From Navalny-supporting deputies to a speaker who is an ESVO member: How the independent Tomsk Duma became an appendage of the regional administration
"We're voting. The button is plus," says Andrei Petrov, deputy chairman of the Tomsk Duma and a communist. The deputies laugh. "What a convenient hint," remarks Sergei Panov, a member of United Russia. A minute later, the screen displays the vote results: 27 for, two against. The amendments banning foreign agents from holding parliamentary status have been adopted.
The seat next to Petrov is empty. The next item on the agenda is the Duma speaker election. The leading candidate is Sergei Sechenov, a member of the "SVO" party, who won the mandate about two months ago. There's little intrigue, but independent deputy Igor Lyutayev is still running for the post. He's one of those who won a seat in the Duma through the "Smart Voting" program and still holds the mandate. "Any recusals? Igor Alexandrovich, is everything okay?" Petrov asks. "If I don't withdraw now, will they escort me out?" Lyutayev retorts.
Laughter and coughing can be heard in the hall. Four years ago, the atmosphere here was completely different. In 2020, United Russia lost its majority in the elections, winning only 11 seats out of 37. It was a sensation on a national scale. Back then, many in Tomsk were expecting a renewal in the city's life. It didn't happen. Now, most independent deputies have already been stripped of their mandates, and the speaker is a veteran of the SVO, who boasts at meetings with voters that the Ukrainians offered a 14 million ruble bounty on his head. The history of the country, as illustrated by one Duma, is in this NeMoskva article.
The triumph of "smart voting"
It's summer 2020. Tomsk is awash with banners calling for votes for United Russia. City Duma elections are in September, and it seems the outcome is a foregone conclusion. United Russia currently holds an absolute majority in the Duma: 30 out of 37 seats. There's no sign of change.
But suddenly Alexei Navalny arrives in Tomsk to support his campaign staff, Ksenia Fadeeva and Andrei Fateev, who, for unknown reasons, were even registered as candidates for parliament. It's hard to believe this was possible just four years ago! But it was.
Navalny spends two days filming, and then Tomsk appears on all news feeds, national and international. It becomes known that the main leader of the Russian opposition has been poisoned in Tomsk. Navalny's poisoning and the subsequent release of the investigative film Tomsk in captivity of the parliamentary mafia shook the city. Opposition-minded voters went to the polls. And voted.
Of the 27 single-mandate constituencies, United Russia won only eight seats (it won the other three through the party list vote). In the remaining 19 constituencies, candidates backed by Smart Voting won. A landslide victory!
"People had a huge demand for participation, a huge demand to be listened to and heard, to have their opinions and wishes taken into account. In 2020, a good team of candidates assembled to meet this demand, and they actively campaigned. United Russia underestimated the power of Smart Voting and the demand for these changes. Plus, Alexei Navalny's film, released just ten days before the election, was a huge help," says Andrei Fateyev, a former City Duma deputy and former Navalny campaign staffer.
No one expected such results. The Tomsk regional administration tried to maintain a level head. Elman Yusubov, then chairman of the regional election commission, said that "only voters influence the election results," and Ivan Klein, then mayor, said that "we must work in the interests of the Tomsk party." But the authorities' nervousness was palpable.
The question arose: who would chair such a meeting? Simple arithmetic showed that a minimum of 19 votes were needed to be elected. United Russia, as a reminder, had only 11. So, there was a chance of a non-United Russia speaker being elected.
"I hadn't initially planned to run for speaker. I thought it was unrealistic for me to be elected because everyone perceived me as a rather radical opposition figure compared to the others. And Andrei Petrov, the leader of the Communists in the city council, was supposed to run for speaker from the opposition. But he changed his mind literally the night before the election," recalls Ksenia Fadeeva, a former city council member and former head of Alexei Navalny's Tomsk campaign.
As a result, after negotiations with the Communists, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, and other unstable opposition members, former Deputy Governor for Social Policy Chingis Akatayev became Speaker. He received 20 votes, while Fadeeva received 15.
