Evgeniy Savchenko leaves. Biography of the elected governor of the Belgorod region Evgeny Savchenko. Stirlitz said that the last thing is always remembered
Governor of the Belgorod region Evgeny Savchenko worsened his position (-2) in the group of leaders of regional heads. These are the results of the rating prepared by the Civil Society Development Foundation (FORGO). This is a bad sign even for such a “political heavyweight” as Yevgeny Savchenko, who has led the region for almost a quarter of a century. It is likely that the deterioration of positions is an echo of the corruption scandals that have for long years are shaking the region.
About secret and obvious
It must be admitted that scandals regularly accompanied a brilliant career Evgenia Savchenko. In the late 1980s, while holding a high position in the party hierarchy, Savchenko was seen in the speculative redistribution of Volga cars, which were intended for preferential categories of citizens. Then more than 50 cars were sold illegally. “Volgas” at that time cost about 15 thousand rubles, which was an unaffordable sum for the majority of the population. But there were people who, in an era of commodity shortages, had money, but were not able to buy a car. In a word, the deal promised fabulous earnings at that time. But the secret became clear. There was an uproar, and as a result, Yevgeny Savchenko was removed from his position.
“Moskovsky Komsomolets” also recalls the scandal associated with the name of Evgeny Savchenko during his work in the “Rosselkhozukuruza” department under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation. The media wonders how it happened that after the audit, citizen Savchenko entered into the cash register of the enterprise large sum money, after which an entry about dismissal due to at will. Also, the governor of the Belgorod region, Evgeny Savchenko, whose declared income in 2005 barely exceeded $10 thousand, allegedly spent 50 thousand euros on a cruise to Greece.
Conflict between business entities
Years passed, but the veil of scandals continued to follow the governor of the Belgorod region. We can recall the conflict between Yevgeny Savchenko and the wife of ex-Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov. "Inteko", which was under the control Elena Baturina and her brother Victor Baturin, bought several factories and about 100,000 hectares of farmland in the Belgorod region. The project developed successfully at first, but then met serious opposition from local authorities. Elena Buturina complained to both Vladimir Putin and the Prosecutor General's Office, but, it seems, without any success. But this story can still be attributed to a conflict between economic entities.
Last fall, ONF activists spoke about the results of checks on the legality of the sale in 2013 of three largest state-owned agricultural enterprises - Prioskolye-Agro Seeds OJSC, Belogorya Milk OJSC and Rovensky Broiler OJSC.
These were liquid assets that were at that time in state ownership. But investors got the enterprises much cheaper than their market value. For example, the Prioskolye-Agro Seeds seed plant was initially valued at 134.5 million rubles. Officials of the regional state property fund apparently disrupted the auction. The company was put up for auction through a public offer and sold for 67.2 million rubles.
“Moloko Belogorya” left the state for a price slightly higher than its face value: the company was put up for auction for 297.8 million rubles, and sold for 300.7 million rubles. Representatives of the ONF have already announced that they will transfer their materials to the prosecutor's office. It was suggested that behind this story there loomed the figure and, possibly, the personal interest of Governor Yevgeny Savchenko.
Almost simultaneously with these events, as “Version”, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) based on the results of an unscheduled inspection of the regional department agro-industrial complex, Development Fund and Promotion Fund filed a case against the head of the Belogorodsk region. The official was suspected of violating antimonopoly laws by concluding agreements with funds and business entities that could lead or have already led to a restriction of competition in the agri-food markets. FAS employees reported the discovery of a copy of the protocol of instructions on organizing control over receipts and expenditures of extra-budgetary funds approved by the governor in 2014.
Many people were involved in the case. For example, the Fund for the Promotion of Manufacturers' Products and the Fund for Assistance to the Development of Engineering, Construction and Social Infrastructure of the Belgorod Region, LLC "Directorate for Investment Development", OJSC "Development Corporation", LLC "Green Valley-Agro", LLC "Dairy Company "Green Valley-2" ", JSC "Dairy Company "Green Valley"", LLC "Niva", JSC "Novopeschanskoye", SKKK "Lotos", LLC "Dairy Company "Seversky Donets"", Stary Oskol Distillery "Lux". They were brought in as defendants.
However, such unpleasant incidents seemed to resolve themselves. It seems that no one was ultimately called to account. There is an explanation for this, which is primarily related to the economy of the region. Until the last crisis, the economy of the Belgorod region remained one of the most stable in terms of growth rates in the central black earth region. Therefore, the federal center could turn a blind eye to many things in the activities of local authorities.
Leave and let us survive
Until recently, according to the ratings of the Civil Society Development Foundation, the Belgorod governor was consistently among the top three managers of regional heads. The most developed industries are mechanical engineering, mining, metallurgy, food industry, and agriculture. According to Belgorodstat, the industrial production index in 2015 compared to the level of 2014 was 104.7%
(for comparison: in the Tambov region - 104.5%, Kursk - 104.2%, Voronezh - 103.1%, in the Lipetsk region - 100.7%).
Everything seemed to be in order. But, nevertheless, the crisis affected the activities of enterprises, and the region begins to increase public debt. As of January 1, 2017, it could amount to more than 46 billion rubles.
Previously, Belgorod officials assured that 40 percent of the state debt is state guarantees.
They cannot be repaid immediately; they are associated with long-term bank loans. But there is nothing critical here. We can say that the Belgorod region is conditionally credited. And in general, living in debt with an unstable ruble and inflation is simply “visionary.” But experts apparently explain the growth of debts by a catastrophic lack of funds, and lengthy explanations are just the cunning of officials
It is obvious that the situation of residents of the Belgorod region is also not getting better. Last year, local residents began collecting signatures for the resignation of Yevgeny Savchenko. The heartfelt address says that the following is “for the entire time of your governorship, you and the officials who came with you brought our beautiful city and region to the brink of bankruptcy. to poverty. This astronomical debt for Russian regions is the result of your personal activities.”
