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whose support candidates for governor need (the so-called “municipal filter”) from five to eight. Meanwhile, in the Altai Territory, an initiative by local communists to the opposite effect failed to get the required support.
It is becoming increasingly certain that Novosibirsk will follow the lead of Tomsk, which recently scrapped its direct mayoral elections. The Novosibirsk Public Chamber introduced a proposal to this effect in the regional legislature. The local “systemic” opposition is split over the issue: the Communist Party, to which mayor Anatoly Lokot belongs, opposes the initiative, and so does the left-nationalist Fair Russia (along with the liberal Yabloko), while the Liberal Democratic Party supports it. Up until last year, Novosibirsk was one of the cities with the most dynamic and complex politics in Russia. It has widely been understood that Lokot and Andrei Travnikov, the local United Russia governor, had a deal that they would not challenge each other. This now seems to be coming undone months before the region is expected to hold a gubernatorial vote. A sign, perhaps, that the ruling party is taking firmer control over the city using the circumstances created by the war.
The federal government adopted a new strategy
Siberia. This is the first—and so far only—updated development strategy for
federal districts since 2020 when the scope of the previous documents ended.
The document supposedly describes plans to develop the region between now
and 2035. However, it contains barely any tangible ideas beyond a stronger
focus on resource extraction. Critics have
also highlighted
that the document
does not contain any references to the ongoing war, even though the forced
restructuring of the Russian economy and the loss of export markets severely
affected Siberia’s development prospects. According to the document, the
development of the macroregion will be organized around eight industrial
clusters—a concept
also mentioned
in the grandiose city-building plans of
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. Some have even speculated that Shoigu may
retire from the Ministry to oversee the development of Siberia. The governor of
Shoigu’s native Tuva region, Vladislav Khovalyg, was predictably enthusiastic
about the plans. It is notable, however, that Novosibirsk governor Andrei
Travnikov, who recently met with Putin,
was not impressed.
for the development of
7.0 FX RUSSIA -FX
Currency (units per EUR) (eop)
Currency (units per USD) (eop)
Currency (units per EUR)
72.1 71.5 64.3 64.7 72.6 72.0
69.8 76.3 78.9 88.7 91.3 63.0 69.3 71.7 75.4 76.5 69.7 73.3 79.5 85.9 90.8
90.6 88.8 87.5 87.4 75.5 73.8 73.1 74.3 89.6 89.4 86.7 86.7
2Q19
3Q19
4Q19
1Q20
2Q20
3Q20
4Q20
1Q21
2Q22
Jul21
Aug21
111 RUSSIA Country Report March 2023
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