At the beginning of October 2016, the media reported that Vladimir Ivanovich Markin, Major General of Justice, was leaving the Investigative Committee of Russia, where he had been managing the Media Relations Department for nine years.
His last name appeared in the presidential decree on newly appointed and dismissed civil servants.
Where does Markin go to work?
About half a month before the decree was published in some print media, for example, in RBC, materials appeared about planned rearrangements in the RF IC.
General Vladimir Markin at first denied this information, but then he personally told the Interfax correspondent that they had submitted a resignation report. The reason is own desire. Together with him, the head of the committee, Alexander Bastrykin, leaves his post.
Major General Vladimir Markin did not give any comments on the adoption of his decision. He told a TASS correspondent that he planned to work as the first deputy general director of the RusHydro holding.
According to RBC, the country's leadership was forced to go to a reshuffle in the RF IC due to a number of scandalous events. In particular, General Markin was allegedly plagiarized in the process of publishing one of his books. He responded with insulting remarks to the journalist, who considered that the author of the book used his text. Later they were generally told that he was not involved in writing this book.
The media published information about the possibility of upcoming reorganizations in the power sectors. Kommersant, for example, suggested that by the end of 2017, the Investigative Committee will return to the General Prosecutor's Office.
About the scandals surrounding the Investigative Committee
The Russian news agency URA.Ru, the fact that General Markin has resigned as the main media person of the Investigative Committee, is also associated with the scandalous events taking place in this department.
On July 19 of this year, the deputy head of the Moscow Investigative Committee department D. Nikandrov and the head of the committee’s own security structure M. Maksimenko were taken into custody. They are charged with having exceeded their authority.
Conflict with Novaya Gazeta
On September 7, 2016, correspondent N. Prusenkova (Novaya Gazeta) claimed Markin had violated copyright by citing her article in her newly published book. General Markin in his online blog first called Prusenkova a "journalist" who intends to receive a piece of fame at his expense, and then apologized for it.
The reaction of political scientists to the events around Markin
The first vice-president of the Center for Political Technologies, Alexei Makarkin, expressed the opinion that the inadequate reaction of the official representative of the UK to the statement of Prusenkova served as a "trigger" for his resignation.
Makarkin called the behavior strange towards Markin strange and unusual for Markin. Apologies to media representatives, they, according to Makarkin, are not practiced.
The director of the Center for Political Studies at the University of Finance, Pavel Salin, expressed the opinion that the reason for this form of reaction of the head of the SK press center to the accusation made by Novaya Gazeta was the fragility of his positions. P. Salin recalled the case of Markin's accusation of illegally obtaining a diploma. At that time, Markin reacted somewhat more gently and much more confidently. He didn’t make any apologies, he was in a tough position that "you yourself are worse."
From the lips of Ekaterina Shulman, an associate professor of the RANEPA, teaching at the Institute of Social Sciences, it was suggested that the resignation of the official representative of the RF IC is the result of internal processes in this department. However, she warns against drawing hasty conclusions based on this circumstance.
Back in mid-September 2016, URA.Ru predicted the possibility of rearrangements in government circles at the deputy prime minister level and in power structures, as well as the reorganization of the Investigative Committee in November of this year.