“Leave and give us and our children the opportunity to survive,” the authors of the petition call on the governor.
They also pay attention to the level of corruption that reigns in the region. Over the years of the irreplaceable Evgeniy Savchenko, a unique business model has developed in the region, which, however, is not very different from the model operating throughout the country.
Old Guard
In turn, the media claim that successful business in the Belgorod region is supposedly the privilege of former and current officials. The publication “Skandaly.ru” a couple of years ago cited the opinion of the former editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Kommersant-Chernozemye” Konstantin Chaplin. When asked if there was a business particularly close to the governor, the journalist said: “Gennady Bobritsky, the owner of the Prioskolye poultry holding, and Vladimir Zotov, the owner of the Agro-Belogorye agricultural holding, worked in the regional government (they were deputy prime ministers - ed.). Evgeniy Savchenko raised them, helped them rise to their feet as successful entrepreneurs.”
There is a version that the scandal with the sale of the largest agricultural enterprises in the Belgorod region, mentioned above, may also be associated with Savchenko’s “old bureaucratic guard”. In any case, according to the unified state register legal entities The founder of OJSC Prioskolye-Agrosemena is CJSC Novooskol Feed Mill. The general director of this company is Olga Polshchikova. She also owns 5% of the shares of Welton Bank. And 90% of the bank’s shares belong to Bobritsky.
Will the new owners be able to successfully manage enterprises in a crisis remains questionable?
It is likely that with the deterioration economic situation region, the questions that the competent authorities wanted to ask Evgeniy Savchenko will arise again. And they will have to be answered. Yes, while the Belgorod governor did not know defeat. But the downgrade should be a warning sign for him, because it can be regarded as a warning.
Yevgeny Savchenko can be classified as a “political heavyweight”. He was elected governor four times.
Evgeny Savchenko graduated from the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K.A. Timiryazev. He worked as an agronomist, chief agronomist, and director of an elite seed-growing complex.
At Soviet power makes a successful career as a party functionary. Since 1980 - in vacated party work. Since 1985 - first secretary of the Shchebekino city committee of the CPSU.
And when the formations changed, Evgeniy Savchenko also found himself on the horse. Boris Yeltsin appointed him acting head of the Belgorod region administration in 1993, and later confirmed him in this position.
Savchenko is running for the elections to the head of administration in 1995 in the Belgorod region from the “Our Home Russia” bloc. Four years later, in the gubernatorial elections in the Belgorod region in 1999, 55.54% voted for him.
In May 2003, Savchenko was again elected governor of the Belgorod region, gaining 61.2% of the votes in the elections.
In June 2007, he was re-confirmed in office - deputies of the Belgorod regional Duma supported his candidacy for the post of head of the region.
In June 2012, due to the end of his powers, President Vladimir Putin appointed Evgeny Savchenko as acting governor of the Belgorod region until a new head of the region is elected.
In October of this year, Savchenkov won the elections for the fourth time. His term of office ends in 2017.
An investigation by Transparency International - Russia has been published on the private life of the governors of the Central Federal District. It follows from the text that the center of decision-making is shifting to suburban villages from government offices, since officials and entrepreneurs close to them are settling near the governor’s residence in almost every region.
Transparency International - Russia provides information that among the neighbors of the governor of the Belgorod region, Evgeniy Savchenko, are corrupt officials and businessmen who built their wealth on state and municipal contracts.
Nikita Kulikov, Candidate of Legal Sciences, Executive Director of HEADS Consulting on a new legislative initiative to tighten liability for attacks on medical workers:
“The development of new bills that tighten the liability of guilty persons in relation to separately selected categories is a definite trend that has become increasingly common in Lately, especially on the eve of elections. In general, from a legal point of view, the separation of certain categories of citizens in relation to other categories looks somewhat incorrect, since a crime against a person, no matter how you look at it, will in any case remain a terrible act, regardless of who it is committed against.
However, within the framework of this “doctors’ case,” in contrast to similar proposals aimed at citizens of other professions, it seems quite logical, because Due to his disability resulting from the criminal actions of third parties, a single selected doctor will not be able to provide medical care to a wide range of patients, therefore there may be quite a lot of victims from the actions of the criminal.
Another thing is that the importance of not all medical workers can be qualified equally; for example, a surgeon who knows how to perform open-heart surgery and, say, an ophthalmologist in a city clinic have different conditions wages, qualifications and different importance for patients, therefore, the victims of rejected patients and the degree of their severity, as well as the degree of public danger of the offense committed, can be absolutely different quantities and it would be illogical to qualify them equally and under one article, but will legislators continue to qualify the proposed standards regarding the level of medical care? employee is unclear. But this only shows how any initiative, even a socially significant one, can be taken to the point of absurdity.”
Katy Perry wrote in social network Twitter that it will only cooperate with Taylor Swift after receiving her apology.
The 31-year-old "Rise" singer shared the revelation while answering fan questions on social media on Saturday, September 10.
One of Katy Perry's fans asked if she would collaborate with Taylor Swift. To which Katie replied: “If she apologizes, then of course!”
The feud between Katy Perry and Taylor Swift has been going on for quite some time. It all started when Taylor told Rolling Stone that the pop star was trying to sabotage the tour and hire a bunch of people out from under her.
Katie then cryptically tweeted: "Watch out Regina George in sheep's clothing" Then the stars clashed with each other more than once on the social network.
