The Kremlin has increased its suppression of regional self-government since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, fearing any manifestation of independence. In several regions, however, the local population has opposed such suppression, and the people’s mood aligns closer with the wishes of regional elites. In turn, the remaining regional elites are finding increasingly unconventional ways to defy the center and maintain a degree of autonomy. Russian political analyst Aleksandr Kynev noted that since the first half of 2024, the Kremlin has gradually sharpened its regional policies.
For the first year after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the rotations of governors dropped, but it soon returned to a noteworthy 32 percent, and since July 2024, 13 governors have already been replaced. There is also a tendency for “participants of the [Special Military Operation (SVO)]”—career military personnel or managers who have worked in the “new territories”—to infiltrate the regional administrative elites (Re-Russia, July 9).
Kynev points out that the regional elite has already been replaced by an “administrative elite,” that is, officials lacking personal power and ties with their new region. In 2024, however, beyond just a change of governor, a wholesale shift of the entire nomenklatura has begun. In many regions, this involves the active participation of external personnel, and often follows the arrests of previous managers. The practice of coordinating appointments to executive positions in parliament with central authorities is also growing (Re-Russia, July 9).
In some regions, special deputy governors (government chairmen) have been named to look after the restoration of the “sponsored territories” in Eastern Ukraine. In others, regional and federal officials working in the administrations of the “new territories” are returning with promotions to governorships or vice-governorships. Among them are the governor of Chukotka, Vladislav Kuznetsov, formerly first deputy chairman of the “Donetsk People’s Republic’s” (DPR) government; the leader of the Omsk oblast, former chairman of the “DPR” government Vladislav Khotsenko.
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