No. 054 Primorye Update: Friday June 29, 2001 // Trouble at the City Duma: Kopylov Moves Unsuccessfully Against New Foes

No. 053 Primorye Update: Thursday June 28, 2001 // Darkin Appoints More Deputies; Ussuriysk-Roliz Axis Begins to Form

No. 052 Primorye Update: Wednesday June 27, 2001 // Freedom of the Press: "Konkurent" Publishes Allegations against Arbitration Court Judge Kuznetsova; Kuznetsova Sics Prosecutor on "Konkurent"

No. 051 Primorye Update: Tuesday June 26, 2001 // Kasyanov Energy Meeting Turns into Major Buck-Passing Exercise //

No. 050 Primorye Inauguration Special: Monday June 25, 2001 // Darkin Takes the Oath, Names Deputies

No. 049 Primorye Update: Monday June 25, 2001 // Meet Sergey Darkin // Vladivostok City Duma Elects Speaker; Kopylov Reportedly in Trouble // Kamchatka TV Goes Dark; Primorye Energy Situation Remains Poor

No. 048 Primorye Update: Friday June 22, 2001 // Darkin Officially Declared the Winner; Gilgenberg, Cherepkov Suits Fail // Admiral Blair Visits Khabarovsk and Vladivostok

No. 047 Primorye Election Update: Tuesday June 19, 2001 // Cherepkov Says Darkin Supporters Plan to Kill Him; Court Cases Aplenty // Putin orders Kasyanov to Oversee Primorye’s Preparations for Winter

No. 046 Primorye Election Update: Monday June 18, 2001 // Darkin Wins the Governorship…..// …..But More Court Cases Await

Darkin Wins, June 2001

When I was first assigned to Vladivostok as Acting Consul General in 2001, I followed the gubernatorial elections closely and made the acquaintance of many of the candidates, including the eventual winner, Sergey Darkin.  I liked Sergey Mikhailovich, and his second wife, the actress Larisa Bogoraz, and was pleased when Darkin won the gubernatorial election, despite the rather crude efforts of Putin supporters to put in their own man, Gennadiy Apanasenko.  Although a political neophyte who was subsequently burdened by accusations of corruption and organized crime connections, Darkin made his peace with Moscow and remained Governor for the next 11 years.  He "resigned" on February 28, 2012, presumably when he lost Putin's favor.  

What follows is one of the many E-Grams I wrote in Vladivostok tracking the Primorye gubernatorial election and Darkin's rising political fortunes.  I am told that Colin Powell read the report and liked it, as it was representative of one of the Department's earlier attempts to move beyond the cable format and put a little more modernity into political reporting.  The E-Gram depicts Darkin in his heyday when hopes were high and his image was relatively untarnished.  How times change.


                                                

                                    U.S. Consulate General, Vladivostok

                                                                                   

                                     Primorye Election Update: Monday June 18, 2001

     

1.  Darkin Wins the Governorship…..



Darkin's Signature Campaign Poster



With Primorye’s skies appropriately overcast and gloomy, and Vladivostok encased in fog, voters went to the polls in record-low numbers on Sunday to elect the next Governor of Primorye.  By midnight, it was clear that “Roliz” Chairman Sergey Darkin had emerged victorious over his main opponent “Kandidat Protiv Vsekh” (Candidate “Against All”).  With 95% of the vote in, Darkin had approximately 40% of the vote, “Against All” had 33.5%, and the unfortunate Deputy PolPred Gennadiy Apanasenko trailed the field with 24%.  Turnout was significantly lower than in the first round, but at 31% was sufficient to pass the 25% barrier.  Therefore, the elections can be said to “have taken place,” as local officials here are wont to say.  Turnout was lighter in Vladivostok and Nakhodka and heavier in Nazdratenko strongholds in the northern part of Primorye.  In Vladivostok, 56% voted “Against All”, while in Nazdratenko’s hometown of Dalnegorsk over 60% voted for Darkin.  Close to that number also voted for Darkin in his own hometown of Bolshoy Kamen.  The official results will likely not be known until Thursday.  The inauguration ceremony will be set for sometime within the next two weeks, once the final results are certified.  In a post-mortem on Apanasenko’s benighted campaign on TV6’s “Itogi,” Merkator analyst Anatoliy Oreshkin judged Apanasenko’s efforts doomed from the start by PolPred Pulikovskiy’s “primitive methods.”  No one understood, he said, that the support of the Center would be a liability in Primorye, not an asset.  We would note that in the end, all that was left to Apanasenko and his supporters was a last-minute attempt to invalidate the elections by illegally striking Cherepkov from the ballot, in the hope that Primoryans would react strongly and “Against All” would beat Darkin. Primoryans did indeed react strongly, but the slick Darkin campaign, and Nazdratenko’s firm support, were enough to get Sergey Darkin safely past the post.

