One of the founders of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, called the mayor of Yekaterinburg, Alexei Orlov, demanding that Igor Pushkarev, director of the Museum of the History of Yekaterinburg (MIE), historian and archaeologist, be fired for his anti-war position and criticism of PMCs in the past while working at Znak.com. As a source told Ura.ru, Prigozhin's demand threatens the authorities' project to build the Lenin 52 cluster in the center of Yekaterinburg, as well as the funds of the Sverdlovsk businessmen who invested in it. This is because it is Pushkarev who is immersed in the creation of an exhibition, educational and creative space in the city, and if he is fired, the Lenin 52 project may not be completed.
As the founder of the Yekaterinburg edition of It's my city Dmitry Kolezev (former editor-in-chief of Znak.com) explained to The Insider, Pushkarev, while working for the publication, traveled to the Krasnodar Territory to collect material about the Wagner PMC base, and also talked in the Urals with those who served in PMC after 2014. According to him, putting forward the demand now, Prigozhin wants to show political influence. At the same time, he cannot resolve the conflict with the governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov, so he took on the director of the regional museum.
“Even before Znak ceased to exist, Igor began to work on projects to create an archaeological park near Yekaterinburg, he wanted to create a place where people could come with their children and learn about the history of the Urals and the ancient peoples who lived in the Urals. He tried to find funding and administrative opportunities for these projects, but, in my opinion, he did not find anything. After the closure of Znak and the start of the war, Igor decided to return to his core business and went to work at the Museum of the History of Yekaterinburg, which was then headed by Sergei Kamenskikh. They know each other well in the historical and archaeological line, Kamensky took Igor to work as a deputy. When the mobilization began and things got gloomy, Sergei resigned as director and left, and Igor became acting director.
Everything went to the fact that Pushkarev would become a director, but the story began with Prigogine, he clung to Pushkarev. The scandal was raised by local Z-channels, saying: “How is it that a liberal journalist writes “no war!” on Facebook, and he was appointed director of the municipal museum in such a difficult period for the country?” Prigogine called Mayor Orlov and then wrote a letter. I have a feeling that Prigozhin is trying to establish himself as the main national-patriotic figure, so wherever local national-patriots ask for protection, he tries to harness himself for them.
Plus, the director of the museum in Yekaterinburg is not a very large political figure, so it is easy to defeat him. This is not Beglov, with whom Prigogine has been unable to cope for many months, but only the director of the museum. You can defeat him and say: "Look how well done and politically influential I am." Even in Yekaterinburg (where Prigozhin does not seem to have close ties), he decides who to appoint as director of the local museum and who not.
Why Orlov does not remove Pushkarev, I cannot say for sure. As far as I understand, there are no legal grounds to deprive Pushkarev of the post of director. True, he has now been issued an administrative protocol, but Prigozhin is not his boss or director, and Prigozhin's political weight raises questions. It is clear that Orlov is an official built into the vertical, but still he now belongs to the Ural establishment. Why should he react to Prigogine's words? Probably, they also think that it is strange that "Putin's chef" is trying to indicate who can be appointed director of the local museum.
In my opinion, this is slightly humiliating for the Ural elite. Probably, there is someone who stands up for Igor in the local establishment. He is sociable, he has many acquaintances, and while he was working as a journalist, he met a lot of people in Yekaterinburg. At the same time, he does not look like a stereotypical liberal journalist, he is rather a guy from the people – solid, with many children, goes on hikes, and many Urals with whom life has come across respect him, communicate well with him. I think he has his defenders and patrons.
On December 19, Prigozhin published an open letter addressed to Orlov, stating that Pushkarev was allegedly working for foreign intelligence services. Orlov launched a check, but did not fire the director, explaining that he did not know about these facts. Orlov did not answer The Insider's call.