Negotiations Between Russian and Kazakhstan Presidents Bugged in Omsk region

The Omsk governor knows what presidents discussed, although he was not present at the meeting

The republic of Kazakhstan is Russia's closest neighbor. In addition to that, Kazakhstan used to be a part of the Soviet Union. One shall assume that Russia and Kazakhstan have a lot in common, taking into consideration the fact that both Kazakhstan's  and Russia's interests often coincide rather than differ. That is why, Russian media paid so much attention to the meeting between the presidents of the two countries. However, as it turned out, the Russian press did not inform people completely, something was concealed. The governor of the Omsk region that borders on Kazakhstan, Leonid Polezhayev, "improved" the situation, although he was not present at the meeting of the presidents.

When the commotion around the event settled down to a certain extent, Leonid Polezhayev came to Moscow and decided to tell everyone the real truth.  As it usually happens, the truth touched upon the economic security and the personal security of the governor as well.

It is worth mentioning here that the Omsk regional governor is a "big specialist" in the field of the economic security. It took Leonid Polezhayev just one night to change the registration of the oil company Sibneft: it was originally registered in the city of Omsk, but then it became a regional enterprise. Therefore, such a change resulted in the fact that the company started transferring its payments to the regional treasury, not to the one of Omsk, the city. Governor Polezhayev became a "powerful" man after that, whereas the political elite of the city (together with its budget) became inconsiderable and irrelevant.

There was nothing surprising about the fact that the Omsk region quickly obtained money both for intelligence services and police. Teachers and doctors were left with nothing, but that was the "blame" of the Russian government and Omsk mayor. This is an example of a bright political maneuver.

Now governor Polezhayev talks about the economic security that is supposed to be achieved owing to the republic of Kazakhstan. One may think that the republic's President, Narsultan Nazarbayev, had nothing else to do, but to provide economic support to his colleague from the Omsk region. Most likely, the Kazakhstan president thinks, what to do with such an unlucky neighbor, since nobody wants to give any money to him. Probably, the Omsk governor spends all money of the region on his personal economic security.

Leonid Polezhayev is a governor. He is in charge of regional departments of the FSB and Home Ministry. Yet, specialists notice that the activities of these two departments are rather weak and in the Omsk region, they do not fulfil their functions completely. Yet, if a reporter tries to find some compromising material about the governor, he might suffer from very unexpected problems. It is not ruled out that this is exactly the reason why Omsk reporters prefer to make only positive reports about Leonid Polezhayev. It looks like Omsk divisions of FSB and Home Ministry have only one goal - to take care of the economic security for the governor.

Businessmen try not to work in the Omsk region. For example, a highly qualified manager works in RAO UES of Russia currently, successfully solving the issues of state importance. He was an outstanding businessmen in the Omsk region before. He paid taxes properly, provided people with jobs, but then he suddenly became almost an enemy for the economic security of the Omsk region. It turned out later on that the governor evinced a certain interest in his business. After this person was employed at RAO UES of Russia, he saved several regions from the economic bankruptcy, including the Omsk region too. The governor even had to apologize for the troubles of the past. The manager was not a vindictive person, but governor Leonid Polezhayev did not understand anything. After the sad experience with the energy industry he changed his attitude to it, although he remained the same about everything else.

Nikolay Patrushev, the director of the Russian FSB, went to the Omsk region to study the situation personally. The president arrived in the Omsk region later on. Putin said that one had to strengthen the border and to take care of security. Governor Polezhayev did not get to the point of that either. He decided that he had to take care of the economic interest with the republic of Kazakhstan. This is exactly what he said at his press briefing in Moscow. Leonid Polezhaeyv also stated that he was aware of the conversation between Putin and Nazarbayev. This brings up a question: where did Mr. Polezhayev get all that information from?

Nikolay Patrushev was personally in charge of all security issues for negotiations between the Russian and the Kazakh presidents. However, Polezhayev managed to obtain the details of the talks somehow. The presidents did not ask him to be in their company. Were there any bugs in the conference room?

On the photo: Leonid Polezhayev

Rinat Ancheyev
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Author`s name Olga Savka
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