Kremlin-Appointed Officials Flee Occupied Regions Of Ukraine

When the opportunity arises, they leave for Russia.

Officials who went to work in the occupied regions of Ukraine at the call of the Kremlin are trying to leave their posts to continue their careers in Russia, Meduza writes, citing the Putin administration.

According to one of the publication’s interlocutors, recently those who hold official positions in the administrations of the annexed territories perceive their work there “as a shift.” “At first [in 2022], many still thought that they could stay there: the war would end, money would flow there like a river. Now this is not the case — the war is dragging on, people are stuck in their chairs. Even working in a permanent position is perceived as a shift. When the opportunity arises, they go back,” he noted.

On April 26, it became known about the dismissal of Alexander Kostomarov, the first deputy head of the administration of the “governor” of the self-proclaimed “DPR” Denis Pushilin. Sources in the AP called the official “local Sergei Kiriyenko,” who is the curator of the Kremlin’s internal policy. In the “DPR”, Kostomarov was involved in organizing the “referendum” on joining Russia and the subsequent “elections”, and before that he worked in similar positions in the Ulyanovsk and Lipetsk regions, as well as in the Moscow region.

As an acquaintance of Kostomarov said, he decided to work in the Donbas in order to then receive a gubernatorial post in one of the regions of Russia. According to him, from the very beginning the United Russia member did not intend to remain in the “DPR” and after the presidential elections he was able to agree with the AP to end his stay in the self-proclaimed “republic.”

However, Kostomarov does not yet have to count on a high post in Russia. His acquaintance said that this year the Kremlin does not plan to make serious personnel changes in the governor’s corps, so the career of an official who tried to curry favor by working in the occupied territories has been put on pause.

Following Kostomarov, the “vice-governor” of the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region Sergei Tolmachev will leave his post, two sources in the AP said. Before that, he held a similar position in annexed Sevastopol and led the campaigns of United Russia and its candidates in the regions of the Russian Federation.

According to one of the interlocutors, unlike Kostomarov, Tolmachev was not against eventually becoming the governor of one of the annexed territories, but decided to quit when he realized he would not get the post of head of the Zaporizhzhia region, but could try to get a similar post in Russia. This is confirmed by a source in United Russia. They plan to put the former vice-governor of the Chelyabinsk region and ex-senator Irina Gekht in charge of the occupied region. She headed the local “government” on April 27.

Tolmachev, like Kostomarov, will not receive a high post in Russia. According to the Kremlin’s plan, he will form teams of technologists for the political bloc of the AP, who will work in regional elections. “Tolmachev, according to the authorities, should stand on a par with the so-called IMA and other major market players,” explained a source in the AP.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin continues to offer officials vacancies in the Donbas, trying to convince them that this is a good career opportunity on a par with participation in hostilities. But, as a rule, promotions after working in annexed regions or returning from the front are still given to people who have been in the personnel reserve for a long time or have already registered in the government system, sources state.