Swift has not yet responded to Katie Taylor's latest message.
Dakota Fanning attended the premiere of the film "American Pastoral" as part of the Toronto International Film Festival, which takes place at the Princess of Wales Theatre. The girl decided to wear a green dress to dazzle everyone with her beauty and attractiveness.
For the premiere of the film, the 22-year-old actress decided to wear a Gucci dress and Christian Louboutin heels. And her look was completed with jewelry from Tiffany.
Fellow stars of Dakota Fanning also attended the Toronto International Film Festival.
After the premiere, all the actors went to celebrate the event.
Taylor Swift is working on recording new songs in the studio. This was confirmed by her friend Gigi Hadid.
The 26-year-old singer took a short break from her busy work schedule at Gigi's fashion show, which took place on Friday in New York.
“You know, she is a very close friend of mine. And you know, she really took up work in the music studio again. Moreover, she took the time to support me. I am very grateful to her for this,” Gigi told Entertainment Tonight.
It turns out that Taylor Swift's busy schedule won't allow her to release an album in October. Therefore, all that remains is to wait until the release date of her new songs becomes known!
Ariana Grande has been dating rapper Mac Miller for a long time. And now she decided to unite with him not only her destiny, but also her musical creativity. As a duet, they sang a composition called “My favorite part.”
The song will appear on Mac Mieller's upcoming album, The Divine Feminine. The couple previously worked on recording Ariana's song "The Way." This song was the first from her debut album, which is already on iTunes.
“Everything will be okay, baby. Look, I'm covered in you. I want to be your lover if you are alone,” the stars sing together.
The president Russian Federation Following a meeting of the Presidium of the State Council, Vladimir Putin signed a whole list of decrees on the development of inland waterways.
Thus, the head of Russia asked the government of the country to consider the possibility of creating Russian University transport. By order of the President, this must be done before December 2016. The Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, was appointed responsible for the implementation of the project.
On the official Kremlin website they note what higher education is educational institution will help solve important tasks of scientific and personnel support for the industry.
It is worth recalling that on August 15, a meeting of the Presidium of the State Council for the Development of Inland Waterways was held in Volgograd. During the event, Vladimir Putin noted that low track maintenance costs and low transportation costs do not produce the desired effect.
Hillary Clinton apologized to supporters of the US presidential candidate Republican Party Donald Trump. This was reported on the official website of the former Secretary of State.
A representative of the US Democratic Party admitted that she had previously grossly generalized Trump supporters, and this cannot be called worthy behavior. Hillary Clinton admitted she was wrong. At the same time, she noted that election campaign You can’t build on paranoia and prejudice.
In response, Donald Trump wrote on his microblog on Twitter that he would respect Hillary Clinton's supporters, even if they were not going to vote for him. But he forgot to mention that he repeatedly spoke harshly about many categories of citizens.
Let us remind you that it all started on September 9 during a fundraising event for the election campaign. Then Hillary Clinton said that half of Trump's supporters deserved pity.
Kylie Jenner walks with her boyfriend Tyga on her arm. A young couple decided to take a walk through the streets of New York on the afternoon of Friday, September 9th.
But the couple decided not to retire, but to make the walk as pleasant as possible. So Sarah Snyder and Jaden Smith joined them. During the walk, a group of friends visited several stores and made a couple of purchases.
Fashion Week will soon take place in New York, and Kylie Jenner is already ready to attend it. The day before, she posted a photo of her chic outfit on the social network Instagram. It’s worth noting that the most notable part of the look was the Gucci jacket.
Lady Gaga left the Langham Hotel in London on Friday evening, September 9, in a shocking outfit. The singer and actress wore metallic short shorts and a gaudy gray top.
The 30-year-old singer, who recently released the single "Perfect Illusion" earlier in the day, stopped to hug her lucky fans before visiting the East End Club.
Earlier in the day, Lady Gaga posted new post on the social network Twitter. In it, she thanked everyone who helped her create the song.
And now you have the opportunity to admire these candid photographs.
Agreements between the Russian Federation and the United States will not be published as they contain highly confidential information. This was announced by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergei Lavrov.
Negotiations between John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov lasted more than 15 hours. As a result, a package of documents was agreed upon that will help resolve the situation in Syria politically.
The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the publication of these agreements will certainly lead to the fact that there will be people who want to disrupt the implementation of the agreed measures.
Sergei Lavrov believes that the package of agreements between Russia and the United States could become a starting point for the settlement of peaceful relations in Syria.
1. Why did the regional committee of the CPSU of the Belgorod region hastily remove E.S. Savchenko from his post as deputy chairman of the regional executive committee in 1990? And how does this relate to the construction of a brick mansion in the forest zone of the village of Dubovoe?
2. What kind of scandal associated with the name of Evgeniy Savchenko occurred during his work in the Department of Rosselkhozukornuz under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation? And why, after the audit, citizen Savchenko deposited a large sum of money into the cash desk of the enterprise, after which an entry about “dismissal at his own request” appeared in his work book?
3. For what merits in 1993, Yevgeny Savchenko, who was fired from everywhere, was appointed by Yeltsin to the post of head of the administration of the Belgorod region?
4. Why did so few residents of the Belgorod region decide to cast their votes for Governor Evgeny Savchenko during the elections in 2003 (out of 1 million 180 thousand voters, 446,270 people cast their votes for Savchenko, which is only 37.8% of the region’s voters)?
The MK editors know the answers to these questions. And we reserve the right to subsequently publish information we have. In the meantime, we are publishing one of those materials that the readers of the “repressed” issue of “MK in Belgorod” should have seen.
