The Kremlin and the presidential administration (AP) in a "voluntary-compulsory" order asked the governors of the Russian regions to take "patronage" over the cities and regions of Donbass, that is, to undertake their restoration after hostilities, Meduza writes , citing sources.
At first, "patronage", the idea of which was proposed by President Vladimir Putin, was voluntary for the Russian regions – the head of the internal political bloc of the Presidential Administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, spoke about it for the first time at the end of May. But by the end of June, only 18 subjects of Russia agreed to participate in the restoration of Donbass. The Russian authorities were dissatisfied with this result, and as a result patronage became "voluntary-compulsory". Those governors who did not want to “support Donbass” were given to understand that they would “be bent over sooner or later,” a regional official told Meduza.
Small and subsidized regions, as well as those where there is “social tension” in the form of, for example, upcoming elections, will not be attracted to the “patronage” system, Meduza writes. One of these subjects is the Yaroslavl region, where the elections to the State Duma in 2021 had one of the lowest results of United Russia (less than 30%), and United Russia lost in both single-mandate districts of the region.
Moscow, St. Petersburg and the regions adjacent to the region had the right to choose which municipalities of Donbass to help. The rest of the area of responsibility is determined from above, one of the interlocutors of the publication said.
How much will be spent on the restoration of Donbass is unknown, Meduza notes. The regions will do this either from the budget (like St. Petersburg) or at the expense of big businessmen loyal to the government and working under government contracts.
At the same time, the Russian authorities do not want to trust "local [officials] hundreds of billions of rubles." Therefore, they send Russian officials to the Donbass.
Meduza's sources believe that there will be no "competition" among the regions, because everyone has different opportunities. “It is more important to show solidarity here,” one of them concluded.