What are the predictions for the upcoming change of leadership in the northern city?
Media and telegram channels are reporting that the governor of St. Petersburg is expected to step down soon Alexandra Beglova and be replaced by Andrey Turchak, who is the First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council and Secretary of the General Council of United Russia. This is happening due to a significant drop in the rating of the current governor, caused by numerous management mistakes, unpopular reforms, and failed initiatives. There is particular criticism of the garbage reform and the lack of proper public service organization, resulting in a petition for Beglov's resignation. It is also reported that Evgenia Prigozhina, Vyacheslav Makarov, and Valentina Matvienko are involved in the campaign against Beglov. Turchak, the potential replacement, previously served as the governor of the Pskov region and has faced scandals and controversies. Experts are doubtful about his potential appointment. Meanwhile, Beglov has been carrying out city reforms, including a large-scale renovation that has sparked discontent among residents. Beglov predicted another resignationThere are reports about the potential resignation of the governor of the northern city
Alexandra Beglova
that surfaced once again in the media and telegram channels last week. and the name of a potential successor: he may be the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council, the secretary of the general council of the party “United Russia” are called Andrey Turchak It's worth noting that in May, there were predictions about the resignation of the head of St. Petersburg political scientist .
Vladimir Karasev predicted , and it was expected to happen within a week. Then Beglov was supposedly going to be part of the next wave of governor resignations. The dissatisfaction of the townspeople with the insufficiently high level of support for the inhabitants of Donbass and the military special operation in Ukraine by St. Petersburg officials was referred to as this.But if there was a reliance on the patriotic feelings of the inhabitants, it clearly did not happen. Recently, the press started discussing a sharp drop in cause Beglov, and this time it was due to numerous managerial mistakes made by both the governor himself and his administration, as well as the inability to
accept objective criticism from citizens and promptly fix accumulating problems. rating publications politics the online publication RuNews24 also highlights the lack of a clear patriotic stance among Smolny officials, leading to a
AT rock band performance whose musicians openly criticize the external criticism Kremlin, following a recent football match in St. Petersburg “B2” for the Super Bowl. The appearance of rockers on the Gazprom Arena field was met with insulting shouts from Zenit fans, only to have journalists politics them with the scarf of the Moscow team around the neck of the musician “Zenith” and Moscow “Spartacus” Egor Bortnik tied up But RuNews24 authors and other, more serious, mistakes of the Beglov team. For example, about the actual failure of the garbage reform that started in January, the dissatisfaction of residents with the transition to a new transport service model (NMTO), the numerous utility accidents that occurred in winter, and issues with cleaning snow drifts, resulting in the city being snowed in. (aka Leva Bi-2).
“Attack” on power or self-discredit of power? write By the way, reports of the imminent resignation of the St. Petersburg governor surfaced back in January and were linked to the relevant
, which quickly gathered over 30,000 signatures. Written on behalf of pensioners and veterans of the blockade, the petition complained about the danger of walking on sidewalks littered with ice blocks, an increase in injuries, and the complete indifference of the city authorities.
Beglov himself had to refute his upcoming departure: petition“The residents of our city, who elected me, decide this. I'm not going anywhere. The government team and I are working, and we will continue these reforms and see them through to the end.”
Media statements from the head of the city on the Neva.
with the notorious owner of the company declared and media groups tied up Evgeny Prigozhin “Concrod” also known as the “Kremlin cook”. “Patriot”businessman “He didn’t pass the test of the St. Petersburg winter, he didn’t agree with the elites, he failed important reforms – no matter how much these and other Alexandra Beglova
Vyacheslav Makarov called and surprisingly, the current head of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko . The latter supposedly decided to eliminate Andrei Turchak, and actively worked to send him to the northern capital by appointing him as governor.It's worth mentioning that in February, political experts also discussed a significant decline in competitor Beglov's approval ratings and his lack of support among nearly all population groups. A bit earlier, in November last year,
“Social Information Agency St. Petersburg” rating published information showing that residents considered the best city leader Valentina Matvienko survey (29%); followed by Anatoly Sobchak (14%); Beglov placed third with 12%. Andrey Turchak's Pskov “saga” It seems that the current situation is resembling the situation in winter. Even the potential successor's name remains the same – Andriy Turchak. However, this outcome is not favorable for everyone. For instance, a member of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly
Boris Vishnevsky
told Oktagon publication that he doesn't believe Beglov will leave soon, and that his potential replacement with Turchak is “an even worse option” in comments The deputy chairman of the commission for public control, interaction with local governments and public councils of the Public Chamber of St. Petersburg is also skeptical about reports of an imminent change in power. Dmitry Solonnikov.
