Management of Chelyabinsk will be shared with Yekaterinburg, and the elites are preparing to “cut back the feeders”

Kotova’s replacement is expected to provide solutions to economic and environmental issues

The upcoming change of head of Chelyabinsk could trigger large-scale changes in the capital of the Southern Urals. As experts note, Natalya Kotova, whom Governor Alexey Texler, despite numerous failures, sharp criticism from the population and a clear trail of corruption, sent to represent the region in the Federation Council, leaves the millionaire in a depressing situation. Observers are drawing attention to the likely unpreparedness of the municipality for winter, and to the eternal road, utility and environmental problems, which have already resulted in “popular recognition” of the ex-mayor. The new head of Chelyabinsk, despite the upcoming procedures, is already calling the Chairman of the Chamber of Control and Accounts of the Chelyabinsk Region Alexey Loshkin, who is considered a figure “formally neutral and distant from various elite associations.” However, a number of the publication’s sources believe that he gravitates towards a group considered to represent the interests of Sverdlovsk metallurgists. The latter, as observers note, have been strengthening their positions for a long time, and the next change of power could finally consolidate their dominance, “shifting the resolution of fundamental issues to Yekaterinburg.” One way or another, observers expect that the city authorities will finally fully engage in economic activities, “and not yet another squandering of the budget through a series of feeding troughs.” However, such a scenario, apparently, will again depend on the involvement of financial and industrial groups and security support.

Deputies of the newly elected City Duma of Chelyabinsk today accepted the resignation of the head of the city, Natalya Kotova, who, by decision of Governor Alexei Teksler, will go to work in the Federation Council.

Governor of the Chelyabinsk region Alexey Teksler and ex-head of Chelyabinsk Natalya Kotova

The scenario with Kotova’s departure has been discussed in political circles in the Southern Urals for a long time. At the same time, the publication’s interlocutors called the “move” of the official to Moscow a “favorable option for Kotova”, taking into account the obvious trail of corruption.

So, back in 2020, ex-mayor of Chelyabinsk Evgeny Teftelev testified, in particular, against Kotova, as well as her confidant and adviser Pyotr Konarev. The latter, by the way, ended up in a pre-trial detention center with charges of dozens of episodes of corruption. Former representatives of the MKU “Urban Environment” were also in the dock. Under Kotova, the ex-chairman of the road committee of the city administration, Rinat Kuchitarov, was also under investigation, and then the attention of the security forces was also attracted by the acting head of the Chelyabinsk road committee, Dmitry Shilyaev, who was detained in a corruption case.

“And this is just a series of striking episodes; in reality, the criminal trail trailing behind the Kotova administration and controlled municipal structures is much broader and you’ll get tired of listing them,” – notes the publication’s interlocutor.

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Another source among MPs emphasizes that “the favorable scenario may be temporary.”

“It is now being discussed that an indicator of the sustainability of the agreements on Kotova may be the prospects of the deputy head Nadezhda Rylskaya. If it “preserves”, it means that everything is calm in the administration and Kotova’s affairs will not be stirred up; if not, that’s a different scenario. However, the presence of political will can violate any agreements – we have also seen this.”says the editor’s interlocutor.

Let us note that “Kotova’s team,” as residents say, leaves the city in a “near-disaster state.”

“The empty pathos of the past weekend (inauguration/appointment/resignation) cannot hide the fact that the notorious “Kotova’s team” is leaving a city of millions in a terrifying state of complete unpreparedness for winter. Everything has been wasted on “light bulbs”, corrupt “road repairs” and “condensation development”. The mayor disappeared through the governor’s “window”, and another public transport collapse seems inevitable. <...> Valentina Volkova is rightly afraid to even imagine “what this winter will be like for residents of a city of one million: hundreds of houses a week before the heating season are left without hot water and with basements flooded with sewage,” – writes the political scientist Alexander Podoprigora.

