Early years and education
The future governor of the Novgorod region was born on November 26, 1979 in Moscow. However, his childhood years were spent in Miass (Chelyabinsk region) - his father was one of the heads of the press and body shop at UralAz.After graduating from one of the Miass secondary schools, Nikitin went for higher education at the capital's University of Public Administration (GUU), where he later defended his diploma (2001) and transferred to graduate school.
Five years later, 27-year-old Nikitin successfully defended his scientific dissertation and became a candidate of economic sciences. The topic of his work was "The strategy of organizational change as a tool for effective management."
Andrey Nikitin's interview in the program "Star on Star"
However, Andrey did not stop there, and in 2007 he was awarded the prestigious MBA degree in the world of economics from the Stockholm School. These successes were noted in the leadership of the State University of Management, and in 2008 he received the academic title of Associate Professor at the Department of Organization and Management.
Business and political career
Even while studying at the university, Andrei began to actively engage in business. So, in the early 2000s, he was in charge of the legal aspects of the activities of OOO Block Black. In 2001, Teremok-Russian Bliny LLC drew attention to his strategic talents and offered the position of General Director for Development.Andrey did not stay there for a long time, and a year later he became responsible for business development at ZAO Neftegazinvest. This investment group was rapidly developing at that time, as evidenced by the acquisition in 2002 of the OJSC "Steklonit" plant. In the newly formed structure, Nikitin was appointed General Director of TD Steklonit LLC. At this place, Andrei Sergeevich worked for about five years, in parallel cooperating with the furniture company KSI LLC and Uralneftegazstroy LLC.
ASI head Andrey Nikitin: how to start your own business
In addition, since 2002, Nikitin was listed in the structure of the Ruskompozit business group, where from 2009 to 2011 he held the usual position of general director. It should be noted that in whatever company Andrey appeared, its profitability increased sharply.
All this time Andrei Nikitin was a member of the non-profit state organization "Business Russia". His competence included issues of youth entrepreneurship and small business. He was also the curator of the promising initiative "Quality of Russian Roads", where they developed a plan for covering roads with innovative materials.
Andrey's career took another turn up when he won an open competition and, with the approval of the President of the Russian Federation, headed the Agency for Strategic Initiatives in 2011. The company has been involved in improving the national investment climate and other important initiatives, ranging from out-of-school children's education to the creation of investment elevators for non-resource enterprises with high export potential.
Over the years of work in this government organization, he was awarded the medal "For Valiant Labor" and more than once received gratitude from President Vladimir Putin.
Against this background, the president's decision to appoint Andrei Sergeevich as acting Governor of Novgorod in 2017 looked quite natural. During the years of the reign of the previous governor Sergei Mitin, the region has come to a pre-default state. Thus, the young specialist had the opportunity to try his hand at political incarnation.
Andrey Nikitin: personal life, hobbies
Andrei Sergeevich is married and lives with his wife in a Moscow apartment. She is an obstetrician-gynecologist and works in a public medical institution.Nikitin says about himself that he does not know how to really rest, but he loves delicious food. When he has free time, he reads historical materials about Ancient Rome and writes scientific works. By the end of 2016, six editions were published under his authorship.
In his youth, Andrei Nikitin dreamed of a motorcycle. He fulfilled his long-standing desire, already being the head of the ASI. True, due to constant work it is rare to get out somewhere on your favorite iron horse.
He considers himself a technocrat - a person who is convinced that managing personnel should be highly qualified scientific and technical specialists.
Andrey Nikitin now
In February 2017, by presidential decree, Andrei Sergeevich took the post of Acting Governor of the Novgorod Region. 
At one of the first speeches, the newly made head of the region said that the region needs a new, clear and understandable image, as well as the attraction of creative entrepreneurs.
Andrey Sergeevich Nikitin is the current governor of the Novgorod region, who took office in 2017 after early elections. But his knowledge and interests are not limited to his political career. Nikitin is a person with an excellent education and a bold approach to life. He managed to write a dissertation and become the author of several serious scientific articles.
Childhood and youth
The published biographies of Andrei Nikitin often contain an unintentional factual error. He is officially considered to be a native Muscovite.
In fact, on November 26, 1979, little Andrei was born in the Vladimir region, in the city of Kirzhach. His maternal grandfather served there for many years in missile defense. Moscow is recorded as a place of birth due to the registration of parents in the hostel of the State University of Management, which at that time was called the Institute of Management. ...
At 2 years old, the boy moved with his parents to Miass. His father got a job in a car, and his mother, an economic manager by education, held a position in the municipality.
By the end of school, the parents set a condition for their son: if he wants financial support during his studies, he must go to a good university. The list of possible locations also included MGIMO, the country's main diplomatic forge. Andrei quickly rejected the idea of going there - the contingent of students seemed too pompous. Nikitin eventually chose the memorial GUU as the place of study.