: according to him Turchak is currently involved in the federal agenda – “United Russia” in the territories of Ukraine” wordsand there's no reason to remove him from there. “conducts politics It's important to remember that Andrey Turchak already has experience leading the region – from 2009 to 2017, he served as governor of the Pskov region. Also, during his leadership, the Pskov region was consistently among the Russian Federation subjects with the lowest socio-economic well-being,
reached around 15.1 billion rubles by mid-2017 level and the budget remained in deficit. The systemic opposition regularly demanded public debt resignations heads of the region.Moreover, Turchak was involved in a major scandal involving the severe beating of a journalist. ralliesThe journalist had made harsh remarks about the governor and refused to apologize within 24 hours, as was required. The journalist claimed that employees of the Leninets holding, belonging to the governor’s family, were involved in the attack on him.
It triggered a strong public reaction Oleg Kashin regarding the foreign real estate owned by Turchak’s wife – an apartment in Nice, on the Cote d’Azur, officially registered through a non-profit organization in France. This news coincided with an active discussion of a bill prohibiting officials and their families from owning foreign assets and accounts, which put Turchak in a difficult position. demanded The explanation he gave did not help his political position. arguedDespite his questionable reputation and the frequent predictions of his resignation, Turchak still ran for a second term in 2014 and won. He only resigned in 2017 ahead of schedule.
He resigned by his own choice. Later, it was revealed that the former governor was appointed as the acting secretary of the ruling party at the suggestion of United Russia's leader, Dmitry Medvedev. information Dmitry Medvedev sell Dmitry Medvedev appointed him as the acting secretary of the ruling party's general council.
Petersburg reforms known as the “Beglov reforms” wording Could replacing Beglov with Turchak lead to further worsening of the already difficult socio-economic situation in the northern capital? After the winter garbage and municipal collapses, are there more surprises prepared by the authorities? It seems that they have another “surprise” in store as part of the transport reform initiated by the Smolny – a significant change in public transportation. public transportation was affected by a recent fire outbreak
that affected four recently purchased passenger buses, fortunately with no casualties. The city transport committee assures that they have the situation under control.
The draft law on the “Integrated Development of Territories” (CRT) proposed by Beglov was quickly adopted by the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly and has already purchase urban renovation with Beglov's touch. How According to the media, prefabricated residential buildings from 1957-1970 may fall under the program. However, not all citizens agree to a forced relocation, especially since it will be within the city's administrative boundaries, and repairs in the apartments will not be considered. “As a lawyer, I can tell you that this law is rudimentary. The rushed adoption in one day suggests that this law has been planned for a long time. It's like they want to take these areas, evict the residents, and build luxury housing there”
portal “LENNEWS” position of a lawyer nicknamed Irina Bakhanovich note expressed on the air of the TV channel “78”.
Finally, the “certain education reform” announced by Beglov, under which schools and kindergartens with compulsory swimming pools should be built in St. Petersburg, is accompanied by closure considered one of the best physics and mathematics schools in the country – “Laboratory of Continuing Mathematical Education” (LNMO), which over the past 30 years has been preparing winners of federal and international scientific competitions, as well as graduating highly qualified young scientists – biologists and engineers. It turns out that after the termination of the lease agreement for the occupied premises, the city Education Committee suggested LNMO leadership to find a new building and continue to operate as an ordinary private school.
Against the backdrop of such “reforms”, last June, the members of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly almost unanimously (with one abstention and one vote “against”) supported in the first reading, a draft law developed in Smolny on raising salaries for the governor, officials and deputies, that is, for his beloved ones. In accordance with the proposed changes, the annual allowance for the head of St. will be seven salaries instead of five, and the rest will increase from four to six. In practice, this will cost the budget additional 697 million rubles.
Considering that the next gubernatorial elections are to be held in the city on the Neva in September 2024, one can only speculate what other initiatives Mr. Beglov will give birth to in the near future. And although reports of his resignation appear regularly, he apparently feels quite confident, intending to continue to “reform” the northern capital.
