Yury Yevdokimov was Governor of Murmansk Oblast in the period 1996-2009 and the last governor to be elected by the public. He resigned in March 2009 after having being accused of paying too much attention to regional foreign policy and neglecting to support the United Russia’s candidate to post as Mayor of Murmansk.
Current Governor of Murmansk Oblast Marina Kovtun is now establishing an “expert council”, compromised of specialists from different sectors. Last Friday she met with Yevdokimov and asked him officially to join the council.
“Your vast experience is now needed,” Kovtun said to Yevdokimov. “We need to use it to the best for people in the north, the people in the region”. Yevdokimov’s place in the think-tank will be as expert on public administration, M51 reports.
The two governors agreed that the new council has to be informal and free of all bureaucracy. “Further south they would have called it a «council of elders», Kovtun explained.
Yury Yevdokimov is known for his good relations with colleagues in neighboring countries. For several years he worked together with Finnmark County Governor Gunnar Kjønnøy on nuclear safety projects in Northern Russia. Since 2001 169 radioactive strontium batteries have been removed from light houses along the coast of the Kola Peninsula and in the White Sea area. Another project the two governors successfully led was infrastructure improvements at the nuclear waste storage facility in Andreeva Bay on the Kola Peninsula.
In August 2007 Yury Yevdokimov 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 2011 he was awarded with the order “For Merits towards Murmansk Oblast”, an order that is given to people who have “made top achievements in providing prosperity and development for Murmansk Oblast” and “promoted Murmansk Oblast’s authority in the Russian Federation and abroad”, as BarentsObserver reported.
