The President of Russia has appointed Vasily Anokhin as acting governor of the Smolensk region. Photo: Mikhail Metzel/POOL/TASS
Last week, the President of Russia appointed Vasily Anokhin, a 39-year-old acting candidate of economic sciences, acting governor of the Smolensk region, who worked in the structures of the federal government and in the Smolensk administration, having graduated from the “school of governors” became seriously involved in the integration of new Russian regions.
For a comment on the importance of such a staff appointment, KP turned to the head of the social research laboratory at the Institute for Regional Problems, Petr Kiryan.
– Vasily Anokhin was appointed chairman of the acting governor of the Smolensk region – What is his place among the graduates of the “school of governors”?
– He was graduating, as I recall, from the fourth training stream of the reserve of civil service management personnel, the “school of governors” – he was probably among the 40-45 graduates of the school. Most of them became acting or deputy governors.
– Anokhin’s experience…
– Allows you to apply for this status. There is also an additional specificity.
– Which?
– It was not before, in past times. Anokhin dealt with issues of new regions, integration issues related to various issues and departments, with curators. Few of his predecessors could have had such an experience. This track and this is the mechanism of such a managerial drive – it appeared only last year. And this distinguishes Anokhin from other acting candidates.
– What else can be said about this?
– Anyway, there are different graduates of the school of public administration. In this case, it is a person who has already held leadership positions in the regions. Well, maybe not at the governor’s level. He was a representative of the regional government. He and interacted on issues as complex as housing and community services and construction. In any region, this is an important block: housing and communal services and construction. The first is social, and then these questions follow.
– Has the President been focusing attention on these issues lately?
– And the program for housing and communal services and the program for the completion of facilities – for the next five years, it becomes federal and regional programs.
– Smolensk is a border region.
– Anokhin is well aware of the additional work front he faces in this regard – as head of the region. We see other regions and border areas that are under a special regime. There, the heads of the regions must interact both with the structures of the Ministry of Defense and with the security services. And there, part of the work is associated with risks and possible damage. Governors are required to minimize and prevent this.
– Is Anokhin one of the youngest governors?
– In this vertical management – yes. 39 is not the age when people automatically fill such positions.
