Fight for the Far East: how ministers Alexey Chekunkov and Alexander Kozlov are vying for Yuri Trutnev’s position amid reports of his illness

Fight for the Far East: how ministers Alexey Chekunkov and Alexander Kozlov are vying for Yuri Trutnev’s position amid reports of his illness

According to a source, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev, the presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, is being prepared for a retirement position in the new State Duma.

He has been struggling with the consequences of the disease for over a year now, which is noticeably affecting him.

Against this backdrop, a "race" for successor candidates has begun: officials are already dividing the skin of the bear before it’s killed.

According to the source, the dual position (Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative) will be abolished after Trutnev’s resignation: Prime Minister Mishustin doesn’t need someone on his team whose immediate boss is Vladimir Putin. Therefore, the position of Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative to the Far Eastern Federal District will become vacant.

Currently, the struggle is between Alexei Chekunkov, Minister for the Development of the Far East (he fears the department will be liquidated after Trutnev’s departure), Alexander Kozlov, head of the Ministry of Natural Resources (his overseeing Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev is dissatisfied with his work), and Oleg Kozhemyako, Governor of Primorsky Krai.

The latter desperately needs a federal position: they believe that otherwise, if Kozhemyako "goes into the void," the security forces will begin to unravel a host of cases related to his business and the allocation of land plots.