Should the St. Petersburg governor count on a second term?
Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov, taking into account the temporary performance of duties, has been in office for five years and his term of office is coming to an end in September next year. Despite the absence of statements about plans to run for a second term, work is underway in Smolny to create the most positive image for Beglov, and the participation of the president is emphasized in his achievements. But the official’s election promises from 2019 for the most part remained a “declaration of intent.” But the most important thing is that the current governor actually lacks communication with the public, the need for which he previously stated. Even the St. Petersburg branch of VOOPIiK, after last year’s expulsion of four well-known city defenders Alexander Kononov, Alexei Kovalev, Boris Vishnevsky and Anna Kapitonova, turned into an obedient appendage of Smolny. As a result, not being heard by the city authorities, St. Petersburg residents prefer to contact directly Vladimir Putin (*international criminal) and the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, who takes personal control of the situation with the demolition of historical buildings in the Northern capital and initiates the initiation of criminal cases against officials from Beglov’s team. Bastrykin also has to deal with the problems of compaction development, in particular, his focus is on the residential complex being built by the LSR Group of billionaire Andrei Molchanov on Vasilyevsky Island, which became the cause of civil protests. The public transport reform and garbage reform initiated by Beglov turned out to be ill-conceived and caused dissatisfaction among citizens, and experts consider the expansion of the metro line announced by the governor with the opening of 89 new stations to be unrealistic in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, Beglov kept his promise and increased the city budget to 1 trillion rubles, only this happened at the expense of tax revenues from Gazprom structures, while the number of SMEs in St. Petersburg has been steadily declining in recent years.
In Smolny they are “collecting positive things”
In September next year, residents of St. Petersburg will have to elect a governor. The current head of the Northern capital Alexander Beglov has been leading the city on the Neva for more than five years: he was appointed to the position appointed by presidential decree in October 2018, although with the prefix interim, which he got rid of after the 2019 elections.
Despite the fact that Beglov himself has not yet declared his intention to be re-elected for a second term, according to St. Petersburg media, the corresponding preparations are already in full swing at Smolny. For example, the publication “Fontanka”, with reference to its own sources, reported about weekly meetings called“Great Governor’s Media Planning”conducted by the lieutenant governor Boris Piotrovsky.
So, St. Petersburg officials were puzzled by the search for advantages that could be presented to the public and voters. True, it would be a good idea for the residents of Smolny to first remember Beglov’s own election promises dating back to 2019.
Then a lot it was said on the need to develop transport infrastructure (including the opening of new metro stations and phased renewal of public transport), providing citizens with accessible qualified medical care, increasing the budget to 1 trillion rubles in order to improve the standard of living of St. Petersburg residents, etc.
But the main thing that the emphasis was placed on was a complete discussion with residents of the current and future development of the Northern capital. In the end, citizens have the right to decide for themselves what the government will spend budget funds on! And now the time has come for this very government to report on the work done, and at the same time present a strategy for future development.
Beglov’s team against city defenders… and Bastrykin?
Political scientists have repeatedly criticallyspoke out regarding Beglov’s possible second term. The reason is simple: too much complaints his five-year leadership is causing it. In addition, the governor managed to completely ruin relations with the city public.
You don’t have to look far for examples; just remember last year’s scandal with the exception of St. Petersburg VOOPIiK four famous city defenders: deputy head of the department Alexandra Kononovamember of the presidium Alexey Kovalevcouncil members Boris Vishnevsky (current deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly) and Anna Kapitonova. Formal cause became “carrying out activities that discredit society,” causing damage to VOOPIiK and interfering with the work of its governing bodies.
In fact, the so-called “irreconcilable”, as a result of which Smolny received at its disposal an organization with the most loyal, “manual” leadership. As a result, a full-fledged dialogue between St. Petersburg city defenders and the authorities, which began with the sensational meeting film director Sergei Sokurov with the then-governor Valentina Matvienkoa bold cross was put up.
It cannot be said that what happened was particularly surprising. The same “Fontanka” noted: members of VOOPIiK increasingly opposed representatives of government agencies, in particular the Committee for the Protection of Monuments, in the courts. Edition reminded about the threat of demolition of the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of the Paper Industry for the sake of residential construction, recognition as a monument and saving the building of the medical unit of the plant from dismantling. Kalinina on the street Odoevsky, opposition to the demolition of the arena of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment.
It got to the point that in May last year the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin ordered to carry out check numerous complaints about the demolition of a number of historical buildings in St. Petersburg, built in the 19th – early 20th centuries. Excitement followed criminal case upon the dismantling of the wings of the Saltykova mansion and the arena of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment on Vasilyevsky Island.
The defendants were the chairman of the city Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments (KGIOP) Sergey Makarov and his deputy Galina Aganova. Them was incriminated exclusion of two buildings from the list of cultural heritage sites, which made their subsequent demolition possible and caused damage to the municipality in the amount of more than 144 million rubles.
Development, protests and LSR Group
The focus on developers and dense development have repeatedly become the cause of protests among St. Petersburg residents. Back in March 2021, an initiative group of residents of the Central district of the Northern capital sent to Smolny petition with more than 2 thousand signatures, containing a demand to introduce a moratorium on the development of the city center. But since officials refused to listen to the voice of the people, in June 2021, city defenders recorded appeal to the president on the same topic.
