At least 11 Russian governors have not been active on the topic of the war in Ukraine on social networks, five of them will participate in the elections in September 2022. The social networks of the governors, as well as their statements in the media before the upcoming elections in the regions, were analyzed by the publication "7 × 7 – Horizontal Russia".
Correspondents specify that the Tula governor Alexei Dyumin, the head of the Volgograd region Andrey Bocharov and Igor Rudenya, the governor of the Tver region, do not have personal social networks.
The governors who are elected this year have made posts one or two times in almost half a year of the war, and most often they are about sending humanitarian aid to the Donbass. Thus, Alexander Sokolov, appointed Acting Governor of the Kirov Region in May, published the only post thanking the driver Valery Bury, who delivers humanitarian aid to the Donbass. The publication recalls that the region did not take under the patronage of the territory of the "LDNR", as other subjects do.
The governor of the Sverdlovsk region, Yevgeny Kuyvashev, did not post about the “special operation”, Donbass, Ukraine, or trips to Donbass (which he did), at least the journalists could not find publications on these words. The only post related to the war was published in his Telegram channel on May 9:
“Today we are especially acutely aware of how important it is for us, the heirs of military prowess and glory, to protect this Victory, historical memory and truth, the names and deeds of the heroes of the Fatherland. We are once again closing ranks and standing shoulder to shoulder to preserve everything that is dear to us: our national interests and values, our traditions and culture, and most importantly, our people.”
The propagandist Vladimir Solovyov was indignant at Kuyvashev's silence. According to him, Kuyvashev never took a position on the "special operation", and there is no news in the media about the governor's visits to hospitals with the wounded.
Elected in September and Acting Governor of the Tomsk region Vladimir Mazur, who also published the only post about the war. In it, he said that his nephew is now “performing tasks” in the Donbass, and thanked the residents for collecting 13 tons of humanitarian aid for the residents of the “LPR” and “DPR”.
The head of Udmurtia, Alexander Brechalov, who plans to run for a second term, also did not cover the war for two whole months from its beginning. Then he told the story of a refugee from Mariupol, and in July he published posts about a trip to the border Belgorod region. He met with members of the National Guard and servicemen from Udmurtia, and also laid flowers at the people's memorial in Belgorod, where five people were killed by shelling on July 3.
Only three posts about the war in Ukraine were made by the acting governor of the Yaroslavl region, Mikhail Evraev. In one of them, he reported on the death of a Yaroslavl soldier, in the next he reported on a visit to the wounded soldiers in the hospital. Also, the acting governor posted photos from the opening of a memorial stele to Ivan Apanchuk, a resident of the Tutaevsky district, who died in Ukraine. Evraev concluded the congratulations of the inhabitants of the region on May 1 with the slogan “For peace! For work! For May! Evraev did not visit Donbass, the newspaper notes.
Among those who are not elected in September, but also decided not to speak out actively in support of the "special operation", are the head of the Altai Republic Oleg Khorokhordin and the governor of the Altai Territory Viktor Tomenko, the head of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, the governor of the Ivanovo region Stanislav Voskresensky and the governor of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous district Dmitry Artyukhov.
Elections of governors will be held in 14 Russian regions in September. In June, it was reported that only two out of 60 candidates spoke out against the war in Ukraine, 19 supported the war, and half remained silent. Then the social networks of candidates for governors analyzed Vedomosti. A candidate in the Kirov region, a lawyer and blogger Anton Dolgikh and a candidate in the Novgorod region, a deputy of the City Duma of Veliky Novgorod from Yabloko, Anna Cherepanova, opposed the war.