graduate School Economics", Vice President of the Center political technologies, doctor political sciences(Moscow)
Volkov for Udmurtia - a whole political era, he headed the region before 2000, when the republic was parliamentary, and after 2000, when the management model changed to a presidential one. This is one of the typical examples of long-lived regional leaders, whose name is associated with both the problems of the region in the nineties and its successes in the 2000s.
However, both the problems of Udmurtia and its achievements are connected, rather, with all-Russian trends. In the 90s, the republic, like most Russian regions, fell into a negative trend, and given the development of the military-industrial complex, this hit the region very hard. However, despite all the problems, Volkov still managed to save the region from economic collapse and keep it from acute social protests.
If we talk about the positive trends of the 2000s and partly the 1900s, they were dictated by both trends in Russian market, and foreign policy factors - I’m talking about rising oil prices, on which the republic is also heavily dependent, and about the restoration of the defense industry.
But the republic simply “wasted” all the dividends of this period - since Volkov’s rule during this period increasingly turned from stable to stagnant. He and his people failed to direct improvement financial situation to create a bright future for the region, to diversify the economy, to attract investment, and to implement some significant projects.
In many respects, Volkov’s “merit” is that the republic began to be treated as a kind of bear corner, where nothing happens either in the economy or in social development. But this is by no means a poor region; thanks to its potential, it could well take its place among the leading regions.
But what is especially important is that during this relatively prosperous period there was no renewal or rejuvenation of the local political elite.
However, even after Volkov left, it was not possible to create a stable management model in the republic - everyone knows how the short reign of his successor Alexander Solovyov, who also came from the Volkov elite, ended. In essence, external governance has been introduced in the republic. However, how effective a manager Alexander Brechalov will be is still a big question.
Political strategist, head of the “Political Expert Group” (Moscow)
I once had the opportunity to work with Volkov for about a year, when he was not yet the president of Udmurtia. This personality was ambiguous. His will to power was clearly expressed. He carried out the purge of competitors mercilessly. As a leader, he has both merits and a set of complaints.
He paid great attention regions of the republic, the agricultural sector was one of the priorities. When he began to restore agriculture in Udmurtia, he viewed it not as a narrowly conceived “sphere of production”, but as a rural way of life, as a single socio-economic complex, which in the future will form an environment and standard of living alternative to urban ones. But Izhevsk froze under him and practically did not develop. Although this city was very passionate in the late 90s.
Volkov could not win the real people's love. He left the post of head with a very low rating. But it is not customary to speak badly about the deceased. An entire era of life in Udmurtia is associated with Alexander Alexandrovich Volkov. There was everything in this life. But as the first president of the republic, he deserves respect. Much of what he was later criticized for had less to do with him than with the peculiarities of the time.
For 14 years at the helm of the republic, he left behind not just a memory of himself, but also the “State Circus of Udmurtia”, the Zoological Park of Udmurtia, the Perinatal Center, the Republican Clinical Oncology Dispensary, the restored St. Michael’s Cathedral, the reconstructed embankment of Izhevsk Pond, the National Theater, the Drama Theater theater, Puppet Theater and much more. The bad will be erased from the memory, the good will remain.
Tatyana Kolchina, Rustem Shakirov, Alexander Shakirov
Reference
Power
Alexander Volkov found himself in the bodies of representative power back in 1986. Then he became chairman of the executive committee of the Glazov City Council people's deputies. By the way, in Udmurtia a native Bryansk region turned out to be assigned: he was sent to the city of Glazov to build a mechanical plant. He worked at the factory as a foreman.
In 1995, Volkov was elected chairman of the State Council of the Udmurt Republic. Five years later, a referendum is held in the region, in which more than 68% of voters vote for the introduction of the post of president of the republic. Alexander Volkov became the first to take this position. In October 2000, he received 37.8% of the votes (among eight candidates). In 2004, Volkov will be re-elected - 54.26% of voters will vote for him. Then the head of Udmurtia already represented United Russia.
