New Mayor consolidates political power in Navy stronghold Severomorsk
Few months after he was appointed Mayor of the Northern Fleet city, Vladimir Yevmenkov pushes through a cardinal amendment of the local election system. It will make it even harder for the political opposition, representatives of the Communist Party warn.
The municipal council of Severomorsk has unanimously approved amendments in the local city charter. From now on, there will be 20 one-mandate constituencies instead of 12 two-mandate constituencies.
"I thank the Council members for their balanced and operational civil position […] I believe this is a right and timely decision," Yevmenkov underlines in a post on social media.
"Voting in one-mandate constituencies will allow the voters to elect concrete individuals that will represent their interests," he explains, and adds that the change will enable the elected deputies to "fulfil their duties in a qualitatively better way."
Far from everyone is happy about the new system.
"Every sound person understands that the one-mandate constituencies are favourable for the ones that wants to block the opposition, whose candidates often take the second mandate," says Aleksei Beketov in a comment.
Beketov is associated with the Communist Party in Murmansk and its leader Yuri Vatalin.
The amendment has nothing to do with 'efficiency', but is fully a political decision which suits Vladimir Yevmenkov and his United Russia Party, Beketov and the Communists argue.
They also question the democratic legitimacy of Yevmenkov himself. "How was it, Vladimir Vasilevich — you were appointed 'from above', right?" Beketov asks.
Vladimir Yevmenkov was appointed new Mayor of Severomorsk in November 2024. He came from the regional government of Governor Andrei Chibis where he four years served as first deputy governor.
Yevmenkov is well known in the Severomorsk town hall. He served as city Mayor also before he was appointed to the top job in the regional government in 2020.
Severomorsk is the headquarter city of the Northern Fleet, Russia's most powerful Navy force.
Although in lead of the local government in Severomorsk, Yevmenkov does himself not have a military background. But he is believed to be closely associated with other law enforcement and security services in the Murmansk region.
Yevmenkov grew up in Zapolyarny, the mining town located near the border to Norway and Finland. He graduated at the Historical Faculty of the Petrozavodsk State University.
In an interview with a local newspaper, Yevmenkov expresses pride for having graduated at the same faculty as Rashid Nurgaliev and Nikolai Patrushev, the two security hawks from the Russian Interior Ministry and FSB.
