Translated material
Nervous subjects
Uniting regions in Russia is becoming increasingly difficult
The process of uniting regions, so widely advertised at one time by the federal government, seems to be threatening to stall. In the Altai Republic, which is in line for unification with the neighboring Altai Territory, protest sentiments are growing almost every day. Previously, the federal center had to abandon the merger of Adygea with the Krasnodar Territory, and to unite the Irkutsk region with the Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug it was necessary to attract political forces from the center. The closer the federal elections are, the greater the likelihood that the authorities will not escalate conflicts with any territory. And now only those who really want it themselves will unite.On Tuesday, in the capital of the Altai Republic, Gorno-Altaisk, the largest rally in the last 10-15 years took place against unification with the Altai Territory. According to eyewitnesses, about 5 thousand people took part in the action, and it was organized by the recently created movement “For the Republic!” The rally took place simultaneously with a meeting of the State Assembly of the Altai Republic, where Vice-Speaker Nikolai Taitakov announced a draft appeal signed by 33 deputies to the President of Russia on the inadmissibility of liquidating the republic as a subject of the federation through unification.
The statement says: “Serious prospects are now opening up for Altai. “In the next five to ten years we will be able to become a self-sufficient entity.” The process of liquidating the republic, according to deputies, is carried out without taking into account “national-historical traditions, socio-economic feasibility and socio-political prospects,” and consolidation poses a threat to the stability of Russia and the growth of social tension. First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic Yuri Antaradonov, on behalf of the head of the republic, Alexander Berdnikov, who is in Moscow, read the text of his address to the deputies. In it, the head of Altai called on deputies not to make hasty decisions and not to blackmail the federal center, since “this may interfere with constructive negotiations with Moscow on the issue of maintaining the status of the republic.”
Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Siberian Federal District Anatoly Kvashnin is advocating for the unification of the two entities. At the beginning of October 2005, he held a meeting on the issue of unifying the two regions, where he invited the leadership of the Altai Republic and the Altai Territory. After this, the head of the republic, Alexander Berdnikov, sent an appeal to the president, in which he did not approve of the merger. At the same time, the head of the region asked public organizations not to be zealous and to refrain from independently appealing to the federal authorities. Nevertheless, the letter of deputies to the President of Russia became the second - on October 25, a similar document was adopted by the Kurultai of the Altai people, which represents the interests of the indigenous population of the republic.
The intractability of the Gorno-Altai elites is associated not so much with local patriotism as with economic fears. Both regions are subsidized, neither of them is among the industrialized territories. After the unification in the Altai Republic, the number of civil servants will naturally decrease, and businesses dependent on federal money will find themselves in a difficult situation. Moreover, Altai residents are counting on income from Gazprom’s construction of an export gas pipeline to China across the Ukok Plateau. After unification, this money would inevitably be dispersed over a new, larger territory. The merger of regions does not pose a threat to Gazprom’s plans, but the company does not need the social tension that may well arise in the event of consolidation . The region also counts on the construction of a hydroelectric power station on the Katun River and the creation of a special economic zone of a tourist and recreational type.
Director of the Altai School of Political Studies Yuri Chernyshov believes that recently, slowly but surely, the political prerequisites for the unification of regions have been created. “If the former leaders of the Altai Republic, Semyon Zubakin and Mikhail Lapshin, spoke out against the unification, now the post of head of the republic has been taken by Alexander Berdnikov, who for a long time worked as the chief federal inspector of the Altai Territory. Among his inner circle there are several other officials from the Altai Territory and other regions. With their help, apparently, the federal center hopes to implement the unification project,” he explained to Vremya Novostei. According to Mr. Chernyshov, “if officials do not provoke the region’s residents into a protest vote with their brutal pressure and manipulation, this project will be supported in the Altai Territory. As for the Altai Republic, resistance may appear among the national elite, among civil servants, among entrepreneurs, and among ordinary residents.”
After the idea of consolidating regions in Russia emerged, referendums were held on the creation of new federal subjects: the Perm Territory (which absorbed the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug), the Krasnoyarsk Territory (absorbed the Evenki and Taimyr Autonomous Okrug), the Kamchatka Region (absorbed Koryakia) and the Irkutsk Region (absorbed Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug).
Moreover, it was possible to unite the Irkutsk region and UOBAO only on the second attempt. It was planned to enlarge the region for the first time back in 2003. However, due to the fact that the heads of the regions then presented the federal center with an impressive list of objects requiring financing, the process was stopped, and the President of Russia did not reappoint the Irkutsk Governor Boris Govorin for a new term. The new governor of the Irkutsk region, Alexander Tishanin, spoke again about the unification of the region and the district. He managed to conduct a campaign in four and a half months and ensure the necessary turnout, although not without the help of the federal center. Member of the General Council of United Russia, two-time Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling Alexander Karelin, leaders of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov and LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky came to the region to explain the benefits of what was happening.
The authorities stumbled greatly when trying to merge the Krasnodar Territory and Adygea. After one of the meetings between the President of Adygea Khazret Sovmen and Vladimir Putin, Mr. Sovmen’s administration announced that the issue of a possible merger of the republic and the Krasnodar Territory was actually removed from the agenda. Officially, according to the law, in order to launch the unification procedure, it is necessary that both regions turn to the Russian president with a corresponding request. But no such request was received from the Republic of Adygea.
Apparently, as a counterbalance, in October 2006, the heads of the Chita region and the Agin Buryat Autonomous Okrug (ABAO), Ravil Geniatulin and Bair Zhamsuev, signed an appeal to the federal leadership with a request to form a new entity - the Trans-Baikal Territory.
An expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies, Alexander Kynev, in a commentary for Vremya Novostey, suggested that difficulties began to arise when the unification of equivalent entities began: “At first, complex entities were united, which were not quite, let’s say, independent anyway, they have many organs were common. In addition, they united the poor with the rich and promised them a better life. But the further we go, the more obvious it is that the unification, where it took place, gave those who united significantly less than was promised.”