HELP "MK"
At the end of the 80s, the “father” of all Belgorod residents occupied a high position in the regional power hierarchy. According to our information, already at that time Savchenko was noticed in the speculative redistribution of Volga cars intended for preferential categories of citizens. Then more than 50 cars of this brand were sold illegally. The first to sound the alarm was Savchenko’s direct boss, first secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU A.F. Ponomarev. He removed our “hero” from office. By the way, his accomplice served six months in Matrosskaya Tishina. Traces of Yevgeny Stepanovich were lost in Moscow. In Moscow, Yevgeny Stepanovich repented... and only the management’s pity for him saved him from prison. He was allowed to resign of his own free will. He contributed money to the company's cash desk for the damage. His second coming to the Belgorod region took place in the wake of Yeltsin’s murky reforms, when they did not particularly care about the moral character of the personnel. Savchenko was appointed acting head of the administration of the Belgorod region, a democrat who suffered from the communist regime!
Governor of the Belgorod region Evgeny Savchenko is among the “platinum” millionaires. I wonder how this money was earned?
According to the results of a sociological survey conducted by correspondents of the newspaper “MK” in Belgorod, only every fifteenth resident of the region can afford to travel outside the region in the summer. The warm sea and the gentle southern sun are a sweet dream for many Belgorod residents, which remains a dream.
The southern coast of Crimea and the Krasnodar region offer a meager variety of travel packages purchased by representatives of the notorious middle class. Although this pleasure is sometimes the result of significant cuts in the family budget.
True, not for everyone. For example, the governor of the Belgorod region, Evgeny Savchenko, whose declared income barely exceeds $10 thousand, is used to vacationing on a grand scale. What is the cost of Yevgeny Stepanovich’s cruise to Athens on the ten-deck superliner “Westerdam”, popularly nicknamed the “Russian Titanic”.
Moreover, as reported in official sources, the governor took advantage of the “Platinum” package of services, which even very wealthy Russians cannot afford - for this reason, not all seats were sold out.
By the way, the head's vacation cost the regional budget, according to the most conservative estimates, 50 thousand euros.
One can, of course, assume other sources of income other than the salary of a civil servant, but alas, Evgeniy Savchenko stubbornly denies involvement in any business structures. Unfortunately, it is not possible to believe that the first person of the region was saving with his last funds for a long-awaited cruise over the past 10-15 years.
Marina KUZNETSOVA.
FROM THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE EDITOR IN CHIEF
Chairman of the Central election commission Russian Federation
VESHNYAKOV Alexander Albertovich
APPEAL
The editors of the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” appeal to you in connection with a gross violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation committed in the Belgorod region during election campaign for elections to the Belgorod Duma of the 4th convocation.
On September 29, the head of the regional election commission, Mr. Pletnev, sent a submission to the head of the Belgorod Department of Internal Affairs, Mr. Goncharov, in which he demanded “to take prompt action to stop the distribution” of 30 thousand copies of the publication “MK in Belgorod.” A car with a circulation of the newspaper was stopped by traffic police officers under the pretext of “fighting terrorism”; a traffic police patrol escorted it to the postal warehouse, where officers of the 4th Belgorod police department arrested and seized the circulation. As a result, not a single one of the 30,000 copies of “MK in Belgorod” reached the reader.
The formal reason for the seizure of the circulation was that the newspaper allegedly published propaganda materials with no information about the fund from which they were paid. However, the articles referred to in the complaint of the head of the regional election commission, Mr. Pletnev, are not advertising, but ordinary editorial materials. We see the true reason for the repressions against “MK in Belgorod” in the fact that the published articles contained objective criticism of the governor of the Belgorod region, Evgeny Savchenko.
The editors of the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” ask you to consider the current situation and promptly intervene in the actions of the Belgorod Election Commission that are contrary to the law.
Sincerely, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” Pavel GUSEV.
To the editor-in-chief
newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” to Gusev P.N.
Dear Pavel Nikolaevich!
I would like to inform you that the legality of the seizure of the circulation of the newspaper “MK in Belgorod”, about which your newspaper wrote on October 4 and 5 of this year, is currently being verified by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation. The results of the inspection will be communicated additionally.
Sincerely, Head of the Information and Public Relations Department N.B. Vishnyakova.
MEANWHILE
DEPUTIES WILL CHECK BELGOROD
The situation in the Belgorod region has worried State Duma. In the coming days, a State Duma commission will go there to study the practice of applying electoral legislation, which should, on behalf of Speaker Gryzlov, “promptly provide comprehensive information in connection with the elections in this region.”
Another fact was added to the violations - on Tuesday night, four unknown persons beat up a candidate for deputy of the local parliament, Sergei Loza.
How political dynasties are formed in a particular region
Governor of the Belgorod region Evgeny Savchenko. Photo Anton Vergun / RIA Novosti
In the Belgorod region, local political elites seek to transfer power by inheritance, giving rise to dynasties. A striking example confirming this approach was the appointment of the nephew of the regional governor, Evgeny Savchenko, Mikhail, to the post of vice-mayor of Belgorod. The appointment itself has not yet taken place, but in the region they talk about it as an already resolved issue - Mikhail Savchenko will have to continue the work of his uncle, who has been leading the region for 24 years.
That the new vice-mayor of Belgorod will be Mikhail Savchenko whose uncle Evgeniy Savchenko has headed the Belgorod region since 1993, Kommersant reported, citing informed sources. Presumably, this appointment will be only the first step for 29-year-old Mikhail Savchenko on the path to the position of mayor, and perhaps governor.
