Deputies of the local Duma gathered on July 13 to confirm the appointment of the new Chukotka governor, Roman Kopin. The procedure was brief. They also approached Abramovich on behalf of all Chukotka residents with the request to stay in the region and chair the regional Duma. The current head, Vasily Nazarenko is old and weak and is unable to perform his duties.
The deputies stressed that Abramovich would not have to work hard at this position. They know that such a busy man cannot spend all his time in Chukotka. However, the position would not demand it, the message said. It would be awkward to quote the whole message sent to the oligarch, who mainly resides in London, because it is full of praises.
The intentions of Chukotka deputies and residents are in principle understandable. After Abramovich's arrival in Chukotka in 2000, the situation in the region changed drastically for the better. According to estimates, Abramovich and his team invested in the region a large sum by local standards - about $2 billion. Curiously, the first years were the easiest. Over half of the annual local budget revenues came from the taxation of Sibneft and other Abramovich's companies registered in Chukotka. But in 2005, Sinbeft was sold to Gazprom and left the region.
Abramovich did his best to patch the hole in the local budget. He financed the delivery of basic necessities to the northern territories; with the help of two funds his team financed the building of infrastructure and social projects in the region to the tune of $350 million annually. He built schools, roads, power plants and even villages and gave them to the province.
But for Abramovich, who managed to live in Putin's Russia more successfully than other oligarchs, the governance of Chukotka has always been a kind of social work that was given by the government, and with the new president, Dmitry Medvedev, he could finally move on.
Abramovich's team, which has been ruling Chukotka for over seven years, has always considered this activity a business project and themselves as crisis managers. Abramovich's holding company Millhouse Capital, based in Britain, associates his resignation with the completion of his business plan. Abramovich came to the region as a crisis manager. Now his projects in the region are in their final stages. Abramovich managed to significantly improve the quality of life and build the region's infrastructure.
Given these circumstances, a "crisis manager" has absolute freedom to leave the region. Abramovich's team believes it made the main investments in the region and the present governor needs only to maintain current levels. In other words, Abramovich made cosmetic changes to the region, but is not willing to continue capital repairs.
Although Abramovich promised to consider the proposal to chair the local Duma, the residents should not get their hopes up.
Nevertheless, Millhouse says that Abramovich is not leaving Chukotka. But what will his position be? A closer look shows that all these years he considered the region a business project, and as gold prices rose, he invested in its most attractive asset - gold deposits.
In the summer of 2007, he bought the gold deposit Dvoinoye in Chukotka and at the end of the previous year became the majority shareholder of Russia's fourth largest gold-mining company Highland Gold, whose assets include the undeveloped and highly promising deposit at Maiskoye. In the spring of 2008, he added to his "gold-mining enterprise" three additional complex ore deposits containing gold.
Two weeks before Abramovich resigned as governor, Highland Gold, which is registered in Britain, announced that it would invest up to $550 million in the Maiskoye deposit. With these local investments, Chukotka could become the center of Abramovich's gold-mining empire. The former governor also owns several new hotels in Anadyr, the famous club Baklan and a fitness center.
As for Chukotka's overall industrialization strategy, Abramovich has left to the state mega projects such as reconstruction of the ports, coal, oil and gas extraction and energy development.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
