He stated that he considered the decision to resign to be correct, conscious and the only correct one. He said this during a video message published on the regional administration’s YouTube channel. “I consider it the right, conscious, and only correct decision for myself, because with such a heavy load (after the fire in the Winter Cherry shopping center in Kemerovo) as governor, well, it’s impossible, morally impossible,” Tuleyev noted.
The request for early resignation has already been signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the website reports.
Tuleyev has governed the Kemerovo region since 1997, and in 2015 he was re-elected to a fourth term. Now the ex-governor has been sharply criticized by the public on social networks for his behavior after the tragedy in the Winter Cherry shopping center. The fire killed 64 people, many of whom were children. It is worth noting that Tuleyev’s own niece also died during the fire. However, this fact did not soften the public's anger.
What added fuel to the fire was that the governor asked forgiveness for what happened in the region not from the citizens, but from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had flown to Kemerovo. He also called the citizens gathered in the city square, who demanded an answer from the authorities for what happened, “troublemakers” who are trying to make political capital from the tragedy.
It is known that the governor had health problems. In June last year, he underwent heart surgery, after which he underwent a long rehabilitation and was absent from work for a long time.
Tuleyev ran for the presidency of Russia three times - in 1991, 1996 and 2000, and previously held various government posts. After his departure, the only governor of the Yeltsin era will remain the head of the Belgorod region.
At the beginning of his career, Tuleyev declared leftist views and relied on support. In 1991, he supported the leadership of the State Emergency Committee, which was trying to remove the union president.
In 1999, he publicly refused to accept the Order of Honor from the president, saying that this government had “plunged the country into poverty.” Subsequently, however, Tuleyev accepted the award from the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Having started his career in the Kemerovo region as a “people’s” governor, over the years in power Tuleyev turned into an authoritarian leader even by Russian standards, ensuring loyalty to the authorities with large percentages paid for. At the same time, Tuleyev was also supported by local “coal kings” who were interested in stability in the region.
“Tuleev was needed to ensure the result of the presidential elections. Everything, or almost everything, rested on his authority in the Kemerovo region. Tuleyev was a talented populist, but no one denies that he had principles. You need to leave on time, while you are remembered as a good and honest man. The deformation from being in power for a long time also affected him,” Konstantin, a political scientist and head of the “Political Expert Group,” tells Gazeta.Ru.
The clouds were indeed gathering for Tuleyev - according to the 2017 “Political Survival of Governors” rating compiled by the St. Petersburg Politics agency, the governor became the target of attacks, and attempts were made to design a “post-Tuleev” configuration of forces.
Back in 2016, two of Tuleyev’s deputies, as well as the head of the regional one, became defendants in a criminal case of extortion. It was a question, as law enforcement officers claimed, of an attempted raider seizure of the Inskoy open-pit mine.
It is worth noting that when the townspeople asked Putin, who arrived in Kemerovo, about Tuleyev’s resignation, he said that he would not fire him “in front of the cameras.” At the same time, political scientist Kalachev notes that Tuleyev’s departure is “a completely expected resignation, rumors about which have been circulating since September last year.”
However, the fact that the resignation took place on Sunday suggests that “the move was forced.” Tuleyev’s decision to leave his post could have been accelerated by the arrival of the head of the Investigative Committee to the region, the expert argues.
Bastrykin himself, in the open part of the meeting, without mentioning Tuleyev’s name, rather sharply criticized both local and regional authorities for the fire in Kemerovo.
“An entire era has ended. Soon Tuleyev will be of interest only to historians. And if he had left a little earlier, or at least made a statement that after the presidential elections he was ready to leave his seat, now everything would look completely different,” says Kalachev.
Instead of Aman Tuleyev, his deputy Sergei was appointed acting head of the Kemerovo region. As stated in, elections for a new head will be held on September 9 on a single voting day, and the decision on their appointment must be made before July 10.
Tsivilev, who worked in the coal business in Yakutia, is called the person who will most likely lead the region following the election results. He became deputy governor in March of this year. During a spontaneous public meeting, he went out to the crowd and, after an argument with those gathered, asked for their forgiveness. Succumbing to emotions, Tsivilev even went down on one knee in front of people, explaining this as a Russian custom.
