After weeks of heated dispute with the powerful United Russia party, Yury Yevdokimov was on Saturday dismissed from his post. With that announcement, one of the veterans of Russian regional politics is out of business.
Yevdokimov might however not yet start life as pensioner. He this week left for Moscow for talks on future engagement, Kommersant reports. His press secretary Nikolay Sigin maintains that “a man of such a format deserves to be needed on the federal level”.
Originally a native from the Ukraine, Yevdokimov has lived in the region since he started working in the town of Kovdor in 1974. He quickly climbed in the party structures, and in the period 1990-1994 chaired the regional Council of Peoples Deputies. In 1996, he defeated former governor Komarov and has since headed the region, the northwesternmost federal subject in the country.
In 2007, Yevdokimov was reappointed by then President Putin to a fourth governor’s term. As BarentsObserver then reported, the governor was then described as a trusted “president’s man”.
Governor Yevdokimov has been a staunch protector of regional economic interests, like fisheries and ports. He has also been extensively engaged in international cooperation. During one of his many visit to Norway in 2008, he met with both the royal family, four cabinet ministers, as well as the leading Norwegian industrial companies. In August 2007 he was awarded a medal as Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit by King Harald V for his contributions in the Norwegian-Russian cooperation
In a press release, Yevdikomov says that he is content with what he has achieved in the course of his years as governor, although “a lot remains to be done”.