Before "SVO"
The City Duma began its work. And it turned out that, as a result of the elections, political life had suddenly emerged in Tomsk, a phenomenon that had seemed long forgotten!
The new deputies advocated for cost optimization, ultimately reducing the city administration's PR spending, and advocated for a detailed analysis of the regional waste removal operator, Spetsavtokhozyaistvo, whose work had been criticized by many Tomsk residents.
"For a while, we worked quite productively and constructively in the City Duma. We were quite able to reach agreements with representatives of the systemic opposition, and sometimes even with United Russia on certain issues. Of course, there were heated discussions on most issues, but on some, we were able to find compromises," Fadeeva recalls.
That Duma had repeatedly allowed itself to make outrageous political statements. When security forces detained Tomsk Mayor Ivan Klein in November 2020, the deputies refused to dismiss him. They also advocated for the mandatory retention of direct mayoral elections. Tomsk remained among the few Russian cities still maintaining this tradition. Even United Russia member Ilya Leontyev, for example, made this statement from the podium.
In 2020, Chingis Akataev also spoke out sharply against the transfer of urban planning powers to the regional level and repeatedly criticized then-Governor Sergei Zhvachkin for his aloofness from urban issues.
Mikhail Ratner has assumed the temporary role of acting mayor. In April 2021, he presented a report on the city administration's work. For the first time in the city's history, the city council rejected it. Even representatives of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) spoke out against it. "We see how the level of government closest to the people is essentially left without funds. There are insufficient funds even for the basic functioning of the city, let alone for any development," Petrov said from the podium.
Later, members of the Yabloko faction voted against the budget, but this had no effect. In late December 2021, Ksenia Fadeeva was arrested on charges of organizing an extremist group. Deputy Andrei Fateyev fled the country.
"For a period of hard times"
2022. The "special military operation" begins. Several independent MPs openly oppose the war and sign an anti-war petition. MP David Avetyan attends a Duma session wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "No to War!" He also wears the same T-shirt. on TV2's Instagram broadcast He says that war is murder and for him this is unacceptable.
2022 was memorable for more than just the start of the war in Tomsk. In May, a long-awaited event occurred: Governor Sergei Zhvachkin resigned. He was replaced by Vladimir Mazur, Deputy Head of the Presidential Directorate for Domestic Policy. Unlike his predecessor, who was widely believed to be virtually absent from Tomsk, Mazur started a Telegram channel and began actively participating in tours, meeting with Tomsk residents, and posing for photos with them.
The governor's team was also refreshed. Some, like Deputy Head of Construction Yevgeny Parshuto and Deputy Head of Investment Yuri Gurdin, were implicated in criminal cases. Some simply quietly resigned. Others, like Deputy Head of Finance Alexander Fedenev and Deputy Head of Education Lyudmila Ogorodova, remained in their positions.
In July 2022, Ivan Klein's sentence came into force. A mayoral election could be scheduled. Behind the scenes, there was whispering about two main candidates: the current acting mayor, Mikhail Ratner, and the current City Duma speaker, Chingis Akatayev. But no one was rushing to set an election date. Instead, first regional deputies, and then city council members, began discussing the idea of replacing direct elections with a competitive process.
"What are elections like these days? They're a competition of populism, slogans, and wallets. In my opinion, the proposed model is more professional and more transparent. It allows us to elect a professional, not a populist," said Maxim Reznikov, a United Russia deputy, commenting on the bill abolishing direct mayoral elections. Ilya Leontyev, chairman of the city regulations committee, who recently advocated for Tomsk residents to directly elect the mayor, has now suggested that it would be better to abolish elections during these "difficult times."
