Samara

Between 1991 and 2022, Samara Oblast produced four governors. Titov (Титов К.А.), the first governor, held office for three terms, or 16 years in total. He was followed in turn by Artyakov (Артяков В.В.), Merkushkin (Меркушкин Н.И.), and the current governor, Azarov (Азаров Д.И.); each of the three served a single 5-year term. As Samara’s first governor, Titov’s time in office stretched across both the 1990s and the 2000s. He was directly appointed by the president during the 1993 constitutional crisis, passed through the elections of 1996 and 2000, and in 2005 again received the president’s nomination and secured approval from the regional legislature. That he came through all four tests without being displaced is enough to show his prestige and capacity for control within regional politics.