Governors have nothing to report on patronage assistance to the DPR and LPR

Deputies are already interested in the legitimacy of patronage assistance, and political scientists are sure that the heads of the subjects should not be afraid of uncomfortable questions.

Yekaterina Makimova

On May 19, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Sergey Kiriyenko during the New Horizons marathon said that the Russian regions will take patronage over the regions of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics and will be engaged in the restoration of the infrastructure of settlements.

Only in June, the governors have not yet officially, but officially, one after another, began to voice plans for assistance and even name the amounts.

The head of the Voronezh region, Alexander Gusev, reported on June 7 in his tg channel: he visited the Lugansk People's Republic. "Our region will support three districts of the LPR - Markovsky, Melovskoy and Novopskovsky," Gusev said and specified "vectors of development". There are two of them - the restoration of infrastructure and humanitarian assistance. Governor Gusev said that the first tranche for the restoration of infrastructure (municipal, road, engineering facilities) "will be 500 million rubles". The head of the entity with a deficit budget did not name the source of funding (the budget deficit of the region in 2022 is provided in the amount of 3.2 billion rubles).

Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Belov in his tg channel yesterday also devoted a post to saving Mariupol, patronage of which went to the Northern capital. The city on the Neva will undertake the restoration of several objects: the drama theater, the park around it, the philharmonic society, and the sports complex. And each Mariupol school, Governor Belov added, will be helped by one of the St. Petersburg schools to prepare for the new academic year.

The head of the Sverdlovsk region, Yevgeny Kuyvashev, who will be in charge of Makeevka, also returned from the sponsored territory the day before. He said that the Sverdlovsk residents decided to focus on restoring the road infrastructure. “Among the priority support measures is also the study of the possibility of reconstructing the urban water supply system . In addition, the Sverdlovsk Region will help Makeevka schools prepare for the start of the school year. We are talking about sending humanitarian aid in the form of school desks,” Kuyvashev said.

Previously, heads and representatives of many subjects confirmed their willingness to help the territories of the DPR and LPR. Thus, the Chelyabinsk region promises to help the infrastructure of the cities of Volnovakha and Yasinovataya. The governor of the Moscow region Andrey Vorobyov announced the restoration of roads in two regions of the DPR - Novoazovsky and Telmanovsky.

Sponsored territories went to many regions of Russia (Chuvashia, Leningrad region, Kursk region ...), most of which have deficit budgets approved for 2022. But none of the governors has yet described the legal mechanism of assistance and has not specified the sources of funding.

Novye Izvestia's interlocutors in the internal political blocs of some regional administrations, even on condition of anonymity, refused to describe possible options.

“The topic is still closed. We will have to help, but so far no specifics, everything is only at the stage of discussion. And in general, they are not yet ready to publish, so as not to cause unnecessary questions among the population and the opposition, ”such was the answer of one of the high-ranking representatives of the inner sex.

State Duma deputy, deputy chairman of the commission to investigate the facts of interference of foreign states in the internal affairs of Russia, member of the commission to review federal budget expenditures Andrei Alshevsky explained why governors are so stingy with information.

According to Alshevsky, representatives of the regions are now massively visiting the territories of the LPR and DPR. They travel in whole delegations to determine the amount of assistance needed. “Plans are just being formed right now. The scope of work is discussed with representatives of the sponsored territories, the need for a particular product or resource is clarified. The regions also need time to assess their capabilities”, - the parliamentarian explained.

According to him, the planning phase will last another couple of weeks, maximum - a month. After that, "active work will begin to restore the sponsored territories".

The State Duma deputy openly stated that the regions would have to attract resources from their own budgets and commercial structures. “We must understand very well that everything that is done by the regions is done with due regard for and by decision of the federal center. And if a constituent entity of the Russian Federation does not have enough of its own resources to complete the task, then the federal center will not leave these regions alone with such a problem, ”concluded State Duma deputy Andrei Alshevsky.

Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, deputy head of the Yabloko faction Boris Vishnevsky said that last week a request was sent on his behalf to Governor Beglov with the question: on what legal basis can budget money be sent to help Mariupol (the budget deficit of St. Petersburg is more than 80 billion rubles, - editor's note).

“I see no legal basis for funding anything from the budget in another country. The Budget Code does not give such rights, as far as I know. I do not know such grounds, I have not seen them in the budget code. There is a huge legal problem here,” deputy Vishnevsky said.

He suggested that the authorities would not reinvent the wheel and various funds would appear in the regions. “Where the business in a voluntary-compulsory order will be obliged to chip in. Business will be taxed for these purposes, most likely. Otherwise, I don’t see any legal ways to do this, ”the deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly suggested.

In the Chelyabinsk region, a letter from the vice-governor Sergey Shal, who oversees the construction industry, has already entered the public plane. Official asks the company to provide financial assistance.

“I ask you to consider the possibility of providing financial assistance to residents of the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics. The funds will be used to restore residential buildings and infrastructure, namely the purchase of building materials and other equipment”, - the letter says.

At the same time, it is proposed to transfer funds to the Chelyabinsk Fund for Support of Regional Cooperation and Development. It is interesting that this structure is a kind of party cash desk of the regional branch of United Russia. It collects donations from large enterprises before the elections, it also, as a rule, finances the electoral accounts of the party or candidates from United Russia in the Chelyabinsk region.

A source close to the government of the Chelyabinsk region confirmed the authenticity of the document.

“Yes, funds are collected not only among builders, but also in other industries, this is just an offer, many people want to help, but do not know how”, - the source said.

Earlier, the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation assigned the cities of Yasinovataya and Volnovakha to the Chelyabinsk Region, which the South Urals will help restore.

Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Sverdlovsk region, head of the Sverdlovsk regional branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Alexander Ivachev is also sure that the regional authorities will have to experiment and look for options. “There are a lot of opportunities, how to direct budget money not directly, but through distribution orders. Plus, commercial structures will be involved, which are very dependent on those who make decisions on financing”, - Ivachev believes.

Political scientist, President of the Regional Policy Development Center Foundation Ilya Grashchenkov suggests that one of the possible options for legalizing interbudgetary transfers is the creation of new regional programs for which money will be allocated. "Novye Izvestia" checked: none of the sponsoring regions has currently made adjustments to its budget with justification for assistance to the territories of the LPR and DPR.

Ilya Grashchenkov also notes that now business is feeling much worse than the budgets of the regions. Therefore, he does not think that local authorities will be able to actively attract merchants.

A resident of the Center for the Development of Regional Policy Foundation draws attention to the fact that the situation in the regions is different. And if it is justified for non-poor Moscow to spend money on assistance, and not on the next re-laying of paving slabs, then poor subjects will have to tighten their belts.

“If patronage is transferred to some subsidized regions, then they will have to reduce some of their own development programs. Social including - schools, roads. And this will cause disapproval of the population. But, on the other hand, the government relies on the opinion of the Russians, and judging by opinion polls, the majority support the military operation. This means that the costs of the SVO should also be supported”, - concluded the political scientist Grashchenkov.