Russia hit by unusual wave of regional governors’ resignations

MOSCOW — Russia was hit by an unusual wave of resignations by regional governors on Tuesday.

Within just five hours, five regional governors in different parts of the country announced that they would either resign or not stand for re-election.

The first to announce their resignations were Sergei Shvachkin from the Tomsk region in Siberia and his colleague, Igor Vasilyev, from Kirov, about 1,000 kilometres north-east of Moscow.

Then, the heads of Saratov and the autonomous Mari El Republic followed.

Meanwhile, the governor of the Ryazan region, Nikolai Lyubimov, declared that he did not plan to run for a second term.

The official reasons given by the governors for their resignations included their age or the fact that they had already been in office for quite a long time.

Russia consists of more than 80 federal subjects. These are, for example, territories and autonomous republics.

The resignations caused astonishment and speculation among many citizens.

On the Telegram messaging service, several users wondered whether the heads of the regions might no longer want to support the war against Ukraine and its economic consequences for Russian provinces.

Due to the sanctions imposed by the West, many companies have withdrawn from Russia and many people are losing their jobs.

In the current situation, the resignations could be a sign that the ship is capsizing and that the “rats would rather get off the boat,” said political scientist Abbas Galliamov.

Others speculated that the five politicians might not have been loyal enough to the Kremlin and would now have to leave their posts due to a decision from the very top.