The governor leaves his post ”on his own request”, the decret published on the Kremin website reads. The decret, which was signed in the morning Tuesday, has immediate effect.
Nelidov is replaced by Aleksandr Khudilainen, who comes from the post as Chairman of the Leningrad regional parliament.
It is likely that the dismissal of Nelidov is linked with recent election results in the Republic of Karelia. In last December’s State Duma elections, the United Russia party won only 32,26 percent of the votes, which was among the worst results for the party in all of Russia. Also in regional parliament elections, the United Russia party did bad and lost its control of the regional assembly. In the March Presidential elections, 55,38 percent cast their votes for Vladimir Putin, also that among the lowest figures in the country.
With the dismissal of Nelidov, the Republic of Karelia loses an experinced politician with a high level of knowledge about the region. Nelidov first served as deputy governor in the Leningrad Oblast, and later as member of parliament in the same region before he in 2006 was appointed senator for the Republic of Karelia. On 1 June 2010, he was appointed governor in Karelia. Nelidov also has extensive experience from the regional forestry industry, and has been operating in several companies.
The political shift in Karelia comes just two weeks after the dismissal of Dmitry Dmitriyenko as Governor of Murmansk Oblast.
