Residents of Uglich sleep and see that Anatoly Kuritsin has left his post, who, according to the apt expression of the townspeople, dragged the entire district into a “bog” for 5 years.
Readers from Uglich contacted The Moscow Post: “We were very surprised when we saw our “brake” – Mr. Kuritsin, in the list of candidates for the election of the head of the Uglich municipal district (UMR), under whom the district fell into a kind of “pit”. And , moreover, in almost all respects! We are everywhere “first” from the tail. But we are talking about the ancient city of Uglich, which has so many opportunities, if you look back at its unique history!”.
Further in their letter, the inhabitants of Uglich report that they cherish a great and bright hope that the new “watcher” of the Yaroslavl region – acting. Governor Mikhail Evraev – will be able to correctly orient himself in such chronic problems as broken roads, a completely neglected social sphere, destroyed industrial enterprises (for example, it was once the flagship of the local industry, the Uglich watch factory), – and will lead the Yaroslavl province to the leaders …
The correspondent investigated the details of what was happening (including around the district “emperor” Kuritsin). The Moscow Post in the Yaroslavl region.
Hide income information
Just the other day, one more was added to all the negative features of Mr. Kuritsin. It turns out that he “camouflaged” information about the income of his dearest half …
At the end of January 2022, State Duma deputy Anatoly Greshnevikov received a response from the prosecutor’s office of the Yaroslavl region, in which it was reported that the head of the district did not reflect in the documents the income of Anatoly Kuritsin’s wife from the sale of products from her personal subsidiary plot.
On this fact, the inter-district prosecutor made a submission to the chairman of the Duma of the Uglich municipal district. And consideration of this representation is on the control.
The same document, according to the authors of the letter to the editor, was received by the chairman of the Uglich Duma Anatoly Kuprin. The presentation of the prosecutor by the chairman of the Duma must be brought to the attention of the deputies.
He was obliged to publish it.
But Mr. Kuprin did not!
Anatoly Kuritsin has been leading the Uglich municipal district “to a brighter future” for the past 5 years. Photo: Alexandra Zakhvatkina, ASI
It turns out that candidate Anatoly Kuritsin enters the competition, applying for the position of head in violation of anti-corruption laws?
According to public activists from Uglich, Kuprin and Kuritsin do not want members of the selection election commission to know about this document. And they are doing everything so that the prosecutor’s paper does not surface before the elections.
But, according to the laws “On Corruption”, “On Public Service” and “On Municipal Service”, anti-corruption legislation establishes disciplinary liability: this may be dismissal due to loss of confidence for failure to provide or providing knowingly false and incomplete information about income, expenses, property and obligations of a property nature of an official and members of an official family.
Kuritsin vs. Dorian Gray
However, the inhabitants of the Uglichsky district were not very surprised by the prosecutor’s paper about the concealment of Ms. Kuritsina’s income, since claims had previously arisen against Mr. Kuritsin himself on other issues. But the most conflicting situation in recent times has been associated with a hiking trail in a park in the center of Uglich.
We are talking about the project “The Picture of Dorian Gray” – this is a shopping area on the embankment, which perfectly provided the inhabitants of Uglich with work, and tourists with souvenirs. But the authorities of Uglich suddenly decided to move this zone to the very backyards.
Project “Portrait of Dorian Gray”. Photo by the press service of the government of the Yaroslavl region
“The Picture of Dorian Gray” is a large-scale project for the improvement and overhaul of the Volga embankment and the Kamenny Stream valley in Uglich. The authorities also want to build a sidewalk and parking near the Victory Park along the streets of Yaroslavskaya and Olga Berggolts, lay bike paths.
With this project, Uglich won the competition of the Ministry of Construction. And he received a grant of 70 million rubles. The work was expected to be completed by the end of summer 2021.
As of the beginning of autumn last year, the improvement of the embankment was completed by 40%, sidewalks and parking – by 30%. Now they promise to hand over everything by the end of 2022… At the same time, for some reason, they are trying to expel the art malls.
Why? It turns out that Mr. Kuritsin has something to his own advantage: these areas were needed for other purposes.
But the inhabitants of Uglich did not remain silent, they were outraged by the decision of the municipal authorities, because the expulsion from the embankment would deprive them of their earnings, since tourists from the boats would not even have time to reach the market stalls, and the fair area starts right from the embankment.
But more than 200 people work on this tourist trail, each of them has a family, and the opportunities to find work in the Uglich region are very scarce.
So far, the Uglich businessmen have defended the “Portrait of Dorian Gray” project. How long?..
How Kuritsin got into the “pit”
Why has Mr. Kuritsin been in power for so long?
They say that the former governor of the Yaroslavl region, Anatoly Lisitsyn, contributed to this at one time. In 2004, it was Lisitsyn who appointed Anatoly Kuritsin the head of the city of Myshkin. Kuritsin managed it from 2004 to 2017.
Is it possible that Kuritsin still enjoys the support of Mr. Lisitsyn?
Anatoly Lisitsyn, former governor of the Yaroslavl region. Photo from A. Lisitsyn’s page in Facebook
But today the Yaroslavl region has been given into the hands of Mikhail Evraev.
Experts note that Mr. Evraev got a difficult economy. In many districts of the region, problems have accumulated that local leaders cannot cope with. And Mr. Evraev will have to solve not only economic and social problems, but also personnel issues.
Of course, people are primarily concerned about the maintenance of roads, transport troubles, problems of housing and communal services, and rising prices.
