Five Regional Governors Announce Departures As Kremlin Prepares For Regional Elections

The governors of the Tomsk, Saratov, Kirov and Mari El regions announced their immediate resignations on Tuesday, while the governor of the Ryazan region said he would not run for another term, as the Kremlin prepares for September regional elections.

• The list of ousted governors was earlier leaked by Moscow-based daily Vedomosti. Sources close to the Presidential Administration told the newspaper the resignations of governors of the Karelia, Orenburg and Sverdlovsk regions were also discussed, but various reasons did not come to fruition.
• The resignations were likely related to the regional elections scheduled for September, with campaigning activity expected to start in early June. Political analysts noted that the ousted governors held low personal approval ratings and/or ruled regions where Putin's United Russia party took unsatisfactory vote shares in last year's parliamentary elections.
• Last month Russian media reported that the Kremlin was considering a plan to suspend the September regional elections amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, but it appears that the sentiment has moved towards holding the polls after all. One source told Vedomosti that "everything is going according to plan, and direct gubernatorial elections are preserved."
• Clustered resignations of unpopular governors are a familiar technique from the Kremlin's toolbox and are colloquially referred to as "gubernatoropad" (fall of governors), allowing Putin to demostrate his hands-on leadership style and shift the blame for policy missteps onto lower-rank officials.
• The president has already appointed interim governors to fill the vacant posts. In the Tomsk and Kirov regions, regional heads were replaced by Presidential Administration officers. Chairman of Kalmykia regional government will take power in Mari El, while deputy governor of the Saratov Region will be promoted to acting governor. Finally, Rosstat head will become the acting governor of the Ryazan region.