Gift from uncle
Kommersant's interlocutors were divided in their opinions as to whether Mikhail Savchenko would remain in the position of first deputy mayor of Belgorod Konstantin Polezhaev, or whether after several months of adjustment he would take the post of mayor. Now the young man is still listed as the general director of the regional Development Corporation JSC, which oversees investment projects being implemented in the region and should improve the investment climate, and is also a deputy of the regional Duma.
The post of vice mayor for Mikhail Savchenko became vacant on January 22, when Savchenko’s former subordinate left it of his own free will.
Father of Mikhail Savchenko, brother of Egeniy Savchenko Alexander previously headed the Krasnoyaruzhsky district of the region - the desire for power in the Savchenko family is apparently in the blood. And not only them - Alekseevsky district of the region is headed by Stanislav Sergachev, son former first vice governor Valeria Sergacheva. And the son of the rector of the Belgorod National research university and former lieutenant governor Oleg Polukhin Novel became a judge of the regional Arbitration Court.
“Son of the former mayor of Belgorod and ex-State Duma deputy Georgiy Golikova Vasily holds the position of head of the Department of Construction and Architecture of the City Hall, and the 32-year-old son of the speaker of the City Council Sergei Glagolev Evgeniy is the vice governor for construction and transport. Relatives of lower-ranking officials are also trying to keep up. For example, the head of the administration of the Krasnogvardeisky district is Igor Brovchenko, son Nikolai Brovchenko, who was elected head of this municipality three times,” writes Kommersant.
Also, the post of head of the regional department of culture was inherited - Sergei Kurgansky replaced in the chair by his son Konstantin Kurgansky, and the father went to steer Belgorod Institute culture. Local officials are not at all embarrassed by this transfer of positions by inheritance, which, according to the political scientist Vladimir Slatinov, is natural.
“The emergence of elements of dynastic transfer of power is a natural process for a region ruled by the same people for many years. Anyone who replaces Savchenko, even if it is a person unfriendly to his system, will have to seriously take him, his environment and legacy into account. After all, they have the key assets,” the expert said.
How Evgeniy Savchenko has been leading the same region for twenty years
In 1993, the head of the regional administration, Viktor Berestovoy, spoke out against the dispersal by the president of the Supreme Council, for which Boris Yeltsin fired him, and in this place he appointed an employee of the federal Ministry of Agriculture, Evgeny Stepanovich Savchenko, a native of the Belgorod region, who already had experience working in the party bodies of the region.
Two decades have passed since then. None of the current governors has been in office for such a long period of time. This is an absolute record for Russia. And probably, like any record, it has a lot to do with luck. But, undoubtedly, there are also objective reasons explaining why neither Boris Yeltsin, nor Vladimir Putin, nor Dmitry Medvedev ever thought of replacing Savchenko. After all, the region’s impeccable economic indicators are combined with the almost complete absence of public and political life: from a civil point of view, the Belgorod region is “dead”; its complete “verticalization” occurred earlier than it happened in other regions.
As for economic indicators, then the Belgorod region is invariably ranked among the most dynamically developing Russian regions. At the same time, the governor has the “correct” state worldview and actively fights to maintain morality. Evgeny Savchenko has been repeatedly offered a seat in the federal government; he could easily become both the head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Deputy Prime Minister. But Mr. Savchenko invariably refused, which is why he became a record-breaking governor.
Triple luck
Of course, the economic well-being of the region is largely due to geographical reasons. The local economy has been lucky in several ways at the same time. Firstly, the region has significant deposits of iron ore (according to some estimates, up to 40% of the national reserves), thanks to which there is a thriving metallurgy industry, in particular, such well-known metallurgical enterprises throughout the country as Stoilensky and Lebedinsky GOKs, which together produce more than a third of all Russian iron ore concentrate.
At the same time, the region is rich in fertile black soils, which literally create the ground for the development of the agricultural sector: in best years the region produced up to 20% of domestic pork.
Finally, the Belgorod region is our gateway to Ukraine. The second largest city in Ukraine, Kharkov, is located only 70 km from Belgorod, that is, closer than any Russian regional center. In the past, Belgorod was generally called a satellite city of Kharkov. Thanks to the main roads and railways passing through it, the Belgorod region accounts for about 20% of Russian-Ukrainian foreign trade turnover.
With such “initial data” it is, of course, easier to manage, but you still need to be able to take advantage of the gifts of nature. There is also black soil in the neighboring regions, meanwhile, many people who have recently crossed the border of the Belgorod and Voronezh regions have invariably noted that the difference in the quality of roads is very noticeable.
Shard of Europe
Infrastructure - in general strong point local authorities. Evgeniy Savchenko is one of the few governors who managed not only to begin, but also to completely complete gasification of the region. Savchenko was one of the first to create a fund to support individual construction, so even Boris Yeltsin gave instructions to “spread the Belgorod experience in the country.”
And all visitors are amazed by the city infrastructure, from the cleanliness of the streets to the cleanliness public toilets. “This is a fragment of Europe in Russia!” - says economist Mikhail Khazin. “Entering the territory of the Belgorod region, you get the feeling that you have already crossed the state border of the Russian Federation and are driving through a completely European country,” politician Ivan Starikov echoes him.
True, there is one comical circumstance here too. Streets of Belgorod and others settlements areas are paved with tiles, but the factory that produces the tiles, as Kommersant reported, citing local residents, belongs to the governor. Last year, blogger Adelis wrote on the Ekho Moskvy website: “In Belgorod, according to rumors, all factories producing paving slabs belong to the governor. At the same time, those who tried to open a mini-factory for the production of tiles came to him in “black funnels” and made it clear that it was better not to do this. But the ENTIRE-S-S region, sidewalks, etc. were tiled.”
However, in many regions of Russia, tiles are a sacred matter.
