Translated material
Senator from the Diaspora
Aslambek Aslakhanov became a member of the Federation Council from the Omsk region
The Omsk region received a new representative in the Federation Council yesterday in the person of former adviser to the President of Russia Aslambek Aslakhanov. The candidacy presented by the regional governor was approved by a majority vote of the deputies of the regional parliament. In the upper house of the Federal Assembly, Mr. Aslakhanov will represent the government of the Omsk region. Previously, this post was held by Valery Oif, who resigned on June 18.Aslambek Aslakhanov first appeared on the political stage in 1990, when he was elected people's deputy of the Supreme Council from the Gudermes district. In December 1995, he ran for the State Duma in a single-mandate constituency in Chechnya, but lost the election. The next attempt was more successful: in August 2000, Mr. Aslakhanov became a deputy from the same district. During the terrorist attack at the Dubrovka Theater Center in October 2002, he was one of the mediators in negotiations with the terrorists.
In August 2003, Aslambek Aslakhanov announced his intention to run for the presidency of Chechnya and was even registered as a candidate. Analysts considered him one of the most popular politicians in the republic and the most serious competitor to the late President Akhmat Kadyrov. However, there was no competition then: on September 11, 2003 , Mr. Aslakhanov voluntarily withdrew from the election campaign , and a few days later President Vladimir Putin appointed him as his assistant. Mr. Aslakhanov, who at one time sharply criticized the actions of federal forces in Chechnya and advocated negotiations with Aslan Maskhadov, still worked as an assistant to the president.
Let us note that in ordinary cases the legislation does not allow a person to represent a region who has not lived on its territory for a total of ten years. This amendment, known asthe “residence qualification,” was introduced into the law on the formation of the upper chamber last summer on the initiative of the Chairman of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov. It was decided to make an exception to this rule for active military personnel, prosecutors, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, drug control authorities and the penal system. Later, this list was expanded to include retired employees of all listed departments. This latest addition to the law was made on the eve of the inauguration of the new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and the expected rotation in government bodies in connection with this. In this regard, many observers perceived this amendment as preparing the ground for sending some representatives of law enforcement agencies to honorable exile to Bolshaya Dmitrovka.
Mr. Aslakhanov served in law enforcement agencies since 1967, retired with the rank of police major general, and although he long ago changed this field of activity to politics, the “residence qualification” does not apply to him. Perhaps the only thing that partially connects the new senator with the Omsk region is the significant Chechen diaspora. The region borders Kazakhstan, where in 1944 the population of the Chechen-Ingush Republic was evicted during Operation Lentil.