Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees on the appointment of acting heads of five Russian regions. Earlier, the decision to leave office before to the scheduled date was announced by Igor Vasilyev, the governor of the Kirov region, Sergei Zhvachkin, the governor of Tomsk region, Valery Radaev, the governor of Saratov region, Nikolai Lyubimov, the Ryazan region, and Alexander Yevstifeev, the head of the Republic of Mari El.
The resignations of these regional leaders were accepted “of their own free will.” Moreover, they have already announced that they are ready to continue to work in new positions “to be useful to the country in such difficult times.”
After the decrees were signed, Vladimir Putin personally talked to the newly appointed heads of Russian regions. Four of them have been trained at the so-called School of Governors, where they mastered the program for developing the managerial personnel reserve. By the way, in recent years, 46 of its participants have already become heads of regions.
For example, in the Kirov region, Igor Vasilyev, who will turn 61 on May 31, has now been replaced by 51-year-old Alexander Sokolov. For three years, he was deputy and first deputy governor of the Kostroma region, after which he was invited to work in the presidential administration. So now Sokolov will use all his gathered experience to solve the problems of the region he is in charge of.
In the Ryazan region, Nikolai Lyubimov, 51, was replaced by Pavel Malkov, 41, who previously served as minister and deputy governor of the Saratov region. In 2018, Malkov was the head of Rosstat. He is an active state advisor of the Russian Federation, 1st class, and was awarded the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland” of the 2nd degree.
In the Republic of Mari El instead of Alexander Evstifeev, who will turn 64 on May 14, 52-year-old Yuri Zaitsev was appointed as the region's acting head. He is a career military man, who had worked as the chairman of the government of the Republic of Kalmykia for the past three years. Despite the fact that Kalmykia is not the easiest region, Zaitsev together with the head of the republic managed to do a lot and achieved significant results there. It should be noted that Vladimir Putin has already set him certain tasks, which will serve as an even greater impetus in the development of the Republic of Mari El.
As for personnel changes in the Saratov region leadership, 40-year-old Roman Busargin, who was vice-governor and chairman of the government of Saratov region, was appointed Acting Governor of the region instead of 61-year-old Valery Radaev. So, it is safe to say that Busargin has extensive experience in the management system of the region he knows.
As for appointments in Siberia, Vladimir Mazur, who will be 55 on June 19, was appointed to the Tomsk region instead of 65-year-old Sergey Zhvachkin. Mazur was deputy head of the RF President's Domestic Policy Directorate, worked as Deputy Mayor of Tomsk, Deputy Governor of Tyumen Region, Mayor of Tobolsk, and then Deputy Governor of Kaluga Region, after which he was promoted to the RF President Administration. In other words, it is safe to say that Mazur has enormous managerial experience.
As for the governors of the regions listed above who resigned, it was just this year that their term of office was coming to an end. It should be noted that planned elections will be held in these regions in September. According to experts, the new appointments “are quite in line” with the personnel policy of the president. First of all, the newly-appointed regional governors have extensive work experience at the municipal, regional, and federal levels of government. In addition, there is an evident trend towards further rejuvenation of the governing staff in Russian regions. It is especially noteworthy that this decision of the Russian President on the appointment of new governors and the announcement of the Central Election Commission that the elections of heads of the regions will be held on the Unified Voting Day refute the rumors about the cancellation of voting due to the special military operation in Ukraine.