Relatives
In general, despite all the economic well-being of the Belgorod region, complaints about corruption and the fact that only people close to the governor or even his relatives are allowed to take leading positions in business in the region are periodically heard.
Critics blame the governor for the business of his daughter Olga Savchenko. In 2004, she created the Interlingua language center, specializing in teaching English, after which Belgorod State University began sending its employees to study there. According to SPARK, in November 2005, Olga Savchenko became a co-founder of the Crete company, whose subsidiary, the South Pole company, acted as an investor and developer of the City Mall Belgorodsky shopping and entertainment complex. In addition, in 2009, Ms. Savchenko created the NB-Retail company, which opened several clothing stores in Belgorod, including in the Belgorodsky City Mall.
There is also talk about relatives in the government apparatus. For example, a certain Andrei Savchenko was appointed head of the Belgorod district administration; when asked by Belgorodskie Izvestia whether he was a relative of the governor, he replied: “Not even a namesake.” Understand it as you wish...
They talk about Savchenko's sons-in-law. “Savchenko has many second cousins and nieces, and their husbands are Savchenko’s sons-in-law. This is what they call both the deputy of the Belgorod Regional Duma Valery Stepanovich Skrug and the secretary of the Security Council of the Belgorod Region Sergei Aleksandrovich Litvinov,” says local blogger and civil activist Vladimir Kucherenko. “The very first and most important question that interests the interviewer with a young applicant vacant position when hiring in regional government agencies and some private organizations closely associated with the state - “what do parents do?” - says the blogger.
During the conflict between the Belgorod administration and the Inteko corporation that occurred in the mid-2000s, Elena Baturina even complained to Vladimir Putin that they were being poisoned by the governor’s relative, the mayor of Belgorod Vasily Potryasaev.
Strangers don't come here
The conflict between Savchenko and Elena Baturina is generally the most loud scandal in the history of the governorship of Evgeniy Stepanovich. It all started with the fact that Inteko, which was under the control of the wife of Yuri Luzhkov and her brother Viktor Baturin, bought several factories, farms and about 100,000 hectares of farmland in the Belgorod region. The project developed successfully at first, but then became bogged down in land disputes with the population and authorities. During the conflict, there were also criminal showdowns: almost simultaneously in Moscow, lawyer Dmitry Steinberg, who represented the interests of Inteko, was killed, and in Belgorod there was an attempt on the life of Inteko-Agro executive director Alexander Annenkov. Elena Baturina complained to Vladimir Putin, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and deputies. Belgorod residents responded “reciprocally”: the heads of six districts of the region sent an appeal to senators and deputies of the State Duma, in which they asked to stop the capital company Inteko, which is actively buying land in the region. According to rumors, the governor did not like the fact that Inteko built few agricultural facilities and fired too many workers. Meanwhile, Inteko sponsored the LDPR branch in Belogorye, and it was headed by Alexander Annenkov. Representatives of the Liberal Democrats also complained of attacks on their activists. As a result, Zhirinovsky called Savchenko “a bandit who should be in prison” and “the leader of an organized criminal group,” for which the governor, through the court, collected 500,000 rubles from Vladimir Volfovich.
Perhaps it was the problems of the Belgorod project that caused Elena Baturina’s break with her brother, in any case, it took place immediately after the scandal.
Friends and colleagues
Sometimes you can hear that successful business in the Belgorod region is often the lot of officials or ex-officials. Vladimir Kucherenko claims that the result of Evgeniy Savchenko’s reign was “the formation of a group of large owners from among long-time acquaintances through the bankruptcy of previously operating enterprises and the creation in their place of new ones, but with different owners.” When asked to clarify who he meant, the blogger explained that in the 1990s, ownership of large enterprises being built was registered in the hands of wives. Anna Filatova, the wife of Gennady Bondarev, the current head of the government procurement and licensing department of the Belgorod region, turned out to be the owner of 100% of the shares of APP RIF CJSC, which in the 1990s built the largest processing enterprise in the region, a flour mill. In the 2000s, high-ranking officials themselves left the civil service and built large enterprises. Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Belgorod Region Administration Gennady Bobritsky became the main owner and chairman of the board of directors of the country's largest poultry holding, Prioskolye Group of Companies. Another deputy chairman of the government of the Belgorod region administration, Vladimir Zotov, is now the main owner and general director of the large crop and pig breeding holding LLC Agro-Belogorye Group of Companies.
As you can read in open sources, Mr. Bobritsky’s capital grew due to the fact that he bought a bankrupt poultry farm and restored it at state expense, that is, with loans and guarantees from the regional budget.
Voronezh journalist, former editor-in-chief of the Kommersant-Chernozemye newspaper Konstantin Chaplin, when asked if there was a business particularly close to the governor, answered: “Gennady Bobritsky, owner of the Prioskolye poultry holding, and Vladimir Zotov, owner of the Agro-Belogorye agricultural holding.” , worked in the regional government. Evgeniy Savchenko raised them, helped them rise to their feet as successful entrepreneurs.”
“It seems to me that it is in Belgorod that there is such a widespread Russian problem that the authorities are very closely connected with business, maybe in in a good way“,” comments Anna Dobrovolskaya, a former resident of Belgorod, member of the coordination council of the Youth Human Rights Movement.
Dictatorship
Savchenko uses businessmen close to him to manipulate political parties. In 2011, a rather strange, if not funny, message appeared that Evgeniy Stepanovich had actually appointed the owner of the Spako Stroy-Garant company, which is involved in the construction of livestock complexes, Alexander Tarasov, as the leader of the local branch of the Right Cause party. The current leader, also an entrepreneur, Alexander Kushnarev, did not even know that a replacement had already been found for him.