Kalachev calls Tsivilev an “effective manager.” And he says that, having visited the enterprise in Yakutia, the head of which is Tsivilev, he saw in front of him a “modern enterprise” where the workers actively supported Putin.
The possible resignation of the head of the Kemerovo region has been discussed for a long time, and it followed the tragedy in “Winter Cherry”
Ex-governor of the Kemerovo region Aman Tuleyev
Moscow. April 2. website - The resignation of 73-year-old Aman Tuleyev from the post of governor of the Kemerovo region, which evil tongues had unsuccessfully prophesied over the past years, nevertheless took place last Sunday and turned out to be not an April Fool's joke.
The announcement of his early resignation was Tuleyev’s reaction to the Winter Cherry shopping and entertainment center in Kemerovo, which claimed the lives of 64 people, most of them children.
“I consider (resignation) for myself the right, conscious, only right decision, because with such a heavy burden as governor, well, it’s impossible, morally impossible,” Tuleyev said in a video message.
Resignation in Telegram channel
The message that the governor submitted his resignation to Russian President Vladimir Putin first appeared on the Telegram channel of the Kemerovo regional administration. A video message from Tuleyev was also published there.
Confirmation that this time everything is for real came from the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Siberian Federal District, Sergei Menyailo.
“Aman Gumirovich (Tuleev - IF) made a resignation letter; this is not an April Fool’s joke. The decision was made by the governor - it is his right,” the plenipotentiary told Interfax on Sunday afternoon.
Vive le Roi
Later it became known that Putin announced the resignation of Tuleyev, and the deputy head of the region, Sergei Tsivilev, was appointed acting governor.
Tsivilev came to the post of vice-governor in early March; before that he headed the Kolmar company, which mines coal in the south of Yakutia. At the same time, he explained to reporters that in recent years he had increasingly received offers to change jobs, but he asked everyone to wait until the moment when his enterprise began to develop independently.
“At that time, Tuleyev called me and invited me to his place. I arrived, and he told me: “Sooner or later you will go to the civil service, you have no other option, and since this is how the situation is unfolding, come to me.” I’m glad that I work in his team,” Tsivilev said.
According to him, Tuleyev’s proposal “was the last straw,” after which he decided to leave business and become an official.
At the same time, in early March, informed sources assumed that soon after the presidential elections Tsivilev “would be appointed acting governor.”
In the end, this happened, although in completely different circumstances connected with the tragedy in “Winter Cherry”.
“I am taking over the region at a very difficult moment, when dozens of people and, above all, our children died in a terrible fire. I want to tell you, the residents of Kemerovo and the entire region, that I will do everything to ensure that those responsible for this terrible tragedy suffer the strictest punishment. All information will be provided to punish the perpetrators,” Tsivilev said in a video message.
“No one will be fenced off or hidden. This terrible tragedy has united not only Kemerovo, but the entire country in grief and compassion. We will not leave the victims and relatives of the victims alone with the misfortune. We will and will do everything to support them in these difficult days, provide them with all possible help and support,” he stressed.
Continuity
In the same video message, Tsivilev promised to preserve all initiatives for the development of the Kemerovo region adopted by the previous administration.
“I want to assure all of you, every resident of the region, that I am implementing all initiatives and decisions for the development of the region... I am convinced that only through dialogue with people will we be able to strengthen the well-being of the region’s residents, ensure their safety, and lay the foundation for the development of new generations of Kemerovo residents.” , - said the acting governor.
What is Tuleyev remembered for?
Ethnic Kazakh Tuleyev was born in 1944 in the city of Krasnovodsk, Turkmen SSR. Graduated from the Novosibirsk Institute of Railway Transport Engineers (1973) and the Academy of Social Sciences under the CPSU Central Committee (1989). Ph.D. In 1990, he was elected as a deputy of the Kemerovo Regional Council of People's Deputies and served as its chairman. In 1993-1996 - Deputy of the Federation Council from Kuzbass, head of the Legislative Assembly of the Kemerovo Region.
