Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

114 Darrell Sliderin turn takes instruction from the Kremlin. Another issue is what constitutes‘winning’ a regional election in a proportional party vote system. The winnerof a multiparty contest may be far short of obtaining a majority of seats inthe assembly. The first region in which the majority faction nominated acandidate was the republic of Adygeya in late 2006. In fact, the nominee,while approved by United Russia in the region, was proposed to the party bythe presidential representative. 35Putin’s appointments and non-reappointments in the first two years of thenew system provide some clues as to the real reasons behind the end ofelections. The chief emphasis was on continuity and stability, rather than aradical change in the existing cohort of governors. Of the first forty-eightygovernors appointed, thirty-three were reappointments. There were enoughexceptions, though, to make it difficult to define a pattern.The law allowed the president to dismiss sitting governors with the vaguejustification that they had ‘lost the confidence’ of the president. In one earlycase a governor was removed for what was deemed incompetence. In March2005 Putin fired the governor of Koryak AO, Vladimir Loginov, for failureto prepare his region for winter. (To what extent this power was truly newcan be questioned. Even in his first term Putin was able to pressure even awell-entrenched governor, Yevgenii Nazdratenko, to give up his post as governorof Primorskii Krai to head the fisheries ministry in Moscow.) MikhailYevdokimov in Altai Krai, the former television comedian, was neitherremoved nor reappointed by Putin. In August 2005 Yevdokimov was killedin a car accident.Only one governor was removed for alleged criminal offences. In July 2006the last governor to be popularly elected (in January 2005), Aleksei Barinovof Nenets AO was dismissed by Putin. Barinov had been charged in May2006 by prosecutors in Arkhangel'sk oblast with fraud in a case that datedback to before he became governor. The very first governor to be reappointed,in February 2005, was Sergei Dar'kin of Primorskii Krai. Perhapsof all governors he is the most often suspected of having ties to criminalgroups that control a substantial portion of his region’s economy. In anumber of other cases, the initiation of criminal prosecutions did not lead toremoval from office (these regional leaders included Butov in Nenets AO,Platov in Tver', Lisitsyn in Yaroslavl', Shpak in Ryazan', Titov in Samara,Lebed' in Khakasiya, and Mashkovtsev in Kamchatka), though the prosecutor’spressure undoubtedly sent a strong message to the incumbent todemonstrate his loyalty.Putin’s choices showed no sign that he had any interest in fighting corruptionand political stagnation at the regional level. Many of the reappointedgovernors had remained in office for several terms and entrenchedthemselves in both the administrative apparatus and among regional economicelites. Yegor Stroev, for example, was among the reappointed governors.He was the only governor who had served as a member of the CPSUCentral Committee and Politburo in Soviet times and was still governor of