In 2010, after the elections to the regional Duma, the local “ Just Russia"received only one mandate. Representatives of the party's federal election headquarters began to be indignant that the authorities gave their votes to United Russia and that the governor violated the agreements. But the governor is a fair person, and after the elections, two more businessman-deputies - managing director of KMAruda Plant OJSC Vladimir Tomaev and co-owner of the ZhBK-1 group Yuri Selivanov - joined the Fair Russia faction.
“In the Belgorod region, an authoritarian system of administration, often reaching such comical “advances,” operates clearly. Real politics and the struggle of parties in the region do not exist in principle, and their imitation is under the complete “manual” control of Yevgeny Savchenko. He appoints both United Russia members and the opposition to himself,” explains political scientist Vladimir Slatinov. “The country and the region are in a state of dictatorship, closer to dictatorship,” states Sergei Demchenko, a member of the Belgorod regional committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
It is not surprising that the Communists generally refused to participate in last year’s gubernatorial elections, citing the fact that it was impossible to overcome the administrative resources of the party in power.
Shouts of outrage
The conflict with Inteko happened a long time ago, but even now complaints about corruption and extortions in the region are periodically heard.
So, at the beginning of 2012, nine residents of the Belgorod region sent an open letter to President Dmitry Medvedev, in which they complained: “In the Novooskolsky district, the head of M.N. proposes to live according to the concepts, and not according to the laws of the Russian Federation, the triumph of which you talk about. They deprive us of work, business, fabricate criminal cases and try, judge, judge, trying to remove us from public life by any means (illegal, of course).”
Evgenia Savchenko is being selected as a worthy competitor from the LDPR
Photo: Oleg Kharseev / Kommersant
A loud corruption scandal erupted in 2010. A certain Viktor Statinov, who was acting in the interests of the first deputy head of the administration of the Gubkinsky urban district, Sergei Garkushov, was caught red-handed. 38 million rubles, on which Statinov got burned, turned out to be payment for smooth registration land plot owned by a commercial structure. At the same time, Mr. Statinov claimed that he was only an intermediary, and the money was intended for the authorities, including Deputy Governor Oleg Polukhin.
Olga Kitova, a Belgorod journalist who criticized Governor Savchenko a lot and at one time went through arrests, beatings and criminal cases that collapsed in the Supreme Court, commented on this case as follows: “The fact that officials are trading state-owned lands in their favor has begun in the Belgorod region talk for a long time, a very long time. Rumor stated: the more expensive it was supposed to be to do business on that land, the more expensive it became. On average, knowledgeable people explained, the “kickback” is 10% of the cost of a business project.”
The criminal case against the alleged bribe takers, however, fell apart. According to Olga Kitova, the police officers from the Department for Economic Crimes who dealt with him were fired. By coincidence or not, soon after this Mr. Polukhin left the post of vice-governor and became the rector of Belgorod University. However, even on new position he looked after his reputation and won a lawsuit against the newspaper The Moscow Post, which published an article about his involvement in the bribery case.
Money for farmers
But no scandals change the fact that the region has achieved great success both in the economy and in social sphere. Average duration The life of Belgorod residents is two years longer than the Russian average.
The Inteko company was unlucky in the sense that it was engaged in agriculture, in which Evgeniy Savchenko - a hereditary peasant, professional agronomist, former director of a state farm - intervenes especially intensively.
But such influence of the governor is not felt everywhere. The “central” industry of the region - ferrous metallurgy - is under the wing of federal holdings. For example, Lebedinsky GOK is controlled by the Metalloinvest holding. Stoilensky GOK belongs to the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works of Vladimir Lisin, the KMAruda plant belongs to the Koks group of deputy Boris Zubitsky, and Metal Group LLC, according to press reports, is controlled by the Chernomyrdin family. Evgeny Savchenko does not interfere in the work of metallurgists.
As Yuri Korchagin, director of the Center for Regional Economic Research, notes, the success of Belgorod metallurgy depends not so much on the regional authorities, but on the global demand for products, and “Evgeniy Savchenko chose the agro-industrial complex for his main personal efforts, where he was and remains a professional with rich experience and knowledge."
The local government is actively involved in the development of the agro-industrial complex, investing heavily in it. According to official data, from 2005 to 2012 the region provided investment support in the form of government guarantees, provision of budget loans, contributions to the authorized capital of open joint stock companies, tax benefits and other things in the amount of 22 billion 649 million rubles. The authorities undertake to provide infrastructure facilities (communications, roads, etc.) and provide guarantees for loans taken by farmers. Last year, the speaker of the Altai Legislative Assembly, Ivan Loor, noted with envy that “Savchenko built roads to every dairy farm.”
The results are visible: the region managed to take first place in Russia in agricultural production per capita. Annual investments in the region's agro-industrial complex amount to tens of billions of rubles (20 billion rubles in 2012).
Active investments by the local government in the economy and intensive assistance to enterprises, of course, force the regional budget to increase spending by all means, which leads to an increase in its debt. As of March 1, the debt of the Belgorod region amounted to 34 billion rubles, which is equal to two-thirds of the annual revenues of the regional treasury. At the same time, the debt is growing rapidly - at the beginning of last year it was one and a half times less. In terms of public debt, the region ranks 8th in Russia; the debt of the Belgorod region is almost equal to the debt of all regions of the North Caucasus. True, approximately half of the debts come from guarantees provided to regional enterprises to obtain bank loans. Nevertheless, the region’s budget is chronically in deficit; this year the deficit amounted to about 3 billion rubles. To finance the deficit, only in March of this year the region entered into a contract with Sberbank for 1.5 billion rubles.