Those opposed to canceling the elections were few, but they did exist. Inga Pervushina of A Just Russia spoke out most eloquently in the Duma: "My heart is breaking, colleagues. What's going on? I'm upset for our city... We still have a chance to hold an extraordinary meeting and announce mayoral elections. But the road to hell is paved with such good intentions." When it came to voting to cancel the elections, three Yabloko deputies walked out of the meeting in protest. The vote resulted in a majority of city deputies supporting the initiative: 14 votes in favor, six against. Thus, the Tomsk Duma, in which United Russia didn't even have a majority, approved the abolition of direct mayoral elections.
New supervisor
Meanwhile, in 2023, Governor Mazur took on the task of revamping the bloc responsible for domestic policy. He appointed Andrei Dunayev, who had served in the FSB for five years, as its chief overseer. Dunayev received the post, assessed the situation, and was deeply dissatisfied with the Duma's composition. The remaining independent deputies were still free to express criticism of the city and regional authorities and even leave the assembly in protest. For example, this is precisely what happened in September 2023, when six deputies left the assembly at once: that day, the Tomsk Duma, by a majority vote, stripped Yabloko member Artem Kanarev and Navalny supporter Andrei Fateyev of their mandates, both of whom had fled Russia.
The regional administration has begun to address the problem of freethinking in a "smart city" (as Tomsk positioned itself several years ago) systematically and in keeping with the times. Not only have they abolished direct mayoral elections, but they've also announced that the mayoral post will be given not to Tomsk residents Akataev and Ratner, who were running for the position, but to an unknown Omsk official, Dmitry Makhin.
And the deputies of the "independent" Tomsk Duma swallowed this decision, i.e., voted for it with a majority. According to the deputies themselves, Deputy Governor Dunayev worked with many of them on the eve of the vote. For example, Yevgeny Kaverzin, told TV2, who, at the request of Deputy Governor Andrei Dunayev, agreed to support Dmitry Makhini's candidacy for mayor. Kaverzin's condition was the dismissal of Mikhail Kurilov from his post as director of Spetsavtohozyaistvo. Independent deputy Yevgeny Lukyanchuk also promised Dunayev to vote for the Omsk mayor, but then his hand trembled and he spoiled his ballot during the vote. A month later, Lukyanchuk, according to him, was forced to resign from the Tomsk Symphony Orchestra, where he had played the clarinet since 2013.
Meanwhile, the City Duma was faced with yet another controversial bill. They decided to completely strip the Tomsk administration of its autonomy and, to that end, strip it of most urban planning powers. And this time, defending the right to decide how and what would be built in the city at the local, rather than regional, level failed.
"We will no longer be able to determine territorial zoning, where to demolish a park, where to develop one, where to build high-rise buildings. No one will consult with us anymore," independent MP Lyutayev commented on this decision.
In the end, 17 people supported the bill, 15 voted against. The difference was just a little bit.
While Speaker Akatayev actively criticized the decision to transfer urban planning powers in 2020, three years later he chose to remain silent. The reason for this change soon became public knowledge. At a party conference, Akatayev announced that an attempt was being made to remove him from his position as Speaker of the City Duma. He claimed that an information campaign had been launched in the tabloid media, and that deputies had been asked to sign a letter calling for his resignation.
"I've been receiving threats, including text messages saying, 'Leave peacefully, or it'll be a skating rink.' They've turned on the skating rink: the tax office has been combing through me for two months, and today the prosecutor's office is checking my income and expenses again," said Chingis Akatayev. At the same time, the United Russia member drew the attention of his fellow party members to his "achievements," including the expulsion of Artem Kanarev and Andrei Fateyev from parliament, who left the country, and his victory in the race for speaker: "If it hadn't been possible to reach an agreement with three people (deputies, - approx. TV2), then Fadeeva would have been elected Duma Chairperson. And that would have been a huge black mark on the history of Tomsk. And unfortunately, we already have enough of those marks," Akataev said.
He did not name the person exerting pressure. However, all sources agree that it was the new head of domestic policy, Dunayev. Akatayev voluntarily resigned as speaker in December, and in March 2024, he resigned his mandate altogether. In May, the Investigative Committee announced a criminal case related to airline ticket fraud: Akatayev allegedly illegally processed refunds. The damage amounted to approximately 70 rubles. Akatayev would later admit guilt, pay compensation, and the case would be closed.
