| Dmitry Kozak may return to work in Moscow As soon as President Vladimir Putin appointed Dmitry Kozak as presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District (this happened in September 2004, almost immediately after the Beslan tragedy), observers immediately began to say that Mr. Kozak would not stay in his new position for long. Moreover, the post of either prosecutor general or prime minister was most often mentioned as the next career step. Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov has just been re-appointed by the Federation Council for a new term. But when at the end of May there was a new wave of rumors about the impending resignation of the current head of government, Mikhail Fradkov, Plenipotentiary Representative Kozak again found himself among the main contenders.
A source close to the plenipotentiary commented to Vremya Novostey on the talk about Mr. Kozak’s possible imminent return to Moscow: “This will happen either in May, when Dmitry Nikolaevich can head the cabinet of ministers instead of Mr. Fradkov, or not earlier than 2007.” Everything is clear about 2007 - Mr. Kozak has long been included in the list of possible successors to Vladimir Putin. Actually, the prime minister's chair can be considered as a springboard to participation in the 2008 presidential elections. True, it is believed that the main task of Mikhail Fradkov’s replacement may be to carry out unpopular reforms that can significantly damage the rating of the future candidate. Therefore, from the point of view of electoral prospects, sitting in the prime minister's chair in 2007 is better than now.
In addition, it is not so easy to find a replacement for Dmitry Kozak himself. The south of the country is not a district where you can get by with a technical plenipotentiary. Dmitry Kozak has already shown himself to be an effective manager, capable of nipping in the bud the disputes and conflicts that constantly arise in the North Caucasian republics. It is obvious, for example, that only the authority and toughness of Mr. Kozak made it possible to avoid mass unrest in Karachay-Cherkessia (KCR) in connection with the murder of a deputy of the People's Assembly of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic Rasul Bogatyrev and six of his friends, in which the ex-son-in-law of the President of the Republic Ali Kaitov is suspected. The intervention of the plenipotentiary made it possible to calm the situation in North Ossetia, where after the Beslan tragedy the confrontation between the local opposition and President Alexander Dzasokhov intensified. By the way, delegations of oppositionists and those simply dissatisfied with the authorities in a particular region often come to Mr. Kozak in Rostov, and the plenipotentiary always quite successfully acts as a peacemaker.
In addition, the too frequent change of presidential representatives leads to the fact that a new official from Moscow barely has time to travel around the entire district and get to know local leaders before returning to the capital. Appointing a security official who is well acquainted with the district means going back to what has already been done: civilian plenipotentiaries had to, among other things, demonstrate progress in establishing order in the south of the country, successes in the fight against terrorism, making it possible to bring the solution of economic problems to the fore. Not strength, but intelligence. In this regard, the plenipotentiary representative may well be one of the major regional politicians. “For example, the Kuban governor Alexander Tkachev,” suggested a source in the embassy of the Southern Federal District in a conversation with a Vremya Novostei correspondent. Larisa NIKITINA, Rostov-on-Don |
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