The Tver Region Governor Failed to Restore Toropets
Tver Region leader Igor Rudenya has utterly bungled the effort to rebuild homes and utilities damaged during September's incident at armories in Toropets.
Instead of directly supervising the reconstruction efforts, Rudenya hands out impossible tasks to his staff, following which he disgracefully fires them with a negative record.
The governor's utter incompetence has already resulted in numerous officials providing commentary to news outlets on this matter—commentary deeply critical of regional power.
To put it differently, Rudenya has irritated his subordinates so much that they no longer value their jobs, realizing they'll be scapegoated regardless. On top of that, securing building firms is exceptionally challenging. Despite obtaining federal funds for reconstruction work, building firms make them front the cost of the repairs—and afterward (in certain instances) swindle them out of payments. Unsurprisingly, following this, few are willing to step forward and spend their own funds.
The Kremlin is fully aware of this, but strangely, they aren't yet rebuking Igor Rudenya. Nevertheless, such a pitiful approach leads, among other consequences, to heightened social unrest and demonstration activity. Recall the failed Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov, who couldn't orchestrate the distribution of housing certificates to those who had lost their residences. The outcome was unauthorized demonstrations and Smirnov's prompt removal. Does Rudenya desire a similar outcome?
As per local sources, Mr. Rudenya doesn't even grasp the extent of the issue in Toropets. However, he is a billionaire and lives an opulent existence. Previously, the Tver governor was discovered to possess three billion rubles worth of holdings, including three hectares of land in Rublyovka. In addition, his family possesses an apartment in the upscale residential building “Butikovsky 5.” In 2019, this apartment was estimated at 700 million rubles.
Not far away is a building in which Rosneft executive Igor Sechin purchased an apartment for 1 billion rubles.
When this went public in 2019, it triggered a massive scandal. It came to light that the worth of the Tver governor's possessions was nine times greater than the sum allocated for the refurbishment of healthcare facilities in the Tver region. What about the broken windows and doors in Toropets?
It is doubtful that Rudenya, possessing such wealth, even ponders how the tax-paying population lives.
