Russia is at war, and in just a few hours, a total of five leaders of Russian regions from different parts of the country have resigned or announced they will not run again. Sergei Shvachkin from the Siberian city of Tomsk was the first to resign, followed by Igor Vasiliev from the city of Kirov, 1,000 kilometers northeast of Moscow.
They were followed by the head of Saratov and the autonomous republic of El Marie. And the governor of Ryazan, Nikolay Lyubimov, announced that he would not run for a second term.
In Russia there are a total of 80 so-called federal subjects – districts and autonomous republics. As an official explanation for their resignations, some of the governors cited their advanced age or the fact that they have long held the posts in question. However, the wave of resignations caused astonishment and speculation.
Surprise and speculation
Numerous posts have appeared in the Telegram asking whether the resignations do not mean that the governors are criticizing the war in Ukraine and whether they do not want to show that they do not want to be responsible for the consequences of severe Western sanctions. Russia has been abandoned by most Western companies, and Russians are losing their jobs en masse.
The wave of resignations of regional leaders could be a sign that “the ship is starting to tilt dangerously and the rats are probably in a hurry to leave it,” said political scientist Abbas Galyamov. Others speculate that the five politicians may not have been completely loyal to the Kremlin, which is why their resignations were demanded “from above”.
There have also been suggestions that President Putin may have planned a partial mobilization in the regions in question to support Russia’s stalled offensive in Ukraine, and governors were reluctant to tolerate popular discontent over such a decision.
Source: Deutsche says
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