Four prominent Russian governors on Tuesday resigned from their positions as the country continues to feel the impact of worldwide economic sanctions imposed by the West following the February 24 invasion of Ukraine by its security forces.
The affected governors who are regional leaders of Tomsk, Saratov, Kirov and Mari El regions, all announced their immediate exit from office, while the head of Ryazan region said he would not run for another term with elections scheduled to take place in all five regions in September.
Though Russian governors are elected, they are politically subordinate to the Kremlin and several of the outgoing governors represent regions where the ruling bloc United Russia recorded low votes in last year’s parliamentary elections.
Unpopular governors are regularly removed from office, often submitting their resignations in clusters in the spring months.
The head of the Centre for the Development of Regional Politics think tank in Moscow, Ilya Grashchenkov, said the resignation of the governors was masterminded by the Kremlin.
“There’s a need to restructure the economy, especially in those regions where Western economic influence had been significant. These governors need to be replaced by younger alternatives,” he said.
