Solncev rises above Donetsk. What does the dismissal of the "prime minister of the DNR" mean?
The occupied Donbas is a training ground for future hosts of Russian regions
Occupied Donetsk, whose Gauleiter (a term for regional leaders who answer directly to the top management, in this case Russian President Vladimir Putin) has recently been in constant anticipation of a major counter-offensive by the Armed Forces, has also experienced an unexpected personnel upheaval. Instead of Vitaly Hotsenko, whom Vladimir Putin appointed as the governor of the Russian region of Omsk, the new so-called "prime minister of the DNR" became Hotsenko's until recently deputy during his almost ten-month mission in Donbass, another citizen of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Solntsev. "Glavkom" analyzed the nuances of the biography of the new leader of the Russian occupation administration in the part of the Donetsk region, which was temporarily occupied by Russia, and came to two key conclusions.
First, a native of Voronezh and the RZD system, Solntsev is, in fact, a compromise figure between the two most powerful "towers of the Kremlin" - the FSB and the influential one led by the first deputy head of Putin's administration, mentor of the occupied territories of Ukraine, Sergei Kiriyenko. In addition, the third "tower" remains completely satisfied - the military tower, which Solnvev, in the chair of the "vice prime minister of the DNR", actively helped to earn on the so-called "reconstruction" of Mariupol.
And, secondly, on the example of the former "head of the DNR government" Hocenko, who is a direct creature of Kirijenko, we see how the real "graduation" course of Kirijenko's "school of governors" was arranged. It is in the occupied Donbas that Russian officials are trained. So that in such an extreme practice, they freed themselves from unnecessary complexes in communication both with subordinates and with ordinary people and were fully prepared for a repressive style of management in new governorship positions somewhere in Siberia, the Urals or some other country.
Who is who's puppet?
In purely formal terms, the Russian occupation administration in the regions of Ukraine's east and south currently occupied by the Russian army is run by local collaborators. That is, citizens of Ukraine who betrayed the state and serve the occupiers, etc. In the case of the Donetsk region, such a role is played by the "head of the DNR" Denis Pushilin, whom even Putin himself accepts in his cabinet.
But the master of the Kremlin does this mainly for the sake of the television image. As, for example, happened the last time on April 6, when Pushilin's arrival to bow in Putin's bunker was used to once again announce a series of propagandistic threats, sincere misconceptions and plain nonsense. And the "head of the DNR" was, as they say, up for a decoration.
In reality, everything in the occupation is managed by a specially sent personnel contingent of various Russian officials from Russia, many of whom see their "war mission" as a kind of quick career elevator. Practically everywhere, these Varangians from the Russian Federation settled in the so-called "governments" of the conquered territories, and the chair of "Prime Minister of the DNR" is not an exception at all, but the biggest prize in this "nomination". What's more, the struggle of the "Kremlin tower" for Donbas, its real leaders and the corresponding financial flows continues permanently, started nine years ago, and since last spring - with new strength.
Kremlin towers. Competition in Donbass
Before the Russian aggression, the "Government of the DNR" and all significant industrial assets in ORDLO were managed by direct wards of the FSB through the formally South Ossetian company "Vneštorgservis". All topics converged on the then curator from Lubyanka of the entire occupied Donbass, the head of the 5th service (service for operational information and international relations) of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Sergey Beseda.
A conversation with his neighbor in the closed suburban village of Akulinino (their estates are separated by a local river with the characteristic name Zlodeyka), FSB Second Lieutenant General Sergei Chemezov was a real user of Vneshtorgservis. With the same Chemezov, who for many years was the head of the state arms corporation Rostec, and in the 1980s, during joint work in the GDR in the Dresden residence of the KGB of the USSR, he lived with Putin in the same corridor and was not only on good terms with him. However, last year's failure of the Russian blitzkrieg "Kiev in three days" changed everything, and General Beseda was even arrested. Instead, Sergei Kiriyenko took the first roles in the administration of the occupied Ukrainian territories.
This first deputy head of the administration of the President of the Russian Federation until February 2022 was mainly engaged in internal political processes in Russia. Including election issues, the ruling "United Russia", the defeat of the opposition, the systematic training of officials, etc. However, as early as June 2022, Vitaly Kochenko will become the new "Prime Minister of the DNR". He is a direct protégé of Kirijenko, and especially in 2019 he was a finalist in the favorite contest of official talents of Kirijenko - "Leaders of Russia". And this competition in the modern Russian Federation is not some kind of virtual, but more of a real "school of governors". Again, from the submission of hardware game enthusiast Kirijenko, who is also one of Putin's possible successors.
Professional trainees of the "School of Governors"
How did Hotsenko of Kirijenko stand out in Donetsk in the last 10 months, apart from receiving the "order of honor" from the hands of his patron at the end of March? But practically nothing, because you won't surprise anyone with a purely propagandistic public appearance in camouflage and pathetic Z-speech - that's what the Kremlin Gauleiter did before him.