Three times Tuleyev applied for the post of president of the RSFSR and the Russian Federation: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. In 1996-1997 he was a member of the Russian government, the Russian Minister for Cooperation with the CIS countries. In July 1997, he was appointed head of the administration of the Kemerovo region, and in October of the same year he won the election as head of the region.
Tuleyev’s “baptism of fire” was the 1998 miners’ strike, when workers blocked traffic along the Trans-Siberian Railway, seeking payment of wage arrears.
Tuleyev also won gubernatorial elections in 2001 and 2015; in 2005, President Putin extended his powers, and in 2010, the decision to approve him as governor was made by the Council of People's Deputies of the Kemerovo Region on the proposal of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
In public politics, Tuleyev spoke out against the radical economic reforms carried out by Boris Yeltsin, Yegor Gaidar and their supporters. In the 2016 film, which tells the biography of Tuleyev in the context of world history, special attention was paid to the confrontation between the Tuleyev family and the Gaidar family. As it turned out, the roots of their conflict go back to the Civil War. The film claimed that Gaidar's grandfather, children's writer Arkady Gaidar, participated in the execution of the grandfather of the Kemerovo governor, the White Guard Kaldybai Tuleyev.
In 2016, Tuleyev’s health condition deteriorated - it was increasingly difficult for him to move without help, and after surgery in 2017, the governor was rarely seen on video cameras.
“Together you and I have come a long, very long journey in life - from Kuzbass on strike, sitting on the rails, banging helmets, to Kuzbass, creating and supporting our state. And all this was done by you, you. And I am immensely grateful. Quite honestly, how in front of the icon, I can tell you that in my work I have always been guided by the interests of our country, Russia and our region,” Tuleyev said in a video message to residents of the region on Sunday.
The governor of the Kemerovo region, Aman Tuleyev, who has headed the region since 1997, resigned. He recorded a video message in which he linked his decision to the fire in the Winter Cherry shopping center, which killed 64 people.
“Dear Kuzbass residents, I did everything I could. I met with the families of the victims, tried to resolve issues of providing assistance. Once again, I offer my deepest condolences,” Tuleyev said.
"I submitted my resignation to the President of the Russian Federation. I consider it a correct, conscious and only correct decision for myself. Because it is impossible to work as a governor with such a heavy burden. Morally it is impossible. Peace and goodness to you. And to your families. May the Lord protect everyone from you and our native Kuznetsk land,” added Tuleyev.
The day before, Znak.com reported about Tuleyev’s possible resignation on April 1. According to a source of an online publication close to the administration of the Kemerovo region, Tuleyev’s resignation will be of a “mild nature” (the governor himself will address residents of the region). RBC previously reported that there are no plans for a “demonstrative resignation” of Tuleyev. The regional administration's website says that the governor resigned "of his own free will."
Among the victims of the fire in Winter Cherry are about 40 children, including an 11-year-old relative of Tuleyev. The 73-year-old governor never appeared at the scene of the fire, and he also ignored the local residents who came out to a rally on March 27, at a meeting with President Tuleyev, their “troublemakers.” This meeting lasted more than 11 hours; in particular, the vice-governor of the region Sergei Tsivilev, who is called a possible successor to Tuleyev, spoke with its participants.
At a meeting with Putin on March 27, Tuleyev apologized for the tragedy to him, but not to the residents of the region: “Vladimir Vladimirovich, you personally called me. Once again, thank you very much. I apologize to you personally for what happened on our territory.” An apology to the Kuzbass residents appeared later.
Aman Tuleyev is 73 years old and entered politics in the late 1980s. He headed the Kemerovo region in 1997 and was re-elected head of the region four times with a result of 93.5-96.69% of the votes. His powers for the next gubernatorial term expired in 2020.During Aman Tuleyev’s work as governor of Kuzbass, rumors repeatedly appeared about his health problems and his upcoming resignation. In particular, on May 22, 2017, he went on official leave, which was later extended due to an operation prescribed to him due to a problem with intervertebral discs back in the fall of 2016. Against this background, reports appeared in the media that Tuleyev would leave his post, but the information was not confirmed, and on August 12 he returned to work.
