vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #151 / Business / Reading article...

The krai duma suspended Vladivostok Mayor Victor Cherepkov from his duties and appointed his deputy to carry out his work Sept. 26, but the embattled mayor has vowed to ignore the decision and remain in office.

The legislature’s action brings to a climax a long-standing war between Cherepkov, the duma and Governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko. And it leaves the city with two men in charge – Cherepkov and Vice Mayor Yury Kopylov, whom the krai appointed as acting mayor.

Cherepkov was in Pyongyang, North Korea, when he heard about the decision. But at a press conference in Vladivostok Sept. 28, he said he was “laughing as though at a circus.” He accused Kopylov of betraying him and hinted that his deputy has his eyes on the mayoral office.

“But I will use my wisdom not to repeat the mistakes of my enemies or to sink to their level,” said Cherepkov. “I will not descend to the stupidity of my opponents, who don’t have the intelligence” to govern correctly.

Duma deputy Mikhail Zhuravsky said the vote was unanimous among the 35 deputies there (one expressed his opposition by not showing up for the vote). He said Cherepkov still gets his salary and can keep his office space.

“No other decision was possible,” he said. “The city is in a disaster.”

Kopylov said he is ready to begin fulfilling mayoral duties, since he sees “the duma as a legal body.”

Not everyone agrees. The krai duma illegally extended its term of office for a year last January; elections are set for December 7.

Deputies have been attempting to bring Cherepkov to krai court for refusing to fund city services and neglecting his duties. But when Cherepkov failed to come to his trial for the third time Sept. 16, the lawmakers named his deputy as acting mayor, although Cherepkov will continue to hold office. President’s Representative Victor Kondratov, who is also head of the Primorye Federal Security Bureau, said Sept. 29 the only thing to do in this situation is to “wait for the court to decide.”

But at the latest trial, Sept. 30, Cherepkov did not show up. Instead, he filed a document stating he is in a city hospital’s surgery department and sent his press department staff. After hearing the krai duma’s side for about an hour, Judge Vera Kudryavtseva adjourned the trial until the mayor “gets healthy.”

The newspaper Novosty reported Sept. 30 that Bank Primorye, which holds 72 billion rubles of city money, announced that it will henceforth only recognize Kopylov’s signature for city transfers. Media reports have accused the mayor of hiding more than 70 billion rubles for his election campaign while teachers and doctors go unpaid. Kopylov’s first two actions were the transfer of 10 billion rubles to city teachers and the signing of a contract with the city’s trash collection company.

The ongoing duel between Nazdratenko and Cherepkov has hobbled Vladivostok’s sanitation, health and educational systems. Cherepkov accuses the governor of intentionally withholding federal funds meant for Vladivostok; Nazdratenko has responded that the mayor “belongs in an insane asylum.”

Vladivostok residents were divided on the action by the duma. Yury Brovkin, an unemployed laborer who supports the mayor, said, “I believe the duma is controlled by the governor; they’re dependent on him [for funds], so they do what he wants.”

President Yeltsin removed Cherepkov from office in 1994 for allegedly accepting a bribe. The mayor contested the move in Moscow court and was reinstated October 1996. Seven police officers are now on trial for manufacturing the bribe charge.