#5
Parlamentskaya Gazeta
March 21, 2002
NEW PASSIONS: FINANCIAL-INDUSTRIAL GROUPS ASPIRE TO
POWER
Industrialists coming to power in the regions.
Author: Leonid Chirkov
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
MOSCOW IS NO LONGER THE CENTER OF LARGE-SCALE BUSINESS IN RUSSIA. REGIONAL ECONOMY IS GRADUALLY IMPROVING, AND AT THE SAME TIME MORE AND MORE FORMER ENTREPRENEURS AND INDUSTRIALISTS BECOME POLITICIANS.
To all appearances, over the past several years Moscow has stopped being the center of Russian business. Of course, oil and gas were produced in Siberia, but all the questions connected with them were solved in the capital. Other industries were either in deep crisis, or languished in poverty, which did not interest businessmen. When the economic situation improved, it turned out that provincial industrial objects also had value, and then a class of new regional magnates. Not only Muscovites, but also heads of large local plants were among them. At first, their economic interests were represented by "pure politicians", which satisfied local businessmen. However, the situation has started changing.
For example, in the Novosibirsk region two previous governors, their deputies and deputies of the Duma did not manage to get into the number of local law-makers. This means a lot: renewal of regional bodies of power is not declarative. And this is not always prompted by situational election considerations, as, for example, change of all deputies of the governor in the Krasnoyarsk region. The matter concerns deeper processes.
In many regions, all politics is concentrated around questions of economic interaction of these or those financial-industrial groups, and in the end - around distributing property. For instance, in the Irkutsk region they have to look for a balance of interests between YUKOS, RusAl, MDM-Group and TNC; in the Krasnoyarsk region between Norilsk Nickel, RusAl, MDM-Group and the alliance of Rusneft and Mezhprombank. But in the Lipetsk region the opposition between representatives of the older generation of politicians, headed by the present governor, and heads of the largest plant of the region - the Novo-Lipetsk Metallurgical company - has been postponed yet.
However that may be, the situation in the regions leads to active exchange of staff between economic and political "circles" of power. For example, in the Perm region the largest faction in the Legislative Assembly represents a union of local entrepreneurs. It is noteworthy that governor Alexander Khloponon of the Taimyr region and governor Boris Zolotarev of the Evenkia region used to be entrepreneurs.
How does the fact that industrialists and managers are coming to power influence life of this or that region? In a number of cases this leads to improving the social situation. Tax revenues increase, since people who have achieved success in business know how to gather taxes, as well as how to secure development of local enterprises. Meanwhile, the situation is not always like this. When balance of forces changes often, regions suffer crisis after crisis, and even qualified crisis- managers cannot control them. In the Krasnoyarsk region the elections to the Legislative Assembly last year created a harsh polarity in the local parliament. The movement "Ours", the blocks of Anatoly Bykov and Alexander Lebed, the Northern Party of Alexander Khloponin look like battlefields for fighting for the post of governor at next year elections. Even the bravest political scientists cannot predict who will win. Beside the acting gvernor and head of the Legislative Assembly Alexander Uss, someone of the financial-industrial group may also run for the post.
The attitude of financial-industrial groups toward the political future of their regions did not avoid attention of the federal center. Not everywhere the situation is taken by voters and regional authorities in the same way. We still remember the scandalous elections in the Primorye region with lots of contradictions. The central power is now making a placatory impact on regional passions. Russian voters firmly believe that the leaders of the country can establish order in each region. However, this is not always true.
It is clear that financial-industrial groups, if they want influence political life in their regions, should aspire to grater transparency of their actions, proving that they are not just pumping out resources. In this respect, shift toward public politics will make many financial-industrial groups treat their image more seriously. Especially since there is enough mud-slinging in the provinces.
Besides, we should take into account the risk of weak governors appearing, and weak regional legislatures, trying to maneuver between different groups. Especially when regional leaders do not have an overwhelming majority in elections, as in the Irkutsk region and Chuvashia, for example.
Nevertheless, it is clear that the process of changing regional power is picking up speed despite all obstacles. And gradually party- economic assets, which regional power was reminiscent of some two- three years ago, are turning into a cohort of political managers, rather alike top-managers of leading companies. Is it good or bad? It is hard to say. Perhaps, this is just another stage of the development of the Russian state system. And the very notion "politics in the regions" is acquiring new meaning, while the stage of intrigues is passing into the stage of concrete actions.
(Translated by Daria Brunova)
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