According to the Charter of the Kemerovo Region, the first deputy governor will act as head of the region.
On Sunday, Vladimir Putin accepted the resignation of the head of the Kemerovo region, Aman Tuleyev, and appointed his deputy Sergei Tsivilev as acting governor. One of the last heavyweight governors resigned after the fire at the Winter Cherry shopping center, which killed 64 people. Experts believe that the acting head of Kuzbass, Sergei Tsivilev, will be able to maintain the situation in the region until the gubernatorial elections; he needs to “imitate the new Tuleyev” and not concentrate only on the fire in the Winter Cherry shopping center, since there are other problems in the region.
From “People's Power” to resignation
He announced that the governor of the Kemerovo region, Aman Tuleyev, had resigned in a video message that was posted on the regional administration’s website. Mr. Tuleyev called his decision “correct, conscious, the only correct one.” “Because it is impossible to work as a governor with such a heavy load. It’s morally impossible,” the governor said, referring to the fire in the Winter Cherry shopping center, which killed 64 people. Aman Tuleyev did not come to the scene of the tragedy, and called those gathered for the rally in Kemerovo “troublers.”
In his address, he says that together with the residents of the region, “he has come a long, very long way in life. From Kuzbass striking, sitting on the rails, banging helmets, hunger strike, strike... to Kuzbass creating and supporting our state.” The leader of the United Russia faction in the State Duma, Sergei Neverov, who was repeatedly elected from the Kemerovo region, said on Sunday that the name of Aman Tuleyev “is associated with an entire era in the life of the region and his contribution is enormous.”
Aman Tuleyev is one of the last heavyweight governors. His political career has always been connected with the Kemerovo region and began in 1990, when he was elected to the Supreme Council of the RSFSR and to the regional Council of Deputies. For the first ten years of this career, he was considered one of the most prominent figures on the left. For example, in October 1993, he sided with the rebellious Supreme Council and created the regional opposition movement “People's Power. Tuleyev block." Mr. Tuleyev ran for president of the Russian Federation three times, once withdrawing his candidacy in favor of the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov.
After the 1996 presidential elections, he was appointed Minister of CIS Affairs, and a year later, by decree of Boris Yeltsin, he was appointed head of the administration of the Kemerovo region. In October 1997, he won the gubernatorial elections (received 95% of the votes). But then Aman Tuleyev’s political beliefs began to gradually change. In the 1999 State Duma elections, Tuleyev was still on the list of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, but in Kuzbass he already supported Unity (the Unity and Fatherland parties founded the United Russia party in 2001). In December 2003, in the State Duma elections, he headed the regional group of United Russia, which thanks to this gained 52% of the votes in the Kemerovo region. All 35 deputies of the Council of People's Deputies of the Kemerovo Region were elected from the “Serving Kuzbass” bloc, formed with the support of Tuleyev.
“Tuleev was for a long time one of the most popular and successful governors,” says political scientist Rostislav Turovsky. According to him, the authority of the head of the region among the population was very high; he really controlled the mood of the electorate. For example, in the 1996 Russian presidential elections in the Kemerovo region, Gennady Zyuganov received the support of 561 thousand voters in the first round (Boris Yeltsin received half as much - 363 thousand). And in the second round, this figure even increased: 704 thousand supported Mr. Zyuganov (567 thousand voted for President Yeltsin). For comparison: in 2004, when the governor associated himself with the party in power, Nikolai Kharitonov, nominated by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, received only 11% in the region, and candidate Putin - 71.1%.
“However, in recent years, Aman Tuleyev began to give up, and his entourage sought to seize power. His real authority was replaced by administrative resources in the elections, although outwardly everything looked the same,” notes Rostislav Turovsky. According to him, the main thing that Aman Tuleyev managed to do as governor was to direct the income from coal and metallurgical enterprises coming to the regional budget to social needs: “This is what made it possible to make the protest Kuzbass an island of stability.”