In the course of his studies, the young man underwent practical training in the State Duma and the plenipotentiary office of the Southern Federal District. In 2001, a bachelor's degree in public and municipal administration was received, and the question arose where to move next.
Career and politics
Nikitin did not limit himself to five university courses, and the next stage of his life was graduate school. In 2006, Andrei Sergeevich became a Doctor of Economics, having defended his thesis on the difficult topic “The strategy of organizational change as an instrument of effective management (theoretical and methodological aspect).
Then a new stage awaited - 2008 was marked by obtaining a master's degree in business administration. He studied at the Stockholm School of Economics. In addition, Andrei Sergeevich received the position of associate professor at the State University of Management, at the Department of Theory and Organization of Management.
He began to work as a politician during his studies, but at first the field of activity was business. The first job in this field was the post of Deputy Director of Block Black LLC. After that Nikitin worked as deputy director for development of the popular Teremok cafe chain. The network known today in Russia then consisted of four trailers, and Andrei himself was engaged in negotiations with local authorities.
For the next 9 years the man worked at Ruskompozit - under this name the enterprises dealing with fiberglass, geosynthetics and composites are united. By 2009, Nikitin's professionalism led to his appointment as CEO.
In 2011, a non-profit organization "ASI" appeared, the purpose of which was to support new medium-sized businesses. By that time, Andrei Sergeevich had managed to prove himself in coordinating the project "Quality of Russian Roads". As a result, it was Nikitin who was selected from the candidates for the leadership of the organization.
As general director, Andrei Sergeevich was remembered primarily for his rejection of the bureaucracy and consistent struggle with it. The result has been a reduction in the time required to register businesses and obtain building permits. The number of documents required for filing has also been reduced.
Nikitin's efforts have been noted many times. He received gratitude from the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the President of the Russian Federation. Hard work led to the awarding of Andrei Sergeevich the medal "For Valiant Labor".
2017 has been a year of great change. The person who has become the personification of the ASI in 6 years was appointed Acting Governor of the Novgorod Region. Doubts about Nikitin's competence as a politician were dispelled by the time of the early elections. Having worked in office for less than a year, Andrei Sergeevich won, gaining 67.99% of the votes.
Personal life
Due to the same surname, patronymic and similar political positions, Andrei Nikitin can be considered a brother - also the governor, but the Nizhny Novgorod region. This is not true. Sergei Andreevich has no brothers, his family is his parents, wife and daughter.
The governor's wife is Maya Viktorovna Nikitina, nee Sannikova. They met in school days. Then the girl entered the Chelyabinsk Medical University and studied to be a doctor, and Andrei himself went to Moscow. However, after studying, friendly relations nevertheless grew into love.
Maya Viktorovna - specialist in the field of oncological gynecology, candidate of medical sciences. Prior to the appointment of Nikitin as governor, a woman worked at the Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology. Kulakov. By this time, the governor's wife was already in position, so she did not hesitate to leave her job. On February 25, 2017, Maya Nikitina gave birth to a daughter, Arina.
The politician's personal life is in plain sight, but this does not prevent Andrei Sergeyevich from being himself. Since childhood, he dreamed of a motorcycle and in 2011 he managed to make this dream come true. So now a man often rides a "two-wheeled horse" and does not hide it at all. A photo of the governor on a motorcycle can be found on his Instagram account.
In an impromptu interview with young people at a rock picnic by the Vremya is magazine, the politician admitted that he is not indifferent to rock music, and his favorite band is.
Andrey Nikitin now
Andrei Sergeevich continues to work as the governor of the Novgorod region. The man is a supporter of United Russia and takes a responsible approach to political issues. On September 9, 2018, he attended the elections of the State Duma deputies along with other citizens.
Nikitin declared his income even when he was the director of ASI, although he had the right not to do so. Officially, in 2016, the man earned 44.7 million rubles.
After the start of his political career, the salary has decreased, but the governor does not complain - he wants to be useful in his work.
Andrey Nikitin, Governor-Innovator-Biker February 13th, 2017
Everywhere they did not read Nikitin - young, successful, with all his appearance demonstrating energy and efficiency.
In particular, he was stubbornly wooed to the place of Ulyukaev, the minister of economic development of the Russian Federation.
GDP decided it was too early. Let 37-year-old Andrey first show himself "on the ground."
Nikitin is a Muscovite, but he lived and received a school education in the city of Miass, Chelyabinsk region.
Graduated from the State University of Management with a degree in State and Municipal Management. He defended his Ph.D. thesis on "The strategy of organizational change as an instrument of effective management (theoretical and methodological aspect)".