Of course, such a financial policy is risky, but it is working for now.
But, of course, when one of the components of success in business is receiving various kinds of subsidies, this, of course, contributes to corruption and nepotism, the emergence of people with administrative resources and connections who cling to the state trough and push away all strangers from it. Moreover, as a result, viable agricultural holdings may still appear.
Nanosapphires
At the same time, former communist, former party functionary, former director of the state farm, Yevgeny Savchenko, is open to various technical innovations. For example, the “project” management principle has been introduced into the regional government department. Savchenko is actively pursuing a biologization program Agriculture(increasing soil fertility by sowing perennial grasses, creating forest belts, etc.). The region even created own system development of an innovative economy, the so-called Belgorod Intellectual Innovation System (BIIS), the supervisory board of which is headed by Mr. Savchenko. The regional administration has a department for innovative development, which even has a nanoindustry department. The Belgorod region is one of the five constituent entities of the Russian Federation that have programs approved by Rusnano. By 2015, the region plans to reach production volumes of 20 billion rubles across the entire innovative range of Rusnano. Projects are already being implemented in the region to produce innovative products, from nanocellulose to artificial sapphires. Innovative road surfaces produced under Rusnano projects are already being used on Belgorod roads. Biogas energy is actively developing in the region.
General Director of Belfarmacom LLC Dmitry Gorigoriev, whom Ko asked to characterize the work of the regional administration with investors, emphasized: “First of all, the work of the regional administration lies in the fact that it is really (not declaratively) interested in the development of the region, in increasing the gross domestic regional product, creating new jobs, bringing Belgorod products to markets in other regions and for export. Tangible support is provided, for example, under the auspices of the department of economic development, innovative and growing businesses are identified, which are allocated federal and regional subsidies, and working infrastructure projects are created (business incubators, industrial parks, etc.). Relevant departments (for us this is the Department of Agro-Industrial Complex) also implement effective measures to support local producers, for example, the governor’s initiatives on import substitution. Methodological support is provided - training and advanced training programs for personnel, including managers, are organized, meetings are initiated (up to the creation of clusters) of enterprises in related fields of activity.”
Afterwards - even a flood
The struggle of the governor, once a member of the CPSU, now Orthodox, for morality is worthy of a separate story. Mr. Savchenko’s policy in this area causes irony among some and admiration among others, but it cannot be denied consistency. The fight for morality in Belgorod includes many absolutely amazing measures: fines for obscene language, a curfew for teenagers, the introduction of “Fundamentals” in schools Orthodox culture", a ban on celebrating Valentine's Day and Halloween, persecution of rock music and heavy metal. For propaganda moral values Billboards with social advertising are actively used: eyewitnesses saw billboards with the inscription “God exists.” There is also a monument to an honest traffic cop erected in the region.
As part of the struggle for spirituality, the production of some theatrical plays has been banned, including works by Nobel laureate Dario Fo, Ivan Vyrypaev and Evgeniy Grishkovets. “This is obscurantism, savagery, madness,” Evgeny Grishkovets described what happened. But the officials did not act arbitrarily, but on the basis of the regional law on spiritual security.
On the Internet you can find, for example, quotes from a document such as “Measures to ensure spiritual security in the Belgorod region for 2010,” which suggest “developing and implementing an educational course “Spiritual Security” for permanent teaching in higher and secondary schools.” educational institutions region".
Restrictions on the sale of alcoholic beverages, before they were introduced at the federal level, were also tested in Belgorod. One of the governor’s latest tricks is fines for using the services of prostitutes (the prosecutor’s office, however, protested them).
It is curious that the “moral attitude” of the governor also affects the economic life of the region. As Konstantin Chaplin says, the Belgorod region is characterized by a careful approach of regional authorities to the selection of investors and, accordingly, restriction of free competition: “Not everyone is allowed in. For example, McDonald's never managed to enter Belgorod. It is also difficult to imagine the construction of a Coca-Cola plant there. Because the governor is a staunch supporter healthy image life and nutrition. There were similar problems when some retail chains entered the city. However, judging by the life expectancy of the population, Savchenko’s policy largely justifies itself.”
Like the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, Yevgeny Savchenko has already been compared to the progressive Singaporean dictator Lee Kuan Yew. At the same time, economic progress is combined with the strictest control over social and social life, the inevitable consequence of which is the merger of bureaucracy and business, as well as corruption. But similar shortcomings are recorded in all Russian regions, and such advantages still need to be looked for. According to Yuri Korchagin, in the Belgorod region there has been a single center of influence - around Governor Evgeny Savchenko, who professes a tough and authoritarian style of leadership of the region, which has led, in particular, to the weakness of the “fourth estate” - the means mass media, to a general decrease in the influence of society on government and on development processes.
According to Konstantin Chaplin, the main problem of people of this type is that after they leave everything collapses.
| Belgorod phenomenon | ||
| . | Russia | Belgorod |
| Average growth of gross regional product, 2004-2010, % | 4,9 | 8,8 |
| Average annual increase in industrial production, 2000-2012, % | 4,4 | 9,6 |
| Average investment in fixed assets per year per capita, 2005-2010, thousand rubles. | 48 | 48.4 |
| Life expectancy, 2009, years | 68,7 | 71,1 |
| Up to 40% of ore reserves and more than a third of iron ore concentrate production The oldest programs to support individual construction in Russia Gasification has not only begun in the region, but has also been completely completed. Evgeniy Savchenko “built roads to every dairy farm” A range of nanotechnological industries, the volume of production of which will increase to 20 million rubles. Up to 20% Russian pork, maximum agricultural products per capita European view of cities with total tiling |
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Konstantin Frumkin