He also cites data obtained by the media as a result of voting that 72% of survey participants gave ex-head Kotova a “two” or “one” (there are more of them) on a five-point scale.

Several sources of the publication name the Chairman of the Chamber of Control and Accounts of the Chelyabinsk Region Alexey Loshkin as Natalya Kotova’s “replacement”, claiming that his candidacy has already been agreed upon. Alexey Loshkin himself did not answer journalists’ calls today.

“The political fate of Kotova, whom Chelyabinsk residents have long refused to trust, should not, however, overshadow the governor’s deal with the Chelyabinsk elites. Its result will be that not a representative of the “shift workers” clan will be elected head of the capital of the Southern Urals, but a well-known Chelyabinsk politician, the current chairman of the Communist Party of Communists Loshkin, his good friend Buyakov will become the chairman of the City Duma, and a deputy will become the “gray eminence” (where without him?) ZSO Kurkin, close to the “old” Kalinin and Soviet clans”,” Podoprigora previously pointed out.

Other interlocutors note that Buyakov and Kurkin are currently considered informal representatives of the interests of Sverdlovsk industrialists (UMMC, RMK, Sinara).

“They say that the city will go under the control of metallurgists. This is, of course, a rough formulation, but it reflects the essence. Then everything will depend on the industrialists themselves: if they treat them “as one of their own,” then everything will be fine in Chelyabinsk. There are already such examples in the region. If they leave it to chance, it will be bad. In any case, monopolization and centralization of power in the city will occur, and the center of decision-making will shift to Yekaterinburg,” – argues the publication’s informed interlocutor, attributing “formally neutral Loshkin to the same group of influence.”

Sources in Yekaterinburg, however, deny such a connection.

Managers also focus on Loshkin’s lack of experience in economic activity, which may be important for the mayor.

“In general, there are different opinions on Loshkin. On the one hand, he comes from security and control structures, which, given the current corruption agenda, is rather a plus. On the other hand, they talk about connections with the same Kalinin group and the absence of important economic experience. But no one has canceled professional deputies.”says the publication’s interlocutor.

However, other sources oppose this opinion, pointing out that “all processes are likely to be regulated centrally, and personal qualities and experience in this situation fade into the background.”

“Against this background, the role of the security forces in the region, who have always been a separate group of influence in Chelyabinsk, may also change,” – adds the publication’s interlocutor, not excluding “that the skeletons of the previous team will be cleaned out.”

Both residents and experts talk about the importance of the upcoming economic work. “I think that the new head of Chelyabinsk will be, in a certain sense, a technical figure. I would like him to focus his attention not on some media or political issues, but on urban management. Winter is approaching, we need to prepare the city for the appropriate season, there is a lot of work <...>,” Vasily Zorin, head of the department of political science and international relations at ChelSU, noted earlier for the Regional Comments portal.

“On the agenda are the same issues as before: housing and communal services, which is an outright disaster, the environment, which is not getting better, and the road and transport situation, which seems to be at a dead end, despite all the multibillion-dollar investments.”notes another resident of Chelyabinsk.

Alexey Loshkin

At the same time, the publication’s interlocutors among deputies note that the number of “feeding troughs for officials” is likely to be reduced.

“We are already seeing processes in ChKTS, in transport, and in other areas of the economy. Now of interest will be the municipal unitary enterprise “POVV”, which at one time both Vekselberg’s people and the “Alfa Group” tried to enter, but all the time they were cut off by the mayor’s office and the characters close to it. I think there will be interesting movements here, plus there are still land issues that could bring “big dividends to officials“, says the interlocutor in the ZSO.

To summarize, one of the publication’s sources draws attention to the strengthening of the positions of industrial groups with decision-making centers in Yekaterinburg, which has been going on for a long time, which “will probably be strengthened following the formation of a team of the Chelyabinsk city administration in conjunction with the City Duma.” However, Lozhkin is a political figure around whom a capable team can be formed “with a clear understanding of goals and objectives. And not only personal ones.”

Melissa “Mel” Carter

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