Since university times in business: Deputy Director of Block Black LLC, Deputy General Director for Development of Teremok - Russian Bliny LLC, Development Director of Investment Company Neftegazinvest CJSC, General Director of Steklonit Trading House LLC, General Director of Integrated Isolation Systems LLC ", General Director of Uralneftegazstroy LLC, again General Director of OOO "Trading House" Steklonit ", General Director of OOO" Steklonit Management ", General Director of OAO" Tverstekloplastik ".
All this, I will note, within 9 years. Duplicators, pancakes, oil / gas, fiberglass, composites and geosynthetics.
In 2009-11 Nikitin headed the Ruskompozit holding.
Until November 2009, the founders of Ruskompozit were the Bashkir businessman Sergei Fakhretdinov, who owned 80 percent of the management company, and Nikitin, who had a 20 percent share. Then the company was sold to the Cypriot firm Steklonit Holding Limited.... In 2011, the press reported about Ruskompozit Management Company that it “unites two production sites” - Ufa OJSC “Steklonit” and OJSC “Tverstekloplastik”. It was noted that it also includes the Moscow trading house "Steklonit Management" LLC, a subsidiary of "Steklonit Management" LLP (Kazakhstan) and the company's representative office in Ukraine. It was also noted that Roskompozit "has good relations with Gazprom"," Transneft "," Russneft "," Rosneft"," Lukoil "," TNK-BP "," Ritek "and" Russian Railways "... The media also reported on the profitability of the companies in which Nikitin worked. So, in 2009, the profit of "Ruskompozit" amounted to 1.4 million rubles, in 2010 the profit of "Steklonit" was calculated at 82.8 million rubles, "Tverstekloplastika" in the same year - 20.3 million rubles..
In March 2011, Nikitin signed a cooperation agreement between Ruskopozit and the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), headed by Vasily Yakemenko... According to this document, the company was supposed to provide support to "young innovators" - participants in the "Zvorykinsky project" of Rosmolodezh. In addition, Nikitin's company acted as a partner of the youth forum "Seliger-2011", "having built on its territory mobile road surfaces" from "innovative materials" (having laid the slabs that are used for the passage of wheeled and tracked vehicles in conditions of "rough and swampy terrain") ...
In May 2011, VVP announced the creation of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), an incubator for innovative business projects. In spite of, in contrast to Skolkovo, the beloved brainchild of the hapless Medved.
Putin himself headed the supervisory board. Nikitin, after passing an open competition and approval by the President, became the CEO.
On February 13, 2017, Putin, as expected, appointed Nikitin Acting Governor of the Novgorod Region.
Andrei Sergeevich Nikitin is an exclusively Putin creature, equidistant from oligarchic, power and other groups of influence and has no obvious conflicts with these groups of influence.
The Novgorod region is only used as a training ground and (depending on the results) a launch pad.
There is relatively little information about Nikitin's personal life. It is known that he is a biker (Bad Boyz Moscow club), his wife is a surgeon, and his parents are pensioners.
Novgorod political scientist Mikhail Shimanovsky confirmed the information about the "informal" trip of the governor to Moscow. According to him, this is not Mitin's first trip to the capital. “Already in mid-January, he was told:“ Look for a place for yourself, they will not help you ”. And so he goes to Moscow, walks from office to office, begs for a place for himself, ”the expert said.
As a State Duma deputy familiar with the situation in the region told RBC, "Mitin met with the president, [Prime Minister Dmitry] Medvedev, and [deputy head of the Kremlin administration] Kiriyenko, I know that he is in a good mood." According to another interlocutor of RBC in the State Duma, Nikitin's surname really sounds among the possible candidates for Mitin's place. "This is the solution that would fit into the logic of the region's development." At the same time, he believes that it is still "premature" to talk about Mitin's departure.
Problems in the region
ASI as a project is in "a difficult situation and the feasibility of its existence raises questions," so the authorities decided to move Nikitin to work in the region, political analyst Nikolai Mironov told RBC. According to him, Nikitin, as a "young technocrat, falls into the trend of the current reshuffle" in the governor's corps.
Mitin previously worked at the federal level, served as deputy minister in the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Agriculture, and was a deputy of the State Duma. He has led the region since 2007.
Mironov points to his conflicts with local elites. “In 2012, there were very conflicting elections for the governor, he was criticized by the federal center for poorly held elections and cleaning up the electoral field. Behind him there is a train of a tough and ineffective manager, inflexible. In a poor region with a difficult social situation, this provokes conflicts, ”he said.