It should be noted that over the 5 years of Dmitry Mironov’s work, investments in the economy of the Yaroslavl region have exceeded 438 billion rubles. Today, 42 investment projects worth 100 billion rubles are being implemented. Over the past 3 years, 940 km of regional and local roads have been repaired. Traffic has been opened on a new bridge across the Kotorosl River, and the reconstruction of the Dobryninsky Bridge is underway. The construction of a pulp and paper mill at the Rybinsk reservoir was prevented. In 2016, Yaroslavl received the status of the capital of the Golden Ring of Russia. And the headquarters of the cities of the Golden Ring began to work in the region.
Dmitry Mironov, former governor of the Yaroslavl region. Photo by the press service of the government of the Yaroslavl region
At the same time, many residents are very concerned about the state of roads in the region. And even in May 2021, they held a kind of action: activists installed posters with portraits of the head of the Uglich district, Anatoly Kuritsin, and the mayor of Uglich, Svetlana Stavitskaya, in deep holes on the roads. And they were accompanied by inscriptions: “What kind of power, such are the roads.”
What do people expect from Evraev?
Post i. O. Mikhail Evraev was appointed Governor of the Yaroslavl Region in October 2021. There are gubernatorial elections ahead.
In autumn, experts emphasized: Evraev was given the opportunity to help the Yaroslavl region make a breakthrough in development, because it is a serious subject of the Central Federal District. Well, and who, if not a graduate of the main forge of managerial personnel, which is the School of Governors, should raise and solve such a problem? ..
Already in the first weeks, Mikhail Evraev demonstrated a new management style, paying maximum attention to the social sphere, developing the infrastructure of the region, began to openly communicate with the local population, was not too lazy to go around the municipal districts and get acquainted with the situation on the ground. I must say, Mikhail Evraev also visited Uglich, but he was hardly satisfied!
Since 2017, in Uglich, that is, during the reign of Kuritsin, little has changed in the district. Although, when he took office, he promised Governor Dmitry Mironov that he would not let you down, and that Uglich would become the best city in Russia. Empty words!.. The roads in the region are broken, the infrastructure is not developed, and not only social and domestic (which is important for the local population), but also tourist, and Uglich is a primordially Russian city with a rich history.
And Kuritsin himself cannot boast of people’s trust. The people had a hope that the man who had led Myshkin for so long, which turned into a “tourist Mecca”, would be able to raise Uglich as well…
But it didn’t work!
The public believes that Myshkin owes much of its survival to Dmitry Medvedev, who once arrived in Myshkin and recommended refreshing the city’s views. The city was allocated 395 million rubles for the reconstruction of the embankment. So everything began to spin, the city was transformed, but not at all by the forces of Kuritsin, but by the zeal of local enthusiasts.
When Kuritsin was transferred to the Uglich district, the local population expected that he would attract investments and give impetus to the development of Uglich and the surrounding territories. But over the years, little has changed in the area, although the governors made a big bet on it, as one of the leading tourist centers of the Yaroslavl region.
At the same time, there are still not so many tourists here, because it is difficult to get to the area along broken roads.
Mikhail Evraev himself personally drove along the dead Uglich roads and personally made sure that Uglich and its environs were in a very bad condition, after which he declared: everything must be done to make investments come.
Mikhail Evraev, acting Governor of the Yaroslavl Region, photo by Sergei Mikheev. Photo: Rossiyskaya Gazeta
Meanwhile, it’s not just the roads.
It has long been known about the difficulties in the development of the city park and center, about problems with mobile communications, about the destruction of dams and other life support facilities, and all this can be safely placed in the “piggy bank” of the results of Mr. Kuritsin’s five-year leadership.
Leaflets on the walls of houses
So, in the Uglich district on February 17, elections for the head of the district will be held, for which the current head of the district, Anatoly Kuritsin, put forward his candidacy. Local residents are indignant because they do not want to see this official as the head of the district. A professional, honest, worthy manager who will listen to people’s requests has long been expected here.
And the people, as they can, oppose Kuritsin. Last weekend, many walls of houses in Uglich were plastered with leaflets…
“Well, just like in the 90s!” – exclaimed the inhabitants of Uglich, reading them with interest.
What many people know, but not always talk about, was written on these homemade posters. A photo: Vk.com
The powers of Mr. Kuritsin expire on March 2. Disputes flare up around his person: why, despite the obvious decline in the economic and social situation in Uglich and the entire region, Mr. Kuritsin did not hesitate to put forward his candidacy? ..
Recall that Uglich is a city with an ancient history. And all of it was difficult. It survived the Great Troubles in past centuries, its golden age and devastation, but remained quite a strong county town. In the 18th century Uglich even had the status of the center of the Uglich province.
In the twentieth century, Uglich made a breakthrough in production and economy, a powerful hydroelectric power station appeared. And the city is also famous as the cheese capital of Russia: since the 1930s, the Butter and Cheese Making Research Institute has been operating in Uglich. This research institute continues the traditions of the “father” of Russian cheese-making, Nikolai Vereshchagin, along the way preserving all the famous GOSTs and cheese varieties.
So who will get such a rich economy, which just needs to be taken into caring hands? ..
The development of the situation is being observed not only by local residents, political scientists, economists and journalists, but also by Acting Governor Mikhail Evraev: this is also the first regional elections for him.
For Mikhail Evraev, with his experience in the Federal Antimonopoly Service, of course, it is very important that the entire procedure is carried out in compliance with the principles of transparency and democracy.
… At the same time, the fact that Mr. Kuritsin’s associates concealed the document that came from the prosecutor’s office speaks volumes and worries people.