However, the head of the apparatus of the Duma faction of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Nina Ostanina calls the transformation of Kuzbass from a striking region into a creative one a “myth”. In 1993, Mrs. Ostanina was one of the organizers of the regional bloc of supporters of Aman Tuleyev “People's Power”, but in 2010, after the accident at the Raspadskaya mine, which killed 91 people, they separated. “Even then, in 2010, everyone realized that he could not govern the region. He cleared the political field and controlled everything alone: the economy, politics, the media. In this regard, the region can be compared with the Caucasian republics,” Ms. Ostanina told Kommersant.
During his leadership of the region, rumors repeatedly appeared about the possible resignation of Mr. Tuleyev (the last wave was in the summer of 2017). However, the Kremlin gave the governor the opportunity to serve him for twenty years, as well as to select a successor. However, the scenario with Tuleyev's successor did not work out. For example, his first deputy Maxim Makin left his post in 2016 after law enforcement authorities began inspections of the Teploenergo company, where he worked for 15 years. Therefore, the center began to lean towards a candidate who is not connected with the region, notes Rostislav Turovsky.
Five months for promotion
On Sunday, Vladimir Putin appointed Vice-Governor Sergei Tsivilev as acting governor of the Kemerovo region. The general director and main owner of the Kolmar coal company (mining coal in the south of Yakutia) Sergei Tsivilev became vice-governor for industry, transport and entrepreneurship in early February. Even then, his appointment to a post that had been vacant for almost a year was perceived as preparation for a replacement for Aman Tuleyev. Kommersant’s sources said that Mr. Tsivilev’s new position “is highly likely to be temporary before the governor’s.”
An Interfax source in government agencies said on March 28 that decisions on personnel changes in the leadership of the Kemerovo region will be made in May-June of this year after all the circumstances and causes of the fire have been clarified. As Kommersant wrote on March 29, during this time the Kremlin was going to evaluate how Mr. Tsivilev was able to work in the region and find a common language with various socio-political forces in the region. In fact, Mr. Tsivilev's Sunday appointment gave him additional time to prepare for the elections: the election campaign will be announced in early June. “Unlike other acting representatives, who are appointed, as a rule, a year before the elections, he has very little time,” Igor Ukraintsev, a member of the Kemerovo regional council from the LDPR, told Kommersant.
“Decisions (about the time of Tuleyev’s resignation.- “Kommersant”) could change several times - the dynamics were too high,” says political scientist Mikhail Vinogradov. “It was created by Tuleyev with his unsuccessful reaction, and by Tsivilev with his ambivalent behavior, and by the federal center - having already been late in reacting to mourning and not wanting to be late again.” Let us remind you that Sergei Tsivilev’s first meeting with the people turned out to be controversial. “Do you want to promote yourself on the mountain?” - he said at a rally on March 27 to Igor Vostrikov, who lost his wife, three children and sister in a fire. And at the end of the rally, he knelt down, asking for forgiveness from the victims.
The fact that Sergei Tsivilev has been appointed acting “will hardly help him maintain the situation in the region,” Nina Ostanina believes. “He shouldn’t have knelt down. There are strong people there who have never been on their knees,” she told Kommersant. The head of the government of Yakutia, Evgeny Chekin, told TASS on Sunday that Sergei Tsivilev, during his time at the head of the Kolmar company, achieved “serious results - both in business and in the implementation of social programs.” Igor Ukraintsev says that “during the time that Sergei Tsivilev was deputy, they practically did not see him in Kuzbass and did not know what he was doing”: “In five months we will see what he is really capable of and how much Moscow guessed or didn’t guess with this appointment because Kuzbass has not ceased to be a complex region.” He added that the new leader must be a very powerful communicator and that the ability to communicate with people is a very important component for the first person in the region. “If in other regions you can maintain your authority in other ways, then in Kuzbass you cannot cope without the ability to communicate directly with people,” Mr. Ukraintsev emphasized. On Sunday, in a video message, the acting governor, in addition to promising “the strictest punishment” for all those responsible for the tragedy, said that “direct communication with people” is “the most important thing” for him.