In the January rating of the Petersburg Politics Foundation, experts spoke about the prerequisites for replacing ten governors whose powers expire in 2017. In addition to Viktor Basargin, these are Sergey Zhvachkin (Tomsk region), Valery Radaev (Saratov region), Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn (Buryatia), Vladimir Volkov (Mordovia), Alexander Khudilainen (Karelia), Evgeny Kuyvashev (Sverdlovsk region), Oleg Kovalev (Ryazan region), Evgeny Savchenko (Belgorod region), Sergey Mitin (Novgorod region).
Previously, his posts were the head of the Perm Territory Viktor Basargin, whose place was taken by the head of the Department of Economic Policy and Development of Moscow Maxim Reshetnikov. Later, the head of Buryatia, Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn.
Political scientist Vitaly Ivanov characterizes Mitin as "a strong middle peasant": "He cannot be called a successful governor, but also a failed one." At one time, the expert says, Mitin was appointed head of the region thanks to his good relations with the presidential envoy in the North-West Federal District Ilya Klebanov: "But now Klebanov is not the envoy, and Mitin has no patrons left."
Mitin also had an "insoluble conflict" with the mayor of Veliky Novgorod, Yuri Bobryshev, Ivanov says. An interlocutor close to the presidential administration, in turn, says that Bobryshev enjoys serious support in the NWFD embassy.
In general, the Novgorod region, according to Ivanov, is one of the recipient regions “in every sense of the word”: “Many are trying to leave for St. Petersburg and Moscow, so the quality of the elites there is low. The region is simply doomed to a Varangian governor.
In 2007, Mitin himself became such a “Varangian”, “who was sent to clean the region after the previous governor Mikhail Prusak had destroyed everything,” the expert said.
Successor to Nikitin
Svetlana Chupsheva, director of the Social Projects department, may become Nikitin's replacement as head of the ASI, two sources close to the Kremlin told RBC. According to one of them, Nikitin and the presidential aide for economic affairs Andrei Belousov personally recommended the appointment of Chupsheva as the director of the ASI. “This is [Chupshev's] creature of Andrei Nikitin,” confirmed another interlocutor of RBC.
Conversation between Acting Governor of the Novgorod Region Andrei Nikitin and publicist and blogger Nikolai Podosokorsky.
Andrey Nikitin has been acting Governor of the Novgorod Region since February 2017. Was born in 1979 in Moscow. PhD in Economics. In 2011-2017. - General Director of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New Projects. The conversation with Andrey Nikitin took place on July 28.
- Some political scientists criticize you for being too close to local opinion leaders. I decided to check it on myself, and you agreed to the conversation. With whom in general are you ready to communicate and cooperate today as the head of the region? How important is the feedback from local residents about your work to you? Do you listen to criticism in your address?
- I don’t believe at all in a model in which there is someone who knows everything for everyone and will show everyone everything. Therefore, I am ready to communicate and work with absolutely everyone. And this must be done. In the Novgorod region, something can change only when a sufficient number of people are formed here who will live and build their policy a little further than in the current moment. This concerns the heads of large enterprises, who must understand that in addition to the short-term, there is also a long-term one. This concerns officials, especially middle-level officials, who often do something simply because it is regulated by the state program, or something else, and do not answer their own questions: why do they do this in the long term, and what does it give? And I am absolutely open for communication with those people who care about what will happen to Novgorod and the Novgorod region, who want their well
- Are there people with whom you would definitely not start talking and working together?
- With whom I am not ready - with those who consider their work here (speaking of the business elites) in the format “grab a piece and run away”, earned money - they dropped everything and invested it somewhere outside the region. I am not ready to communicate with people who build bad roads. With people who build bad houses. With people who combine their parliamentary powers with business interests directly ...
- Are you talking about any specific deputies now?
- I don’t want to name anyone, but we have different such deputies. They are in the regional and city duma. I am not ready to communicate with those who do not criticize, but become personal. Criticism is okay. I am definitely far from the consciousness that I know everything better than anyone. In fact, a strong team is then strong when there are different people in it, and with each one must be able to find a common language. Including not being afraid of what someone will say to you: "You know, here you are wrong!" I would not say that every day, but I often meet 5-10 different people, and it takes a long time. Another thing is that there are absolutely real people who do real things, but do not actively write on blogs and Facebook - for example, today I was at the Amkor plant - this is an Australian company that makes packaging here. There are a lot of ideas. There is an opportunity to compare the quality of life, the quality of the business environment here and at other enterprises.
- Did they have any reductions there?
- No, on the contrary, they have invested a lot of money, and now they have actually set up a new production, they are completing it now, their new center is now being tested.
- You are often called a "young technocrat", although you are already 37 years old, and, as you know, one of your predecessors, Mikhail Prusak, headed the Novgorod region when he was 31 years old. The current head of the Kaliningrad region, Anton Alikhanov, is 30 years old. So let's leave the definition of "young" aside, but what does the term "technocrat" mean? Sometimes they say that this is an official without clear political convictions and values, who is not a politician, such a faceless apparatchik who works mainly with papers and various technologies, and not with people and living reality. Do you recognize yourself as a technocrat?