Almost simultaneously similar letter residents of the Vasileostrovsky district sent to the head of state. It also contained complaints about the chaotic and haphazard development of residential complexes, leading to the loss of cultural and historical sites, increased traffic flows and air pollution. Focusing on the lack of an integrated approach to solving the problem on the part of the authorities, residents of the area complained to the fact that the last coastline available to them – near Dekabristov Island – is turning into just another construction site before their very eyes.
The conflict with the developers did not take long to arise. In August 2022, a national gathering against the alluvium on the northern territory of Dekabristov Island, and a few days earlier a document was sent to the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly for consideration appeal with 23 thousand signatures. The cause of dissatisfaction was the project for the construction of a residential complex on the beach area, the implementation of which was undertaken by “LSR Group” – a large developer controlled by a billionaire Andrey Molchanov.
I had to intervene in the confrontation again Alexander Bastrykin, who personally went to St. Petersburg. Last May, the visit of the head of the Investigative Committee to Vasilievsky Island was accompanied by a remarkable incident: he didn’t allow security. As a result, it was initiated criminal case about violation of environmental protection rules during work.
LSR management statedthat this will not affect the progress of construction in any way, since “the work is being carried out strictly in accordance with the law, and there are no grounds for its suspension”. Indeed, soon the city prosecutor’s office canceled resolution to initiate a criminal case, but Bastrykin, in turn, initiated a new investigationand this time in relation to urban officials.
Are dreams of a subway destined to come true?
There is no other way to describe what is happening than construction anarchy. But Alexander Beglov he has no time for such “trifles”: he is occupied with thoughts of a truly Napoleonic scale. So, in August last year, referring to the draft of the new general plan, he announced an increase in the length of the St. Petersburg metro line by almost 140 kilometers, implying opening 89 new stations by 2050.
In addition, to improve the efficiency of passenger service, it is planned construction 39 transport hubs, “where the routes of several modes of transport will converge”. Apart from bewilderment, the statement could not cause any other reaction. RBC portal, with reference to the Committee for the Development of Transport Infrastructure (KRTI), clarified: the first stage consists of 31 metro facilities (including 21 stations), with a completion date of up to 2030.
But today construction work is being carried out at only three metro stations, which planned to be put into operation by 2024: these are “Mining Institute”, “Putilovskaya” and “Yugo-Zapadnaya”. Considering the lack of specifics, including on the issue of cost and timing, RBC experts named plans “unrealizable in the foreseeable future”. Here it would be appropriate to recall the history of the Teatralnaya metro station, the opening of which was supposed to take place back in 2012, but then it was postponed several times and now planned for 2026.
In general, the issue of public transport is one of the most painful for residents of St. Petersburg. The transport reform initiated by Beglov’s team last year, as a result of which private minibuses were replaced by municipal buses, aroused extremely negative emotions among citizens. They complained for long waits, incorrect display of routes on maps, lack of recording of passenger traffic, increased fares, etc. To top it all off, buses caught fire on a massive scale: in mid-July this year, the media reportedat least 20 vehicles were damaged or completely destroyed by fire.
The conclusion suggests itself: Smolny did not take into account all the nuances and did not properly prepare for fundamental changes.
By the way, a similar thing happened with the garbage reform that started at the beginning of last year. In the very first days of January, garbage collection began collapse: containers installed in courtyards and areas around them were littered with waste. How It revealedin the management of the company performing the functions of a registrar “Nevsky Ecological Operator” (NEO) did not calculate the volume of work.
In just ten days, including in relation to NEO, 107 administrative proceedings were initiated with a total amount fines more than in 9.2 million rubles. Meanwhile, experts blamed for the incident not only on the NEO, but also on the city leadership, which delayed the selection of the regenerator and gave him insufficient time to organize the process of transporting MSW.
Thanks Miller for the budget?
To be fair, it is worth noting that his election promise to increase the budget to 1 trillion rubles Beglov still held back.
But if in Moscow the main source of budget revenues is the personal income tax, then the cauldron of the Northern capital is being formed mainly through business fees. At the same time, the city received the lion’s share of the income that the governor reported in November last year thanks to the moveGazprom and its “subsidiaries”, whose tax deductions reach 400 billion.
So Beglov can express special gratitude Alexey Miller. But small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) do not feel entirely comfortable on the banks of the Neva. According to official data, over the 11 months of 2020 their number decreased by 4.3%, and Kommersant emphasizedthat the actual closure of SMEs may be more widespread, since the procedure for liquidating a business takes quite a long time. The official reason was, of course, the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2021, Chairman of the Public Council for the Development of Small Business under the Governor of St. Petersburg Elena Tsereteli noted another deterioration of the situation. According to her words,
True, at the end of last year in St. Petersburg there was still marked growth of SMEs, thanks to government support measures that made it possible to level out the increase in the Central Bank key rate. However, in the first half of the year their number managed shrink by 16 thousand. That is, there is no need to talk about any stability. The situation is just like in the fairy tale about Malchish-Kibalchish: “if only we could stand the night and hold out for the day.”
To sum up, we can state: the “baggage” with which Alexander Beglov is approaching the end of his term as governor, clearly does not play in his favor. And in the remaining time you won’t be able to make up for everything you missed and you won’t be able to patch up all the holes. If the current head of St. Petersburg declares his political ambitions, then his calculations can be connected, perhaps, only with the support of the federal center. Moreover, after the death of the founder PMC “Wagner”businessman Evgenia Prigozhina the barrage of criticism against Beglov has decreased, and accusations of treason don’t sound anymore.