Rostislav Turovsky has no doubt that Mr. Tsivilev will be able to maintain the situation in the region until the gubernatorial elections - he just needs to “imitate the new Tuleyev.” The absence of alternative candidates in the region due to the cleared political field should also play into the hands of the interim, the expert says. Nina Ostanina found it difficult to tell Kommersant whether the Communist Party of the Russian Federation will nominate its candidate in the elections. Rostislav Turovsky believes that Mr. Tsivilev should not concentrate only on the situation around the fire in the shopping center - there are other problems in the region, for example environmental ones. In addition, the search for those responsible for the fire could drag the acting governor into a conflict situation around law enforcement and supervisory authorities.
Sofia Samokhina, Ekaterina Grobman, Maxim Ivanov; Yulia Matyushchenko, Kemerovo
He asked the president to accept his early resignation after the fire in the Winter Cherry shopping center, in which, according to official data, 64 people died. The “People's Governor of Kuzbass,” who led the region for 21 years, did not intend to leave his post before the end of his term in 2020. He did not want to let go of power even when he was no longer able to stand up on his own. But the reason for leaving was not the physical illness of the elderly person. After the terrible tragedy, Tuleyev spoke in such a way that it would have been better to remain mournfully silent. tells how the head of Kuzbass has come a long way in power and why he himself is the real troublemaker.
Bowed and left
Aman Tuleyev spoke about the reasons for his resignation in a video message and called his decision “correct, conscious, the only correct one”: “Because with such a heavy burden as governor - well, it’s impossible, morally impossible.” And he wanted to join all the residents of Kuzbass: “Each of us has already passed through all this through our hearts, all this horror, the pain of this catastrophe... The whole of Russia, the whole world, mourns with us.” According to the outgoing governor, he did everything he could: “I met with the families of the victims, tried to resolve issues with the provision of assistance. Once again I offer my deepest condolences. But we have to live, continue to live,” Tuleyev added for some reason.
The permanent head of Kuzbass seems to have only now found something to say. Last week he spoke in such a way that it would be better to remain silent. He did not come to the scene of the fire - apparently, he simply physically could not walk even a few meters. In his administration, everything was attributed to safety: they say that the motorcade will not be able to travel to the scene of the emergency and will interfere with fire brigades. “Yes, he should be crawling, not driving up in a motorcade!” - people were indignant. On Tuesday, March 27, when the president appeared in Kemerovo and began a meeting on liquidation of the consequences, Tuleyev could neither get up nor sit down without outside help - he was held by the hand by the presidential envoy to the Siberian Federal District.
But Tuleyev could speak... and he began to apologize to the president. At these moments, residents of Kuzbass at a spontaneous rally demanded the resignation of the governor and refused to believe the official data on the number of deaths. Shouts of “Murderers!” were heard in the square, and Tuleyev continued to say strange things: about the opposition, which profits “from human grief,” about the fact that it was not the relatives of the victims who took to the streets, and he chose the word for them - troublemakers. The broad gesture also looked completely ridiculous: the head of the Kemerovo region and his deputies transferred one day’s earnings to help the families of those killed in the fire.
Photo: Alexander Kryazhev / RIA Novosti
And finally he found the right words and the right gestures - he left his post and bowed. In parting, Tuleyev recalled: “We have come a long way in life from Kuzbass on strike, sitting on the rails, to Kuzbass creating, the support of our state.” And indeed, during the two decades of his uninterrupted rule in the region, a considerable distance has been covered. 73-year-old Tuleyev still has Soviet hardware experience behind him.
From communists to United Russia
The head of the Kemerovo railway in the late 80s, he was nominated as a candidate in the first presidential elections. He supported the State Emergency Committee, which he did not forgive, and subsequently appointed another person as head of Kuzbass. He received this post only in 1997, amid unrest among miners. And he won an absolute victory - 94.5 percent of the votes. And it is worth noting that 18 years later the situation has not changed: in 2015, he was again elected governor with the support of more than 96 percent of voters.