- If such a definition is given, then of course not. I grew up in Russia, I live here. I have no alternate airfields. My family also lives in Novgorod. I love my country and wish it well. This is the first value I have. Although I am far from any hysteria in terms of patriotism, since patriotism is a personal feeling, and everyone should have it in their hearts. As for the second value, I am not a technocrat - I like to do my job well, I like to do my job well, I enjoy it. That is, I am proud of what I have done in business, I am proud of what I have done at the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, and this is important to me.
It is also important for me to understand that what I am doing in the Novgorod region will be good. And my inner self-esteem - it is that I always compare - have I made the most of the possible or not. Therefore, in this regard, I am not a technocrat. There are two points regarding paperwork. On the one hand, you only need to work with people, because it is people who write papers, it is people who make decisions, it is people who support some decisions. And if we are talking, for example, about such a topic as the business climate, then you can count as many rules, standards, etc. as you like, but everything is always determined by the person who looks at the situation and either takes out money and invests them, or says: “No, I don’t like your muzzles, excuse me ... I went from here. I will earn here, but spend elsewhere. " People are always making emotional decisions. And it is impossible not to work with it.
On the other hand, it is very important that the decisions that are spoken by the team and the society turn into real actions. And the papers also need to be dealt with. Secondly, in our country it is necessary to understand very clearly, before formulating what you want, when you ask for something, when you come up with some kind of decisions with the federal authorities. Today, for example, a document was published on the portal of the Government of Russia, which says: "Recommend to the project office of the National Technology Initiative to consider the Novgorod Region as a territory for the pilot implementation of projects of the National Technology Initiative."
What does it mean? The fact that when interesting technological developments appear in the country, they are included in the NTI program, and the federation helps the first one or two regions in their implementation. That is, now, for example, they have a project of bracelets for the elderly, which monitor their state of health, and send data to the hospital via SIM cards. And they begin to treat a person not when he himself has already realized that everything is bad, but when he has fig data. It will be difficult to implement this program in the region without the support of the federal center.
- And who is in charge of this at the federal level?
- RVC oversees this, the NTI project office is located there, and all this is financed by federal money. That is, this is such a complex assignment, it sounds completely bureaucratic, but if we can implement it, then there is a completely understandable story behind it. In addition, you probably know that the Digital Economy program has been adopted. There is an interesting thing - the state plans to invest one hundred billion a year in digitalization. This is mainly money that will be spent on building networks and broadband Internet access.
Not bad, right? Will it change the environment a little for the better? Will change. That is, from this point of view, in this part, I can be a technocrat. Because this is more correct than just chatting about something without turning statements into actions, which many politicians like to do, constructing their vocabulary in the format of expressions with which it is impossible to disagree: "it is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick" , "We will increase pensions for children on ice cream, old people, lower tariffs, etc." And then nothing comes of it ... I think that if you say something, then you need to do it, you need to find an appropriate mechanism, in our bureaucratic and complex country I like to untangle knots, I like to make everything turn from an idea into some kind of reality, into some kind of money, into some kind of opportunity. Here in this I am a scrupulous person.
- That is, you understand how this system works now, and you can effectively interact with it, which by no means everyone succeeds ...
- At the ASI level, we worked in this system, and I understand how it functions today. I try to ensure that the greatest number of opportunities are directed here in this work.
- The next question - probably, it should have been the first. He naturally arose. Why did you, being a successful businessman and a city functionary, generally agree to lead a small depressed region with a dying out population and increasing debts? In the nineties, the governors had a serious political weight, and, unlike the mayors, they were practically not imprisoned. Now the heads of the regions are between a rock and a hard place - they are criticized from below for everything that happens in their subjects, they are shifted all responsibility from above, sometimes making them “scapegoats”. This year alone, the heads of Udmurtia and Mari El were arrested, and the former governor of the Chelyabinsk region was put on the wanted list. Prior to that, the governors of the Kirov and Sakhalin regions, as well as the head of the Komi Republic, etc. were arrested. I am asking about this, among other things, because many have refused such proposals to lead our region. In terms of salary, you most likely did not win much, but there are probably much more problems and risks in this job. Do you really expect to accomplish some kind of socio-economic miracle in the Novgorod region in the current difficult conditions, when you have to ask the federal center for money every year?
