A site is gaining popularity on the Internet demanding the resignation of the head of one of the largest cities in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra Nizhnevartovsk Dmitry Koshchenkoheading the city from the end of 2021. The creators of the Internet site propose five candidates for the post of mayor, who were allegedly nominated by local residents. As the editors of Kompromat-Ural clarifies, among them are two deputies of Mr. Koshchenko, as well as deputies of the City Duma, the KhMAO Duma and the Tyumen Regional Duma. The creators of the site are unknown.

According to competent sources, the likely initiator of the site may be the president of the Slavtek corporation, a reputable businessman Alexander Peterman (in narrow circles, the nickname is Hans), who has long been involved in the struggle for power in Nizhnevartovsk.

The website demanding the resignation of the head of Nizhnevartovsk Dmitry Koshchenko (United Russia, appointed to the post in December 2021) was created in January 2023. First, it conducted a survey on whether respondents support the resignation of the head.

The creators of the site accuse the mayor of not coping with his duties.

In particular, the authors complain that in microdistrict 9a there remains a wasteland in the place of the promised school for 1.1 thousand places. “In 2019, a concession agreement was signed with Stroyalliance LLC for the construction of a school. The amount of the agreement amounted to about 1.5 billion rubles. This would allow almost 6,000 residents to send their children to a school within walking distance,” the report says. In addition, the city leadership is accused of not settling multi-apartment barracks in the village of Belovezhsky, but declaring emergency houses with developed infrastructure in the city center.

Instead of Dmitry Koshchenko, the creators of the site proposed five candidates for the post of mayor: deputy head of the city, director of the department for social policy Irina Volikovskydeputy head Nicholas LukashDeputy of the Duma of Nizhnevartovsk Pavel Yelin (“United Russia”), deputy of the Duma of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra Vladimir Zinoviev (“Party of Pensioners”) and a deputy of the Tyumen Regional Duma Vyacheslav Tankeeva (“United Russia”).

Irina Volikovskaya on March 4 wrote a letter of resignation from the post of vice-mayor, the press service of the city administration specified. Before that, Ms. Volikovskaya published a post on the VKontakte social network, in which she thanked her colleagues for their joint work and listed the achievements of her team.

Vladimir Zinoviev, in a conversation with journalists, suggested that the site could have been created by residents of Nizhnevartovsk. “In the video published on the site, real citizens with whom we periodically contact. Given that we don’t have direct mayoral elections, the site is an interesting story, exciting how it will develop. I was surprised when I saw myself on the list of candidates, and I was flattered, because it shows the trust of citizens,” said Mr. Zinoviev.

Vyacheslav Tankeev admitted that the site is needed by those who do not have the opportunity to openly discuss problems with the head of the city, the administration and city deputies.

The government of the KhMAO and the administration of Nizhnevartovsk did not respond to media inquiries. “The head of Nizhnevartovsk was elected in accordance with the norms of the city charter, he exercises his powers and is not going to resign. Everything else: websites with polls, collection of proposals for the candidacies of the “people’s” mayor – can be launched by impatient political opponents of the current head of the city, ”explained in the regional executive committee of United Russia, specifying that“ they don’t see the need to get involved in this issue ” .

“Nizhnevartovsk is a rather difficult city, one of the most conflicted in Ugra. This is due to the fact that there are several centers of influence. These are the oilmen (TNK-BP, which was acquired by Rosneft), the authorities represented by governor
Natalia Komarovaas well as Alexander Peterman, a reputable entrepreneur who has been fighting for control of the city since the early 2000s, ”said the political scientist Alexander Bezdelov.

According to him, the probable initiator of the creation of the site may be Mr. Peterman. “At one time, he controlled a fairly serious number of deputies in the City Duma and was a very important factor in the politics of Nizhnevartovsk. I believe he has media assets in the form of newspapers and other media. Alexander Peterman has been taking traditional steps in the struggle for power for 20 years, and they fit into the paradigm of public influence – he already had statements in the media, the appearance of some compromising materials. The task is simple – to create a negative background around the activities of the authorities, both municipal and regional,” the political scientist admitted.

Alexander Peterman is the so-called president of the Slavtek corporation, which includes more than thirty enterprises in the construction, transport, ecology, trade, restaurant and hotel business, services and entertainment, and the media. The company’s revenue in 2022 amounted to 13.6 million rubles. It was not possible to get a comment from Alexander Peterman – they did not answer phone calls in his office, informs “Kommersant”.