However, today he settled in Omsk, Siberia, for the time being in the status of the administrative head of the region there, it can already be said about Hochenko that he actually became the first Russian governor who, not from rumor, but from his own experience, knows how to commit real war crimes crimes. And similar experience will soon be especially needed in many regions of the Russian Federation. By the way, another example of a very special occupation practice of a Russian official was named a few weeks ago in at. Governor of Chukotka, Vladislav Kuznetsov. He has two important points in his biography:
- was a finalist in the "Leaders of Russia" contest (Hotsenko's classmate in the fourth course of the "school of governors");
- from June 2022 to March 2023, he held the position of "First Vice President of the Government of the People's Republic of China".
Returning to the new "prime minister of the DNR" Solncev, he arrived in Donetsk together with Hocenka, also 10 months ago - in the first June wave of Varangian invaders. Before that, he was an assistant to the Russian Minister of Construction and Housing, Irek Faizulin, but he worked almost his entire adult life in the construction branches of the Russian state railway corporation RŽD. In the position of "deputy prime minister of the DNR" he was also responsible for transport, construction and housing, on the subject of the "renovation" of Mariupol, agreeing with the Russian Ministry of Defense and especially with the "Military Construction Company" of Shoigu's deputy Timur Ivanov, known for his love for luxury and glamour. By the way, Solncev is now actively promoting the distribution of keys to new apartments in Mariupol, which were destroyed by the Russians.
In the occupied regions of Donetsk Oblast, there are rumors about Solntsev about his special connection with the FSB and the newly arrived Major General of the FSB from Russia - the current "Head of the FSB of the Russian Federation for the DNR" and the former head of the FSB Department in Saratov Oblast, Oleg Bolomozhnov . At the same time, Solncev is also a graduate of the "governor's school", that is, he is related to Kirijenko. So, by all accounts, he is a compromised figure. On the one hand, with his help, Lubjanka somewhat regained lost positions in "DNR", after the shameful failure of General Beseda.
However, on the other hand, the group of influence of the Kremlin led by Kiriyenko, which has been gaining weight lately, in principle has not lost anything. Moreover, the sanctioned Solntsev could very soon be returned to Russia for another gubernatorial function, which would strengthen the regional position of Kinder Surprise (that's the name of the current first deputy head of Putin's administration during his term as Prime Minister of the Russian Federation in 1998 - "Glavkom").
What employees should prepare for
It is clear that all the occupying Russian officials, having returned to Russian territory, are convinced of their impunity. They said that Russia will never hand them over to Ukrainian or international justice, although in the event of the overthrow of Putin's regime, everything will not be so clear. But for top associates, warm places in official offices may not even be in the Russian hinterland.
Realizing that Putin can only "shake and toss", some of the traitors seriously thought about reserve airfields. For example, Kherson traitor Volodymyr Saldo keeps his cool only for the propaganda cameras. Behind the scenes, as evidenced by the interception of some of his telephone conversations, he constantly complains to his acquaintances about life in the Gauleiter and the lack of understanding from his new Russian masters.
And, for example, the same leader of the "DNR" Pushilin a few months ago (just at the time when Kherson was liberated from the Russian invaders) by the Ukrainian armed forces bought land in the Brazilian city of Garopaba, which is located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It turned out that in the documents he is a Brazilian citizen as Denis Volodimirovich Pushilin. That is, to register Brazilian citizenship and property, this terrorist and war criminal used... a Ukrainian foreign passport.
But not all collaborators have such opportunities as Pušilin. And there are thousands of them in all the temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine's east and south. For example, the mayor of this city, Ivan Fedorov, stated a clearly established number of seven hundred traitors in occupied Melitopol and the district alone. "If we are talking about Melitopol and the district, then 700 people were collected in our register for cooperation with the enemy (who became an associate, who helped organize a pseudo-referendum). These are the people who started taking over schools and educating children and those who went to a fake tax office, pension and so on. These 700 people have been checked, there are facts about cooperation in connection with them, the criminal proceedings are ongoing and suspicions will be raised", said Fedorov and specified that no more than a dozen collaborators were found among the representatives of the authorities.
Pavlo Kirilenko, the head of the Donetsk OVA, also insists on the inevitability of punishment for any and not only managerial collaborative activity after the de-occupation of the Ukrainian territories currently occupied by Russia. In an interview with Glavcom, he clearly explained: "It is necessary to separate those who were forced to stay in the temporarily occupied territory and simply survive there, and those teachers, educators, doctors who actively used all Russian propaganda, and then they will say that they were forced to do so under pressure."
In his opinion, this is the job of the special services, which continue to actively collect evidence even in conditions when part of the territory is temporarily occupied. "Such people (who actively cooperated with the occupiers - ed.) simply do not have the right to stay in this territory after de-occupation. "Forget and forgive" - this will not happen, because such an approach can have dire consequences in the future," said Kirilenko.
But he added that those whose responsibility will not fall under the Criminal Code of Ukraine, but will be only at the level of conscience and morality, should be given the opportunity to go to the country that they so supported. That is, let them go to dominate the Russian Federation or what is left of it.