- Well, look, I have been losing in salary for the last seven years. She fell hard when I came to ASI, and she fell even more now. I'm not talking about business - there is still not a salary, it is different there. How do you answer this question? First, it may be trite, but the answer is: I really love my country; and if I can do something for her, then I now have such an opportunity. I have some money so that for a certain time I can live on the stocks that were made earlier. Therefore, one cannot refuse such an opportunity to work for the sake of the country. Secondly, it is a great honor for me to work with our president. And in principle, I could never refuse his offers and cannot. That is, he offered - I agreed.
- And if he offered you to become the head of Kamchatka, would you go there too?
- Well, probably yes. But I am glad that Vladimir Vladimirovich offered me Veliky Novgorod ... I love history, and I understand that we do not have such cities anymore in Russia. What do we even have that was at the very beginning and has survived to this day? Apart from Novgorod, perhaps nothing. Everything was destroyed by someone. And I think that this is, of course, such a region that is so important for our inner self-awareness. You know, when, for example, on your Facebook you read historical materials, memories of Novgorod in the 19th century - it was described as such a small town, where there is nothing ...
- It's the same now ?!
- Not the same, believe me. In fact, the Novgorod region is now somewhere in the middle, well, maybe just below the middle. But this is definitely not the poorest and most miserable region in the country. Of course, this place does not correspond to its historical status at all. Therefore, the appointment to the Novgorod region is not just an honor for me, but also a great challenge. I want the Novgorod region today to be perceived as an advanced, metropolitan, successful region, where people want to live, where people are interested in coming.
As for the governor's authority and status, the proverb definitely works here: "It is not a place that paints a person, but a person's place." The President supported me in some moments. For example, he left me on the ASI Supervisory Board, together with two governors - the Ulyanovsk region and Tatarstan. It is clear that this is an advance, but thanks to this I have the opportunity to promote some initiatives, including ours, at the federal level. Therefore, there is no such concept of "governor status" - there are different people who are treated differently. And it will only depend on me and my team how the center will react to my wishes and requests.
- I will explain what I meant by asking a question about the depressed region. There were such fears that either Mitin or you would be the last Novgorod governor - purely due to objective demographic indicators. Of course, there are different regions, but our region is dying out, that is, our population is decreasing by 3-4 thousand people every year. How can this trend be reversed? Indeed, at some point, the federal authorities may decide that there is no point in keeping such a subject of the federation with a population of half a million, that is, less than in many cities. And talk about the enlargement of the regions has been going on for a long time and in recent months they have been updated again.
- Well, let's join someone! (laughs)
- Will we join or will we join? Because if there is the latter, it will be a real disaster for Veliky Novgorod. It will turn into such a small tourist town - for visitors, not for local residents.
- This is not my level of competence, of course, although the issue of consolidating regions in different configurations is being discussed at the federal level. You see, there are several different moments, and one of them is that the next five years will be decisive for Novgorod. And there are several questions to be answered. The most important issue is the quality of education that is given in Novgorod. If we have a strong university, if we have a strong secondary education, this will attract young people here. In the long term, this is question number one.
You know, every year the Foreign Investment Advisory Council conducts surveys of foreign investors across the country, what they consider the main barrier. And over the past five years, the problem of corruption has gone somewhere in tenth place. This, of course, does not mean that she does not exist. Corruption in our country has now rather become a big problem for small businesses. They are afraid to touch large foreigners.
- There are probably few of them left?
- They are afraid that there will be a scandal. The problem of some administrative barriers is also gradually decreasing ... So, the main problem that everyone is talking about is education. The state spends about the same amount of money per year on secondary and higher education as business then spends on additional and retraining of these people. And you, as a person immersed in the media, know that Novgorod University has problems today. It is worth reading the same comments from teachers on Facebook ...
- Downsizing at the university continues, in my native Humanitarian Institute NovGU faculties were liquidated - now instead of them there are some departments ...
- And you understand, sometimes you can even be patient for the sake of some goal, but there is no goal! Therefore, question number 1 is the university and secondary education. Question # 2 is the quality of the urban environment. It should be convenient to walk in the city, it should be convenient to move around on a bicycle in the city, there should be more cafes, shops, some places where you can spend time in the city.
- Are there not enough current cafes?
- I think not, absolutely. Take a trip to St. Petersburg, to the central street, or to Moscow, or to some other such city, for example, to Rostov. You can count ...
- But doesn't the market itself regulate these things? After all, if there is a great demand, then additional establishments open, and even if the existing cafes are not filled with visitors, then what is the point of opening new ones?
- Okay, let's do it. Visit Verona in Italy. It is also a small city, like Novgorod, but how many cafes are there?
- Yes, but how many tourists are there, in contrast to Novgorod?
