Translated material
Dialogue in different languages
The general fun was preceded by a plenary session of the State Council of the Republic. The President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev made a report “Ten years on the path to strengthening sovereignty”, who tried to “give the concept of sovereignty an exclusively positive meaning.” The arguments given were a stable political and economic situation, the development of language and culture, and large-scale investment projects.
Apparently, the federal center does not really understand or accept the arguments of the leaders of Tatarstan. Proof of this are the greetings of Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Kasyanov, which were read at the parliament session by Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matvienko, who came to Kazan. The word “sovereignty” was simply absent from the congratulatory texts.
Such a congratulation could only mean one thing: the federal center will have to conduct a difficult dialogue about the distribution of powers not only with Tataria, but also with other regions. Meanwhile, the leaders of many republics who came to Kazan for the holiday (more than ten regions) in their speeches quite clearly emphasized “the historical significance of the contractual relations between the center and the subjects of the Federation.” The head of Kabardino-Balkaria, Valery Kokov, said this: “Let’s make the processes of approving legislation reciprocal, create conciliation commissions.” President of Bashkortostan Murtaza Rakhimov recalled that many republics are not petitioners, but contributors to the federal treasury, which is why everyone cannot have equal rights (and powers). The head of the government of Sakha-Yakutia Vasily Vlasov presented Mr. Shaimiev with a gift with meaning: a cube and a ball made of a rare mineral. The cube symbolizes the foundation of federalism, and the ball symbolizes Russia. One awkward move and the ball will fall. Consequences -- split... Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Vladislav Surkov, who is present at the session, will have something to tell Vladimir Putin about.
In their speeches, the heads of the republics emphasized in one way or another that Mintimer Shaimiev is their informal leader. As Tataria does, other regions will apparently do the same. Tataria, the leader of the republic made it clear in his speech, intends to defend contractual relations with the center, to seek the creation of conciliation commissions so that federal legislation is revised and incorporates the best that exists in the regions.