Diamond Tycoon to Run for Presidency in Yakutia

[mastodon]

from Gazeta.ru:

Diamond Tycoon to Run for Presidency in Yakutia

Vyacheslav Shtyrov, the president of the diamond-mining company Alrosa, plans to run for the post of Presidential of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Alrosa’s home region. It appears that he could face a novel candidate in the elections, Russia’s Deputy General Prosecutor.

Last year Alrosa mined approximately $1.7 billion worth of diamonds and has production assets worth about $2 billion. By far the most lucrative concern in the huge region, Alrosa provides about 70% of Yakutia’s budget.

According to the Vostok-Media news agency, Alrosa’s president Vyachislav Shtyrov decided to run for the Yakutia presidential post after the republic’s legislature, the Sakha’s State Assembly, ruled that the incumbent president Mikhail Nikolayev should not be allowed to run for a third presidential term.

Evidently the company that is the lifeblood of the Republic’s economy is endeavouring to insure itself against an outsider becoming the republic’s political boss and threatening their business interests.

The Republic’s lawmakers rejected president Nikolayev’s request to annul a clause in the republic’s constitution that limits the president to two successive terms in office. Immediately afterwards Vyacheslav Shtyrov, who is also a deputy in the State Assembly, stepped down as a deputy and filed his application to run in the forthcoming elections with the Republic’s electoral committee.

However, observers assume that if after all Nokolayev is allowed to run for a third term as Yakutia’s president, the Alrosa chief Shtyrov would withdraw his candidacy. For Nikolayev is a guarantor of Alrosa’s interests in the republic.

However, Nikolayev’s chances of retaining his post are slim. First and foremost, the Kremlin is not in favour of his re-election: Firstly it would mean yet another regional leader securing a third term in office despite Putin’s order and subsequent legislation, albeit compromised by amendments, that regional leaders cannot serve more than two terms.

But more immediately, Nikolayev and his administration have been severely criticised by the head of the Ministry for Emergency Situations and informal leader of the pro-Kremlin party Sergei Shoigu. The emergencies minister has said on several occasions that the regional authorities have acted inadequately to repair to the town of Lensk which was badly damaged by flood waters in the spring. Large funds were allocated from the federal budget to repair the damage and build new homes but cases of embezzlement have been reported and many deadlines before the winter have not been met.

What is more, Moscow would like to see someone more loyal and more obedient than Nikolayev as Yakutia’s president. The chief of Russia’s Central Election Committee Alexander Veshnyakov has made that absolutely clear and has announced that Nikolayev has no legal grounds for standing in the elections.

And it appears that the Kremlin has already chosen its candidate for the presidential post in Yakutia–Deputy Prosecutor General Vassily Kolmogorov. The deputy prosecutor made a name for himself and proved his loyalty to the Kremlin for his role in relieving Media Most of its prime asset the NTV channel and initiating criminal proceedings against the media empire’s boss Vladimir Gusinsky. Komogorov has already submitted his resignation to the Prosecutor General.

The Kremlin’s choice of Kolmogorov is no coincidence. The deputy prosecutor general was born in Yakutia, and after the floods in Lensk he conducted an investigation into alleged violations by the local authorities in the course of the restoration of the town.

At present Kolmogorov’s chances of winning Yakutia’s presidential post are estimated as relatively low. He is a little known figure in the Republic as opposed to the prominent Shtyrov.

Recently, leading business figures have won elections in several of Russia’s mineral rich northern and easterly regions. Boris Zolotaryov of the Yukos oil company is the governor of the Evenkia Autonomous Region, Alexander Khloponin of Norilsk Nickel is the governor of the Taimyr Autonomous Region, and Roman Abramovich, and the owner of Russian Aluminium, is the governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Region.

And it is probable that the electorate of Yakutia would prefer the diamond tycoon with his immediate wealth and influence to a bureaucrat from Moscow with vague promises of support from the federal centre.

As for Vasily Kolmogorov, it is hard to imagine him as governor of Yakutia, as he has no experience or contacts in the diamond industry. It could be that a certain state sponsored (or simply state) concern has designs upon Yakutia’s diamond industry and that Kolmogorov is being groomed to lay the legal and political foundations for their move.

[mastodon]

from Gazeta.ru:

Kremlin Set to Replace President of Diamond Republic

On Wednesday the election committee of the republic of Yakutia (Sakha) registered the incumbent president Mikhail Nikolayev as a candidate in the republic’s presidential elections on December 23rd...

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Putin Readies to Block Yakutia President's Reelection

Reuters - President Vladimir Putin seemed set on Thursday to force out the powerful boss of Russia's diamond-rich Yakutia region, blamed for failing to cope with disastrous flooding earlier this year.

Mikhail Nikolayev, president of the vast Siberian territory since 1991, sparked a furore in Moscow by formally registering himself on Wednesday for re-election for a third five-year term.

But analysts said Putin, who has ruthlessly bloodied the noses of regional leaders who have failed to impress him, seemed certain to make an example of Nikolayev by blocking his re-election.

As experts argued over legal aspects of Nikolayev's re-election bid, Central Electoral Commission chief Alexander Veshnyakov, who has sunk the prospects of several election hopefuls in Russia already, said: "A third time is not allowed."

President elections are set for December 23 in Yakutia, one of Russia's 89 constitutional regions. Stretching over three time zones, the vast Siberian territory is rich in diamonds, gold and other minerals.

Analysts said Putin was unlikely to lose the fight against Nikolayev, a 64-year-old former veterinarian, whose poor handling of the calamitous flooding in Yakutia in May did not impress a Russian president who prizes effective managers. "Nikolayev did not prove to be a good manager during the floods. He failed to mobilise the required resources and he is now definitely out of favour. Local elites in Yakutia are unlikely to back him," said Boris Makarenko, deputy director of Moscow's Centre for Political Technologies.

Veshnyakov, who earlier this year played a key role in forcing former Russian vice-president Alexander Rutskoi out of the running for re-election in Kursk region, said Nikolayev's registration as candidate would be quashed.

"We will use the corresponding judicial mechanism to correct the errors that our colleagues in Yakutia have made," he told Itar-Tass news agency.

"He (Nikolayev) will not be president," an unnamed Kremlin source was quoted as saying by Kommersant daily, adding that a face-to-face encounter between Putin and Nikolayev could be on the cards.

[mastodon]

Diamond Baron Barred from Presidential Race in Yakutia

Interfax - Supreme Court of the Russian internal republic of Sakha-Yakutia canceled the registration of Vyacheslav Shtyrov, head of the diamond-mining company Alrosa, as a candidate for presidency in the forthcoming elections. The court satisfied a complaint by one of Yakutia’s residents, stating that Shtyrov filed in all papers necessary for registration as a candidate one day after the official deadline. The court’s decision is final and not subject to appeal.

Shtyrov was considered as a very strong participant of the Yakutia presidential race, along with incumbent President Mikhail Nikolayev and deputy prosecutor general Vasily Kholmogorov.