- This is the next question - about tourists! In fact, education and urban environment, normal, comfortable housing are the most important. There are many countries where between large cities there are small towns, but very interesting, comfortable for living. In the West, even large companies often open offices not in capitals, but in cities that are simply convenient to live in. Therefore, here, of course, it will be necessary to work on a lot with the head of the city administration, and we will help him. In 1-1.5 years, when the M11 highway to St. Petersburg is built, it will be a completely different story. I think that Novgorod has a great future in this regard.
Thank you, of course, to those people who rebuilt Novgorod after the war, those architects who made such a convenient, interesting layout of the center. It is clear that then she was mutilated by these quarters of the 70s - 80s. It is clear that those quarters that were built in the 90s are absolutely identical to those that were built throughout the country. But, nevertheless, the city has not yet been completely killed. And we need to deal with the urban environment, we need to invest in it. Then the prospect will be.
- I got acquainted with your "Strategy of five steps", and in it you, in particular, talk about the need to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of the region. How can this be done? You have just spoken about Veliky Novgorod, and now I am talking about districts and regional centers like the village of Parfino. I know that you have been to Parfin. Do you have an understanding of how life can be established there in order to stop the extinction and flight of the population to the regional center?
- First, we need to develop education and health care. There was a certain hobby in the region for various construction projects. There are many scandalous unfinished objects. Okulovsky FOK is the so-called hospital in Lyubytino, which is constantly flooded, the same house in Pankovka, which burned down and which the devil had built. And, of course, now we need to deal less with new construction projects and more concerned with the quality of the equipment of schools and healthcare facilities. Of course, distance topics need to be developed. Schoolchildren in Parfin should have the opportunity to listen to a lecture by a professor from the university, that is, there should not be such a gap in the quality of education that exists now between Novgorod and the districts (this also applies to healthcare). All this can be done there, and all this can be solved.
And the second is, of course, improvement. Moreover, the improvement is exclusively in the format of supporting local initiatives. That is, not to put a freak, whom someone ordered there, but to give people the opportunity to decide for themselves what and how they want to improve. Somewhere, including through co-financing. You know, now I was in the Chudovsky district - the district spent a million rubles there on playgrounds, and they were all immediately broken.
- Can't there be a corruption component there?
- Well, I'm not an investigator. Maybe it can, but it’s unlikely. There is a successful practice, for example, Bashkiria spends half a billion rubles to support local initiatives a year, according to the co-financing system. That is, if residents collect 5-10% themselves, then the region adds the remaining 90%. Why is this done? In order for people to have a strong feeling that it is theirs, that it was not someone who put it there, but they will indifferently then decide that we will break it, burn it, and then see. In this regard, local self-government is very important. The institution of village elders is very important. Of course, today these people are not given enough attention - in the decision-making system, heads of settlements generally occupy tenth place. And we need to do so that they have the opportunity to make some decisions, to consult with residents.
- A clarifying question about health care, since we started talking about it. In the same village of Parfino there was a hospital, then it was turned into a branch - accordingly its rank was lowered, many specialist doctors are not there, and people are forced to travel to Staraya Russa and Veliky Novgorod. That is, in reality, there is a deterioration in the quality of medical care, and therefore life. Can you change something here?
- Unfortunately, this process is quite objective. And nowhere else in the world is there such a system of "free health care" as we have in our country. What can be done? You can make a good diagnosis in Parfin so that people from there come to the same cancer center not with the last stage of cancer, but at the earliest stage. You can also get treatment in Staraya Russa, but there must be a good road, there must be a normal bus connection, and this is one of the issues that needs to be addressed - transport links between our settlements. But on the spot, a person should be able to undergo all possible types of medical examination. That is, people should be started to be treated not when they already receive a disability, but at the very beginning. I believe that this is one of the greatest problems in our country - the fact that people do not undergo medical examinations in a timely manner.
- You have just touched upon a road theme, which is extremely painful for the region. In July, at the invitation of the state-owned Avtodor company, I took part in a personal blog tour, inspecting sections of the M11 highway in the Moscow, Tver and Novgorod regions. This track will be paid, but what about the state of the free roads? This issue was raised by both President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during their visits to Veliky Novgorod. In your strategy, you also identified the need to improve road and transport infrastructure as a first step. Several years ago, if you know, the so-called. "Road business" - the first deputy governor of the region, Arnold Shalmuev, was arrested on charges of corruption, but this did not improve the roads. Do you expect any major changes in this direction in 2-3 years if you are elected governor in September?
- Well, from the fact of someone's arrest, the roads cannot get any better. In general, these are two such communicating vessels - theft and mismanagement. We now have 76% of roads in an abnormal condition, and I want their number to decrease by 10% per year with me.
- Every year by 10%? And how will this be ensured?