Squeezing out independent deputies
In January 2024, it was revealed that Dunayev "suggested" that Yabloko City Duma deputy Yevgeny Kaverzin resign his mandate. The formal reason given was an undeclared debt of 860 rubles. "He said, 'Well, you'll probably run again. You understand that I'll have to pressure the Duma to vote and strip you of your mandate.' I said, 'Okay, Andrei Gennadyevich, then we'll go to court,'" Kaverzin told TV2.
In February 2024, city council members issued a warning to Kaverzin, and in March, it was revealed that violations in his declaration had been found against another independent deputy, Denis Yarmosh. In March 2024, the prosecutor's office appealed the decision regarding Kaverzin. In May, a court hearing was held, where Judge Ekaterina Tsyganova upheld the prosecutor's claim. The decision came into force in September, when the appeal was lost. The hearing took only a few minutes.
In November 2024, Judge Iryna Tkachenko of the Sovietsky District Court also stripped Denys Yarmosh of his mandate. Yarmosh stated that he would prepare an appeal, and the decision has not yet entered into force. However, he became the fifth independent MP to lose his mandate.
Time of Heroes
With Akatayev's resignation as speaker, the Tomsk Duma was left without a speaker. The meetings were chaired by Communist Party deputy speaker Andrei Petrov. Many expected him to fill the vacant position, but sources say Dunayev, the same White House "eminence grise," disapproved of Petrov's appointment as speaker due to his party affiliation.
In September, by-elections were held in the Tomsk Duma. As a result, the seats of Alexei Navalny's allies were taken by "Hero of the North Caucasus Military District" Sergei Sechenov (in the district previously represented by Andrei Fateyev) and Z-volunteer Diana Smoleva, deputy head of the Tomsk branch of the "Defenders of the Fatherland" foundation (replacing Ksenia Fadeeva). Igor Razzhivin, Vice-Rector of Tomsk Polytechnic University, became a deputy in place of Yabloko member Artem Kanarev, and Natalya Krasnitskaya, Chief Physician of Polyclinic No. 4, took the place of Chingis Akatayev.
Immediately after the elections, news surfaced that Sechenov would take over as speaker. It was crucial, they said, not just to appoint a member of the SVO as speaker of the local parliament, but to do so before anyone else. In November, this mission was accomplished.
Sechenov's candidacy was supported by 27 people. Lyutaev received three votes.
"I'm very glad I'm not taking part in this circus," former deputy Yevgeny Kaverzin commented to NeMoskva.
"A major problem could be that this person has spent his entire adult life in the army. He's certainly good at carrying out orders from his superiors, but whether he can defend the interests of his constituents is a big question. And as we know, the wishes of the city administration often diverge from the needs of residents," says former deputy Andrei Fateev. However, despite this outcome for the independent Tomsk Duma, Andrei Fateev is confident that his run for the Duma was not in vain.
"I don't think it was a waste. Something was accomplished. Basically, for the first year or two, it was a truly interesting Duma, where different opinions could be expressed, where you could ask the administration difficult questions and demand answers. The administration realized that the Duma wasn't just an appendage; it began preparing for Duma meetings, arguing its position, and seeking compromises. So it definitely wasn't a waste," he says.
Ksenia Fadeeva agrees with him.
"We still managed to break the ruling party's monopoly at that point, when only 11 of the 37 deputies were from United Russia... From today's perspective, we are, of course, in the midst of some kind of absolute catastrophe. But the story isn't over yet. I think it's wrong to just sit there and endlessly say everything is bad, that nothing will work. We tried, and then we succeeded... And I believe that this experience... of civic participation and the participation of the candidates themselves in the election campaigns, the participation of their volunteers, the participation of observers at polling stations—it can still play a positive role in the future."
