Posts
No. 12a
U.S.
Consulate General, Vladivostok
May 4, 2001
Primorye Election Update: May 4, 2001
Tolstoshein Reinstated as Primorye’s First Vice Governor
·
¯¯Back
in the Saddle Again ¯¯
On
the afternoon of Friday, May 4, the Frunzenskiy District Court restored
Konstantin Tolstoshein to the
position of First Deputy Governor of Primorye, instructing the Regional
Administration to turn over to him 39,900 rubles in back pay. The Primorye Administration has 10 days in
which to appeal the decision to a higher court.
In the meantime, Tolstoshein is already trying to move back into his
office in order to “begin work.” However, there is a problem because Deputy
PolPred and current gubernatorial candidate Gennadiy Apanasenko currently occupies Tolstoshein’s old office. I am not
making this up. It is unclear who now has the best claim to the title “Acting
Governor” of Primorye. Valentin Dubinin, the former Acting Governor, is
on leave for the gubernatorial campaign.
The current Acting Governor, Igor’ Bel'chuk,
would normally be outranked by Tolstoshein. Bel’chuk’s staffers tell us that
they consider their boss to be the Acting Governor at least until the appeal
process has been exhausted. Quite
sensibly, the Press Spokesman for the Primorye Administration has refrained
from comment.
It is anticipated that other Vice Governors who resigned in the wake of ex-Governor Nazdratenko’s resignation will now also bring suit to restore them to their former positions. One former Vice Governor, Nikolay Kretso, has already filed suit. Local analysts continue to believe that Nazdratenko is behind Tolstoshein’s recent legal moves and that Tolstoshein’s effort is part of an overall strategy by Nazdratenko to restore himself to power in Primorye. Meanwhile, Tolstoshein has declared his intention to participate in the Pulikovskiy-hosted Round Table on Saturday.
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