| Sergei Abramov vacated the chair of Prime Minister of Chechnya to Ramzan Kadyrov Rumors about the resignation of Sergei Abramov from the post of Prime Minister of Chechnya, which have been circulating in Moscow and Grozny over the past few weeks, found their full and final confirmation yesterday. Chechen President Alu Alkhanov said he received his resignation yesterday morning.
The resignation can be considered accepted, since Mr. Alkhanov immediately spoke about a likely successor to Mr. Abramov. True, at half past ten in the morning the President of Chechnya still believed that “it is too early to talk about who will succeed Sergei Abramov as chairman of the government.” But by half past five in the evening, the chairman of the People's Assembly of Chechnya, Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, brought clarity to this issue: from his point of view, it is impossible to find a better candidate than Ramzan Kadyrov.
The 29-year-old candidate himself, who has been acting prime minister since November last year, said that the resignation was an unpleasant surprise for him and he greatly regrets it. It is formally difficult to disagree with Mr. Kadyrov: throughout the entire time that the possibility of such a personnel change was discussed in the Russian and Chechen capitals, Sergei Abramov persistently denied these rumors and promised to return to work in Chechnya as soon as his treatment was completed. He even named return dates - first the end of February, then the beginning of March.
Let us recall that on November 18 last year, the Prime Minister of Chechnya was involved in an accident in the Moscow region, after which he was hospitalized at the Central Clinical Hospital and underwent serious surgery on his right kidney. Later, in February of this year, he underwent hip surgery in one of the German clinics. Sergei Abramov himself says that his state of health is quite sufficient to fulfill his duties as prime minister. However, the President of Chechnya, Alu Alkhanov, clarified yesterday, commenting on Abramov’s statement, that Mr. Abramov’s health does not allow him to return to work.
This, in turn, came as a surprise to Mr. Abramov. “I was surprised to learn that my resignation was due to my health,” he said. -- This is wrong". The prime minister said that he wrote his resignation, hoping that his post would be taken by Ramzan Kadyrov: “I submitted my application on the condition that the government would be headed by Ramzan Kadyrov, since I sincerely consider such a decision to be the most appropriate. I was invited to work for the post of Prime Minister in Chechnya by Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov (President of Chechnya, died in a terrorist attack on May 9, 2004 - Ed. ). I tried to do everything that he and I, with the approval of the country’s leadership, agreed on, both economically and politically. Now the time has come to transfer power in the government to Ramzan.” Mr. Abramov was very surprised when he learned that the decision to appoint Mr. Kadyrov as prime minister had not yet been made.
The decision, however, can be considered accepted. The Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian President in the Southern Federal District, Dmitry Kozak, confirmed yesterday that Ramzan Kadyrov may lose the “acting” prefix if his candidacy is submitted to the Chechen parliament by the President of the Republic. Parliament, judging by Mr. Abdurakhmanov’s statement, is already ready to confirm Ramzan’s prime ministerial powers.
Mr. Kozak himself is unlikely to welcome such an appointment. Last week, the plenipotentiary initiated a prosecutor's review of the legality of a number of statements by Ramzan Kadyrov - in particular, about his intention to ban the activities of Danish humanitarian organizations in Chechnya in connection with the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Denmark and about the need for compulsory teaching of the Koran and Sharia law in schools. This was the first serious public attempt by the southern embassy to influence Mr. Kadyrov, who, even outside the prime minister’s chair, is actually the first person in the republic. Ramzan Kadyrov immediately stated that he does not find any contradictions with Russian legislation in his actions and statements. Most likely, the prosecutor's office will adhere to the same opinion - in any case, its previous attempts to intervene in the activities of Mr. Kadyrov, for example, after last year's attack by his security guards on the regional police department in the Dagestan city of Khasavyurt, were unsuccessful.
But whatever the result of the current prosecutor's investigation, it is unlikely to interfere with Mr. Kadyrov's further advancement up the career ladder. Despite the fact that the President of Chechnya, Alu Alkhanov, elected in 2004, declares his intention to fulfill his duties until the end of his constitutional term, this fall he will also have reason to expect early resignation: in October Ramzan will turn 30 years old, and at this age, according to the Chechen constitution, he will be able to become the first person of the republic quite officially. Ivan SUKHOV |
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