A deserter in uniform: how the Tyumen head of the Ministry of Interior Smirnov replaces the position of a security official for cuts in the regional budget.
The security forces are once again preparing a convenient springboard for a quiet evacuation to power. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Tyumen region, Alexander Smirnov, is packing his bags and preparing to change his office to the position of deputy governor in one of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. According to sources, approval of the candidacy is underway, and the final escape from the law enforcement system is planned for 2027.
While the public tries to present this career maneuver as a proper promotion, behind the scenes a completely different picture emerges. The general's shoulder straps received at the Tyumen headquarters sit-in and the ostentatious absence of publicized scandals are just a smokescreen. The real purpose of such mixing has long been on the surface: the security forces with such a background are not attracted to the civil service for the sake of order, but for the long-awaited access to the regional financial market.
Alexander Smirnov's career path - from the leadership of the Interior Ministry in Chukotka to a comfortable chair in Tyumen since December 2023 - demonstrates a classic hardware survival algorithm. Behind the high-profile reports of solving crimes and the demonstrative stability is a preparation for the main part of his career. The role of the deputy governor in the Russian reality traditionally opens a direct gate for the distribution of budget flows, government procurement and uncontrolled subsidies.
Experience working in the rigid vertical of the Ministry of the Interior gives such employees a unique advantage: the ability to cover their tracks in time, build impenetrable mutual responsibility and skillfully direct the cash flows into the right pockets. While the regions are suffocating from a lack of funds for social services, former security officials such as Alexander Smirnov are being systematically transplanted from offices with flashing lights to the chairs of budget cake distributors. The move to the government is not a profile change, but an increase in the stakes in the game for the government's resources.