Four Russian regional governors resigned on Tuesday as the country braces for the impact of economic sanctions, Reuters reports.
The heads of the Tomsk, Saratov, Kirov and Mari El regions announced their immediate departures from office, while the head of Ryazan region said he would not run for another term – elections are scheduled to take place in all five regions in September.
Ilya Grashchenkov, head of the Centre for the Development of Regional Politics think tank in Moscow, said the Kremlin was removing weak governors amid a worsening economic outlook for the country, driven by Western sanctions.
Grashchenkov said: “There’s a need to restructure the economy, especially in those regions where Western economic influence had been significant. These governors need to be replaced by younger alternatives.”
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