July publications in the media heralded a new conspiracy version of the resignation of Kurgan region Governor Oleg Bogomolov. The name of the candidate for the position of the governor was announced too - Sergei Smetanyuk - former deputy presidential envoy to the Urals Federal District. Most experts rejected the version immediately.
Oleg Bogomolov, whom the Kremlin repeatedly appointed as governor, stands firmly in his office. He successfully passed the period of the "gubernatorial cleansing" in the spring of this year. In case Governor Bogomolov leaves, the region will have to hold general direct elections, which, according to political strategists, do not have any sense in the Kurgan region.
It would seem that the subject of "Smetanyuk in Kurgan" was pushed into the background. However, the name of the former deputy envoy can be heard again in connection with the new information about his employment. As it turned out, his employment is supposed to be conducted through the Kurgan region, but in a painless way. Direct gubernatorial elections on the complex peasant territory that has its own special mentality will not be held. A knight's move will be made - Smetanyuk will supposedly be empowered with the authorities of a member of the Federation Council from the Trans-Urals.
For the time being, there are two Senators from the executive and representative authorities working in Kurgan - Oleg Panteleyev and Sergei Lisovsky. They both served as the leaders of the regional division of the ruling party at different times. Lisovsky still works as a secretary of the local regional political council of United Russia. Former Colonel of Foreign Intelligence, Oleg Panteleyev, is widely known as his senator colleague in the Russian business community and abroad.
It is not entirely clear where the idea of making a replacement in the senatorial body of the Kurgan region comes from. There is a cause for senators to be concerned, though. Sergei Lisovsky has repeatedly made loud statements about Russia's entry into the WTO. He also criticized federal ministers, and they may score up his hard-hitting remarks about sitting Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich against him.
On the other hand, the federal law stipulates the nomination of senators from among the deputies who had passed the elections in the region. Therefore, Sergei Smetanyuk, if the rumors are based on reality, will have to face a small, yet scandalous electoral campaign. The process of changing the senator will attract the attention of both the opposition and the media.
According to sources close to the apparatus of the presidential envoy in the Ural Federal District, Governor Oleg Bogomolov has already received the signal about the need to solve Sergei Smetanyuk's problems. Now it's up to the curators of the internal regional policies in the Kremlin to act. On the threshold of the complex elections in the country this autumn, they need to think about the signs of instability that emerged in the generally stable for United Russia region. It is a big question whether the Kremlin needs it.