- This will be ensured by very strict control, very strict quality requirements for contractors. We will launch an independent quality audit next year. Do you know how it happens now? There is a quality control specialist in a certain area at Novgorodavtodor. For example, in the Parfinsky region. He lives there. And when we began to check this system, it turned out that this person does not even go to the road site - the contractors themselves bring these cores to him. Well, this is understandable - he lives there, he has long been promoted in different ways. That is, he does not even look at where this core was brought to him, where they drilled it - maybe they drilled it on the federal highway, where everything is fine. And so he signed the quality control acts.
Plus the centralization of purchases. While we are buying it all like this - remember the painting "The Sower" from Ilf and Petrov, who scatters money without looking? I just asked for information - we subsidize municipalities for roads - and so I asked to give me statistics on what municipalities have built over the past five years? It turned out that such statistics were not kept in the Novgorod region, no one knows anything.
Of course, with such a budget, we will not be able to do everything instantly, but we must return the backbone, first of all, that is, restore the road "circulatory system" through which the maximum number of people travel. Therefore, this 10% should be done every year by any means, by any means. I understand that this is less than I would like, and I understand those people who got into the last 10%, but what else do we want to do? The money that goes to municipalities and interdistrict roads - there are not many of them - but, most likely, we will ask people what roads they would like to fix first. We will definitely develop such direct democracy, including in the Veche Bell format.
- In a recent interview with the editor-in-chief of Book Review, you, in my opinion, showed good taste when speaking about your reading preferences. Your vacation reading list includes books by Homer, Eunapius, and Sextus Aurelius Victor. Probably, in order to please the voter, you had to name something more popular, understandable to everyone, with an obvious patriotic sound ?! After all, today it is both fashionable and politically beneficial to loudly declare at every corner about your patriotism, Orthodoxy, spirituality. I am talking about this, having in mind the reproaches to you from some federal experts who say that "Andrei Nikitin looks cut off from the realities of the Novgorod region." Does reading the book "Technological Singularity" or the works of the ancient authors listed above help you somehow in understanding the realities of the Novgorod region and how people live here?
- I would answer these federal experts that there is no need to humiliate people who live in the Novgorod region. In the Novgorod region, thanks to the university, the museum, there are probably, on average, more people with a good level of education than in similar regions. Therefore, the Novgorod region should not be considered a place where normal books are not read. People live here who read much more than me and read much more complex things. It is much harder to read ancient Russian literature, especially if you read it without translation into modern language. Read the chronicles, read the birch bark letters - try to translate them!
Therefore, I do not at all think that this is some kind of problem. I read this literature for myself, and it is interesting to me. But things like technology books are also important. Remember that before a person went on a business trip, sent a telegram, and then there was no communication with him for a week. What does a modern cell phone give? You need to know books about modern technologies in order to understand where all this is going. And it will come there relatively soon. And maybe now we need to think about what specialties are needed at Novgorod University? What kind of people will be needed in seven years, for example?
I'll give you a simple example. There is medicine and there is information technology, and now all startups in the field of medicine are digital. That is, we are always talking about the connection between treatment and processing of big data. Everything that could be thought of in terms of classical operations was invented by Pirogov and his followers. All modern medical solutions are data solutions. And if we are talking about the success of the university, then it is necessary to train people of related specialties, that is, a physician cannot but know information technologies. There is a very good example of Tomsk. The Tomsk Region gives grants for student startups, but only where children from different faculties cooperate: IT specialists with doctors or physicists, etc. The same builders today cannot build a modern house without modern three-dimensional design technologies. And if we are talking about a "smart home", then various sensors must be built into the walls, and so on.
Naturally, my knowledge in these areas is absolutely superficial, and I am not an expert either in the singularity, or, unfortunately, in history. But for me, as a leader, it is important in general to understand where the world is going, and to understand that it will come here too.
- The last question in today's conversation is related to the list of candidates for senators, which you submitted to the regional election committee (Mitin, Minina, Bobryshev). What was the reason for this choice? In particular, I am more interested in the figure of the former governor Sergei Mitin. Is it necessary to understand that the other two candidates were included in this list simply for formal observance of the procedure, and the fact that Mitin will become a senator is a settled matter?
- Firstly, when compiling this list, there was only one criterion for me - it included people who actively worked or are working in the territory of the Novgorod region. This was the basic criterion. All candidates have a list of successes, and, probably, some kind of a list of complaints against them - this is normal. All living people, and if there are no complaints about you, then you are not working. But I will make a decision only when and if people support me, that is, after the elections. I treat everyone on the list with equal respect.
- But Minina or Bobryshev have any chances to become senators?
- Everyone on the list has a chance. Then, you know the rule that according to modern laws, if something happens, then the senator can change within five years, and you can choose another senator only from this list. Therefore, everything can be.
The original of the interview in the blog of Nikolai Podosokorsky. You can also subscribe to my pages:
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