2.      …..But More Court Cases Await

According to Regional Election Commission Head Sergey Knyazev, there were no significant violations of the election law on election day (although a bomb did go off next to a Tax Inspectorate Office, which happened to be near one of Primorye’s 1600 voting points).  However, several court cases are being prepared.  Primorye Duma Deputy Vladimir Gilgenberg’s complaint (E-Gram 45) will be heard by the Primorye Regional Court on June 19.  Central Election Commission Chief Veshnyakov has told reporters that even if Cherepkov wins his case, the result of the election will not change.  In view of Primorye’s turbulent electoral history, however, we will wait and see on that one.  Deputy PolPred Apanasenko expressed his disgust with Primorye’s “dirty election” in an interview with the press on Sunday but said he would not contest the results (however, his staff indicates differently).  In a classic case of projection, Apanasenko also expressed doubt that Sergey Darkin was up to the job of Governor of Primorye.  Darkin commented that the voters seemed to think otherwise, and left it at that.  Candidate “Against All” has given no interviews as of yet.  Finally, the latest hot rumor is that ex-Candidate Valentin Dubinin will be returning from vacation today, and will be taking over as acting Governor from Konstantin Tolstoshein.  If that indeed does happen, it would be a fitting tribute to this, the most unusual election campaign in the history of the Russian Far East. 



The Primorye Electoral Map



No. 045 Primorye Election Update: Saturday June 16, 2001 // Last-Minute Efforts to Remove Darkin and Apanasenko from the Ballot Fail; Sunday's Election to Go Ahead with Apanasenko, Darkin and "Against All" // Regional Election Commission Asks Prosecutor to Investigate Remarks by Primorye Duma Speaker Zhekov

No. 044 Primorye Election Update: June 15, 2001 // Cherepkov Tells Followers to “Vote Against All,” Supreme Court Appeal Likely // “Against All” the New Leader – But Elections May Be Invalid in Any Case // The Latest Rumor: Nazdratenko for PolPred!

No. 043 Primorye Election Update: June 14, 2001 // Cherepkov Removed from Ballot – Now It’s Apanasenko versus Darkin, But the Real Leader May Be “Against All” //

No. 042 Duma Deputy Vladimir Gilgenberg Passes “Contingency” Asylum Appeal to A/CG

No. 041 Primorye Election Update: June 13, 2001 // Beltyukov Out of OTV Prim after One Day – Tolstoshein Maneuvers // Darkin Files Suit against Gilgenberg and “Dalekaya Okraina” // Police Scuffle with Cherepkov Supporters and Newsmen on Vladivostok’s Central Square – Cherepkov Alleges Police Harassment

No. 040 U.S. Military Medical Mission Getting Good Reviews in Primorye

No. 039 Primorye Election Update: June 8, 2001 // Strange Goings-On at OTV Prim – Tolstoshein Turns on a Kopeck // Nazdratenko Flies into Town With Cherepkov -- Who Said Kremlinology Is Dead? // Darkin Unveils New Ad Campaign

No. 038 Primorye Election Update: June 7, 2001 // 1. Energy Crisis: Primorye’s Leaders Take Matters Into Their Own Hands // 2. Dubinin Bemoans His Fate; Grishukov Tells Followers to “Vote Against All”

No. 037 First Far East Corner Opens in Khabarovsk: May 31, 2001

No. 036 Primorye Election Update: June 6, 2001 // Darkin Meets with Dalenergo; Gnezdilov Posts Guards // Where’s Everyone Else? // Cherepkov Facing Media Shutout // Don’t Go in the Water – Oh, and Don’t Breathe the Air, Either

No. 035 Primorye Election Update: June 5, 2001 // Darkin Looking for a Few “Honest and Unprincipled” Men // Power Outages Begin in Primorye

No. 034 Pasko Trial Delayed – Defense Lawyers Decry FSB Tactics June 4, 2001

No. 033 Primorye Election Update: June 4, 2001 // Apanasenko Bids a Not-So-Fond Farewell to Primorye // Did Cherepkov Actually Win the First Round? And Can He Win the Second? // More Darkin-Nazdratenko Connections Found

No. 032 Sakha Representative Requests U.S. Assistance to Deal with Flood Damage

No. 031 Primorye Election Update: June 1, 2001 // Court Rules Against Apanasenko; Darkin in the Second Round….For Now // Darkin Meets with Presidential Administration; Nazdratenko Coming to Primorye // Murder for Hire: City Transport Official Tatyana Safronova Victim of Contract Hit