In general, failures in Tuleyev’s political career were rare. Residents of the Kemerovo region supported him regardless of what post he was aiming for. He ran for president of Russia three times. In the 1996 elections, he withdrew his candidacy on the eve of the first round and called on voters to vote in support. In 1999, he refused to accept the Order of Honor from Yeltsin. He explained his demarche by the general impoverishment of the people: “I simply cannot, on principle, accept rewards from the government, which has plunged the country into poverty.”
Photo: Anatoly Kuzyarin / Dmitry Sokolov / TASS
At that moment, he was already preparing to create his own movement and run his candidates in the parliamentary elections. And the noisy story with the award supported the image of an unbending fighter against the regime, who cannot be bought with handouts. However, in September 2000, Tuleyev accepted this award already from. From the ranks of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation he migrated to the lists of United Russia. Zyuganov was subsequently sued, and he declared: “Tuleev organized a plowing operation in the Kemerovo region!”
Father of Kuzbass
The ability to get along with miners played such a role in the history of the Kemerovo region and Russia as a whole that the federal center was ready to follow Tuleyev’s lead. In the summer of 1998, miners from Kuzbass and Vorkuta, finding themselves in dire straits due to months of delays in wages, blocked the railways for several weeks. Tuleyev introduced an emergency regime, but did not use force against the miners; moreover, he told the Deputy Prime Minister responsible for unblocking the tracks that the strikers’ demands were legal and fair. As a result, part of the debts was repaid, the tracks were cleared, and Tuleyev ended the so-called rail war.
The politician managed to pacify the miners in subsequent years. He dampened worker protests following mining accidents in the late 2000s that killed hundreds. Tuleyev consistently defended the rights of miners and did not hide the fact that he was aware of the danger posed by them, sometimes resorting to unflattering comparisons. In 2015, for example, he banned any work in the Kuzbass mines during the New Year holidays: “A drunk person in a mine, during mining work, is the same as a terrorist.” And in 2016, he defended the interests of workers who were threatened with mass layoffs. “It turns out that they are simply planning to throw workers out onto the street with mortgages, loans, all payments, reporting with the beautiful phrase “optimization of non-core structures,” the head of the Kemerovo region was indignant.
He established himself in the region as a defender of the rights of the dispossessed, of miners, and even as a defender against terrorists. Tuleyev repeatedly took part in negotiations with attackers. In 1991, as a people's deputy of the RSFSR, he helped free Masha Ponomarenko, who was taken hostage near Red Square, from a bus, offering himself in exchange for the girl. Ten years later, he took part in neutralizing a terrorist who had taken a taxi driver hostage at Kemerovo airport. In 2007, after telephone conversations between Tuleyev and police warrant officer Shatalov, who threatened to blow up a residential building and barricaded himself in his apartment, Novokuznetsk security forces managed to neutralize the terrorist and take him alive.
For a long time, Tuleyev was loved, perceived in Kuzbass as a father, grandfather, and did not want to let go. He took advantage of it. However, not everyone in the region was favorable to him: local businesses had many complaints. Large holdings were made clear that they need to share money with the region and allocate it to the social sphere. The authoritarian governor always conducted a tough dialogue with undesirable entrepreneurs. Tuleyev generally openly entered into conflicts, but positioned himself as a guarantor of stability in the region.
You have to leave on time
Forecasts about the resignation of Aman Tuleyev have been made for several years. They started thinking about a possible successor to the oldest Russian governor, partly because of corruption scandals in his administration. At the same time, Tuleyev himself remained inviolable.
Only health could have brought down such a colossus. And it has been bothering me for a long time. Tuleyev underwent his first spinal surgery back in 2011. Six years later, German doctors performed a second operation. Afterwards, a complication appeared - pneumonia. Due to his long absence from public view and prolonged vacation, rumors began to spread about his imminent resignation from his position. But in 2017, Russia’s oldest governor made it clear: he has no intention of leaving his seat, either now or even in the next couple of years. He intended to retain his post until the end of his term, that is, until 2020.
