President Vladimir Putin replaced the governors of the Bryansk and Belgorod regions on Wednesday, installing a military general and a former official in occupied Ukraine to lead the two border regions.<\/p>\n
The Kremlin said that Vyacheslav Gladkov of the Belgorod region and Alexander Bogomaz of the Bryansk region both stepped down at their own request. The two men, both under U.S. and British sanctions, had led their respective regions since before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Gladkov\u2019s departure follows weeks of rumors that he would soon be replaced. In mid-April, he announced that he was taking an extended vacation, which only further fueled speculation of his impending departure.<\/p>\n
In his place, Putin\u00a0appointed Alexander Shuvaev, a highly decorated army general, as the interim governor of the Belgorod region. Shuvaev, a native of the region, fought in the war against Ukraine and previously served in Russian military campaigns in Syria, Georgia\u00a0and the North Caucasus.<\/p>\n
In January,\u00a0Shuvaev\u00a0was appointed as deputy governor of the Irkutsk region as part of the Kremlin\u2019s Time of Heroes program<\/a>, a\u00a0specialized initiative designed to transition military veterans into senior government roles.<\/p>\n For the Bryansk region, Putin appointed Yegor Kovalchuk as interim governor. Kovalchuk previously served as the head of the Russian-backed government of eastern Ukraine\u2019s Luhansk region and has a background in banking and administration.<\/p>\n Putin met<\/a> with both Shuvaev and Kovalchuk at the Kremlin on Wednesday, officials said.<\/p>\n Some Russian political analysts argued<\/a> that Gladkov\u2019s tenure was a rare case of a \u201cpeople\u2019s governor\u201d who maintained\u00a0public faith in the state as the region shifted from a peaceful borderland to a primary battleground.\u00a0As they noted, Gladkov gained prominence\u00a0for his daily social media dispatches documenting Ukrainian strikes on Belgorod.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is almost startling that only five years have passed; it feels like an entire epoch. Usually, heads of regions only achieve this level of influence after twenty or thirty years in power,\u201d\u00a0wrote Sergei Starovoytov, head of the pro-government Club of Regions analytical platform.<\/p>\n Other observers offered a more critical view of Gladkov\u2019s leadership. While acknowledging that he provided Belgorod with a \u201cbreath of fresh air\u201d after the 2020 departure of his predecessor, Yevgeny Savchenko, a Yeltsin-era appointee, they suggested\u00a0Gladkov\u2019s populist touch masked a hardline approach.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a political standpoint, he\u2019s no democrat. He\u2019s a true autocrat. Tougher than the average Russian regional official,\u201d political commentator Alexander Kynev told<\/a> BBC News Russian.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Gladkov\u2019s main problem was his excessive personal ambition. Because the vertical power structure doesn\u2019t allow for a strong emphasis on personal ambition,\u201d Kynev added.<\/p>\n With the dismissal of both Gladkov and Bogomaz, Voronezh region Governor\u00a0Alexander Gusev is the only remaining governor in a region bordering Ukraine to have held office before the 2022 invasion.\u00a0<\/p>\n Later, on Thursday, Gladkov posted<\/a> a farewell video message on Telegram expressing\u00a0gratitude to those who stood \u201cin the same ranks\u201d during what he described as an extremely difficult period for the Belgorod region.<\/p>\n