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| 25 мая, 2012

Konstantin Kostin left the Kremlin for the Foundation

'Izvestia' daily publication

By Natalia Galimova

Konstatin Kostin himself made this statement to Izvestia: I am indeed leaving the Presidential administrative team. He refused to make any further comment.

According to Izvestia, Kostin will head a political consultancy foundation which will be working on the development of regional electoral strategies.

Prior to the cancellation of governors' elections, the largest organisation of this kind was the Gleb Pavlovskii Foundation of Efficient Politics. However it gradually lost its political influence to the extent that eventually Pavlovski himself was barred from entering the Kremlin. Izvestia announced earlier that the Presidential administrative team had decided to have a shake up amongst its staff in order to prepare for the regional elections.

It was decided at a meeting in the Kremlin to create a network of structures to support regional electoral campaigns. It has always been the presidents administrative team who decides which of its staff will support the elections in each region. Otherwise, writes Izvestia, there would be chaos in the electoral campaign. Kostin's Foundation suits this policy perfectly.

A source close to the presidents' administrative team, explained the resignation of one of the Kremlin's key statesmen by saying that the analytical center is tailor-made for Kostin considering his extensive experience and influence.

Pavlovskii has been moved aside (Gleb Pavlovskii, head of the former Kremlin think-tank the Foundation of Efficient Politics) in favour of Badovskii (Dmitri Badovskii, former head of the R&D Institute for Social Systems) who has surfaced as a member of Volodin's team. However, the Kremlin is more inclined to find simple solutions which is where the administrative process really begins. This is no doubt what caused the downfall of Unified Russia in the Duma elections and the subsequent mistrust of the authorities.

'A simple administrative process does not work' says the source. Mikhail Vinogradov, a political commentator suggests: 'Changes of this kind often occur when personnel are shifted around. Kostin began work as a member of Vladimir Surkov's department when the latter was deputy head of the administrative team but perhaps it is now necessary to make more changes in the team? And perhaps this change will favour Volodin's candidates? Or it might just be that Kostin's resignation is the result of a general HR rotation which has been going on for around a year and a half now?' Vinogradov also pointed out that the head of the Domestic Policy Directorate will face a number of new challenges including escalating public unrest and the direct election of governors. 'It is still unclear whether or not this will lead to a shift in how the Directorate will function' he concluded.

Political analyst Dmitrii Orlov said in an interview with Izvestia: 'Kostin is one of the country's leading experts in domestic policy and politics. I believe his resignation is a result of the changes within management teams as he definitely belonged in the previous team. Kostin has had a long-standing relationship with Vladislav Surkov's, the former deputy head of the administrative team and I think this was a deciding factor.' Orlov does not believe that he was ousted due to internal conflicts. 'I believe it is simply a process of natural renewal which has come about due to the introduction of a new domestic policy team within the administration.' According to our sources in the Kremlin, the Domestic Policy Directorate will not change much with the departure of Kostin. The board will not be split in two (an option which was discussed earlier.)

When Kostin first met Surkov, he was CEO of the advertising agency Metrapress (1991-1993).
In 1993 he founded the Soyuz PR Bureau - a company which specialised in mass publicity campaigns.
From 1994-1997 he headed up the PR board of Menatep Bank and was also head of the Rosprom Yukos Press Service.
From June 1998 to 1999 Kostin led the Economic and Project Management Department of Vladimir Yevtushenko's advertising company Sistema Mass Media.

In 1999 he joined the election campaign team of the Otchestvo Party.
In May 2005 he was appointed deputy chairman of the Executive Board of the United Russia Party.
On 23rd June 2008 he was made deputy head of the Domestic Policy Directorate (DPD)within the presidential administrative team, replacing Alexei Chesnakov.

In September 2011 he took the place of the head of the DPD Oleg Govorun, when Govorun became the president's envoy in the Central Federal District.