The governor that bonded with Wagner Group and befriended Ramzan Kadyrov is appointed to key post in Defence Ministry
During his tenure in the Komi Republic, Vladimir Uiba praised war and sent thousands of young men to the killing fields. He is now rewarded with a top job in the Military.
Vladimir Uiba, a medical doctor by profession, was appointed governor of the Komi Republic in April 2020 as the pandemic started to rage across Russia. The 64-year old epidemiologist came from the post as federal deputy health minister and was seen by Putin as the right man for the northern region.
At the time, Uiba also headed the Federal Biomedical Agency.
Four years later, Vladimir Uiba returns to his field of expertise. This time however, his bio-labs will be located at the premises of the Ministry of Defence.
The almost 70-year old epidemiologist will now be in charge of the Main Military-Medical Authority, the Defence Ministry's unit responsible for soldiers' health and medical measures for wartime and extraordinarily situations.
In the Komi Republic, the post as governor is taken over by Rostislav Goldshtein, the man who until recently headed the far eastern Jewish Autonomous Region.
Vladimir Uiba during his tenure as regional governor quickly showed himself as an arch-conservative with close bonds to several militant groups. As Russia launched its full-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2024, Uiba praised the aggressive policies.
He made several trips to occupied parts of Ukraine, where he travelled around with a uniformed marked with a “Z,” the Nazi-inspired Russian war symbol.
He soon also started to carry the logo of the Wagner Group. During a trip to the war zone in late March 2023, Uiba presented himself as a Wagner associate when meeting warriors from his Komi Republic. He also carried the insignia of the militant group when he met with village people in the occupied area, including Andrei, a young boy who on a video appeared clearly traumatised by war and the Russian aggression.
At the same time, the number of killed soldiers from the north Russian region surged. By early August 2024, it had reached more than 600, an unofficial counting indicated.
Vladimir Uiba might have a connection with Maksim Shugaley, the ultra-conservative leader of the Foundation for Protection of National Values.
Shugaley is today on the sanctions list of the EU for his connection with Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group.
Shugaley, who for more than two years was in captivity in Libya, in 2020 took on the lead of the Rodina Party in Komi and won a seat in the regional legislative assembly. He soon later left the position, but is believed to have remained in contact with people from Komi. Judging from his VK page, he has been in the region several times after 2020.
In his duties as leader of the Foundation for Protection of National Values, Shugaley cooperates closely with several of Russia’s most extreme right-wing politicians and public figures, among them Aleksandr Malkovich, Anton Davidchenko and Vitaly Milonov.
2Komi Governor Vladimir Uyba has cooperated with several more of the most controversial public figures in Russia. In May 2022, he went to Grozny to meet with Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov. The two men discussed “cooperation in economic, culture and social affairs.”
“For me, Chechnya is a region very close to my heart,” Uiba said in a comment.
