Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Mayor Sobyanin led the list of regional heads Russians would like to see removed from office. In fact, the opposite is true. Meduza apologizes for the mistake.
In March, the Putin administration reportedly conducted secret sociological surveys to measure how badly constituents in cities and regions across the country want new local leadership. Two sources have apparently leaked the results of these polls to the magazine RBC.
Some of the governors whose people most want them gone were Dmitry Ovsyannikov (in Sevastopol), Igor Orlov (in Arkhangelsk), and Yunus-bek Yevkurov (in Ingushetia). Several of the officials named in the polling have already been dismissed.
The regional head in Russia whose constituents most want him to remain in office is Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, who shares the list with Sergey Furgal (in Khabarovsk) and Ramzan Kadyrov (in Chechnya). RBC points out that Furgal and Kadyrov are the only officials on this list of regional heads who have served more than one full term.
The polling also reportedly measured governors’ trust levels, finding that Ingush leader Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and Sevastopol Governor Dmitry Ovsyannikov are the least trusted, while Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Tula Governor Alexey Dyumin are the most trusted.
Trust level is one of the 15 performance indicators Vladimir Putin instituted for governors in an executive decree in late April 2019.
The 10 governors whose people most want them gone
Alexey Orlov (Kalmykia, fired in March 2019), Dmitry Ovsyannikov (Sevastopol), Igor Orlov (Arkhangelsk), Sergey Gaplikov (Komi), Yunus-Bek Yevkurov (Ingushetia), Alexander Levintal (Jewish Autonomous Region), Alexander Berdnikov (Altai Republic, fired in March 2019), Yuri Berg (Orenburg, fired in March 2019), Sergey Morozov (Ulyanovsk), and Boris Dubrovsky (Chelyabinsk, fired in March 2019).
The 10 regional heads whose people most want them gone
Sergey Sobyanin (Moscow), Alexey Dyumin (Tula), Alexander Tsybulsky (Nenets Autonomous Area), Alexander Moor (Tyumen), Sergey Furgal (Khabarovsk), Maxim Reshetnikov (Perm), Dmitry Artyukhov (Yamalo-Nenets), Alexander Burkov (Omsk), Ramzan Kadyrov (Chechnya), and Stanislav Voskresensky (Ivanovo).
The 10 least trusted regional heads
Yunus-Bek Yevkurov (Ingushetia), Dmitry Ovsyannikov (Sevastopol), Alexey Orlov (Kalmykia, fired in March 2019), Igor Orlov (Arkhangelsk), Sergey Gaplikov (Komi), Boris Dubrovsky (Chelyabinsk, fired in March 2019), Alexander Levintal (Jewish Autonomous Region), Andrey Nikitin (Novgorod), Vladimir Ilyukhin (Kamchatka), and Vyacheslav Bitarov (North Ossetia–Alania),
The 10 most trusted regional heads
Alexey Dyumin (Tula), Ramzan Kadyrov (Chechnya), Vadim Shumkov (Kurgan, acting governor since October 2018), Sergey Sobyanin (Moscow), Sergey Furgal (Khabarovsk), Roman Starovoy (Kursk Region, acting governor since October 2018), Alexander Moor (Tyumen), Dmitry Artyukhov (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area), Anton Alikhanov (Kaliningrad), and Alexander Tsybulsky (Nenets Autonomous Area).