In 2009, on the proposal of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Volkov’s powers were extended. On February 19, 2014, Alexander Volkov is relieved of his duties by Vladimir Putin, his place is taken by Alexander Solovyov, who was the chairman of the republican State Council.
Business
After this, Volkov is sent to the Federation Council. In the press these changes were explained as convenient for commercial interests former president republics.
Alexander Volkov was associated with the oil industry (a third of the entire Udmurt economy). In 1995, he quarreled with the president of Udmurtneft JSC Valentin Kudinov. In those days, half of the republic's budget was formed from tax revenues from Udmurtneft. After the conflict, Volkov’s team, together with the Bashkir authorities, created a “friendly” oil company Belkamneft, the shares of which were divided between Bashneft (which had been developing fields in the south of Udmurtia for a quarter of a century) and the government of Udmurtia. By creating this company, Volkov tried to weaken the position of Udmurtneft, but Belkamneft was not in his hands for long: first it came under the control of AFK Sistema of Vladimir Yevtushenkov, and in 2003 it became part of Russneft of Mikhail Gutseriev.
Yesterday, FSB officers detained the head of Udmurtia, Alexander Solovyov, and today the official was already taken to the capital to the Investigative Committee. A criminal case was initiated against the official for bribery.
As investigators established, Alexander Solovyov received 140 million rubles for immediate payment from the state budget for work related to the construction of bridges across the Kama and Bui rivers in the Republic. According to media reports, the most likely successors Mr. Solovyov could be the chief federal inspector for the region, Dmitry Musin, or the head of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, and the head of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, co-chairman of the ONF, Alexander Brechalov. FSB officers sent Alexander Solovyov to the capital on a morning flight so that the official could be interrogated and hear the accusations before the Investigative Committee. According to witnesses, Alexander Solovyov was the last passenger on the plane and he was brought there when all the passengers were sitting in their seats. Eyewitnesses report that a car of FSB officers drove up to the plane and escorted Alexander Solovyov on board in handcuffs with a bag over his head. The official was flying to Moscow accompanied by FSB officers; as soon as the security officers arrived in Moscow, the first thing they did was disembark the official from the plane, and only then did the rest of the passengers get off. On this moment The interrogation of Alexander Solovyov is underway; after completion, he will be charged with receiving a bribe by an official holding a public position in the Russian Federation on an especially large scale (Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). As we found out, today the investigators will appeal to the Basmanny Court of Moscow with a petition to arrest Alexander Solovyov and send him to a pre-trial detention center. Law enforcement officials found that in the period from 2014 to 2016, Alexander Solovyov received from representatives different organizations who carried out construction works bridges and crossings over the Kama River and the Bui River about 139 million rubles. For all this, Alexander Solovyov had to provide immediate payments for the work performed from the Federal and regional budgets, which were issued for the geological study of the subsoil site. Let us note that the Udmurt authorities have not yet commented on the detention of Alexander Solovyov. Prime Minister of Udmurtia Viktor Savelyev is currently holding an urgent meeting with heads of authorities local government. This was announced by the press secretary of the head of the Republic, at the moment, official information There are no representatives from the region. It is important to note that Alexander Solovyov is already the fourth governor who has become a defendant in a criminal case. Let us recall that in the spring of 2015, the governor of the Sakhalin region, Alexander Khoroshavin, was arrested, who was also accused of abuse of office; in the same year, the head of the Komi Republic, Vyacheslav Gaizer, was arrested; in the summer of 2016, the governor was arrested Kirov region Nikita Bely, who is accused of corruption crimes. Let us recall that Governor Alexander Solovyov became the head of Udmurtia in 2014 after the next term of office of the President of the Republic Alexander Volkov expired. Until this moment, the official worked as the speaker of the Republican State Council. Before Alexander Solovyov came into politics, his fate was connected with Udmurtavtodor. We also note that in the elections Alexander Solovyov received 84.84% of the votes, and in the elections State Duma in 2016, the United Russia party in the region gained 50.5%.
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