In the Past, Kremlin’s Governors School Didn’t Offer Courses on Handling Crises But Now that Is Likely to Change, Danilov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 11 – More than half of the heads of Russia’s federal subjects are graduates of the Kremlin’s governors school (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/02/more-than-half-of-heads-of-russian.html), making the curriculum of that program a key indicator of what Putin wants to see in those running Russia’s regions and republics.

            In the past, the governors school did not provide any courses on how governors are supposed to respond to crises, apparently out of the belief that in the event of such developments, Moscow and not the regional and republic officials would be making all the key decisions. But that is now about to change.

            Vyacheslav Danilov, the politically well-connected head of the Moscow Center for Political Analysis says that he expects the curriculum of the governors school to focus now on crises like floods, fires or mass protests and on how governors should respond in dealing with those (club-rf.ru/detail/7397).

            On the one hand, of course, this is simply the continuation of the Kremlin’s effort to shift responsibility away from itself and onto the governors in the hopes of deflecting criticism away from itself. But on the other, it reflects an implicit recognition that the governors are the first line of defense in such situations and need to be trained so that they can respond adequately.

            Given that there is likely to be a new wave of gubernatorial appointments over the next year, the impact of any such change in training on the behavior of the approach of the new governors is likely to become obvious in the coming months.