Symbols of power of the President of Tatarstan were presented to Rustam Minnikhanov

Mintimer Shaimiev resigned as President of Tatarstan at the inauguration of Rustam Minnikhanov yesterday. But the attention of the guests of the ceremony was focused precisely on the person of Mr. Shaimiev. It is already known that in a month he will take the post of State Advisor of the Republic, but it is not yet known whether the ex-president will retain his residence in the Kazan Kremlin.

The start of Mr. Minnikhanov’s inauguration was scheduled for noon, but already at 11 o’clock the lobby of the Great Concert Hall (BKZ) was crowded. A day earlier, Speaker of the State Council of Tatarstan Farid Mukhametshin said that 780 guests were invited to the event. In addition to deputies of local and federal parliaments, heads of municipalities and republican ministers, there were guests from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, the Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and, of course, the heads of the constituent entities of the Volga Federal District. Sports officials also arrived: President of the Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishchev, accompanied by tennis player Marat Safin, Senator Vyacheslav Fetisov, head coaches of the Kazan sports clubs "Rubin", "Ak Bars" and "Zenit-Kazan" Kurban Berdyev, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov and Vladimir Alekno. Ten minutes before the start of the ceremony, Mintimer Shaimiev and his wife arrived at the BKZ. Following him alone was the somewhat confused mayor of Kazan, Ilsur Metshin.

In the foyer, guests compared their invitations. Naturally, the seats next to the stage were rated highest. The smaller the number that the viewer named in response to the question “What row do you have?”, the more solemn his voice sounded. True, the organizers of the event tried to equalize all the guests by handing out identical commemorative silver coins with a panorama of the Kazan Kremlin on one side and the emblem of the republic on the other.

The inauguration ceremony was short. After bringing the flags of Russia and Tatarstan into the hall, as well as the symbol of power of the head of the republic - the presidential standard, Mr. Mukhametshin invited Mr. Minnikhanov to the hall. He took the oath in Tatar and Russian, and then received a standard from the hands of the first president of Tatarstan. After this, Mr. Shaimiev congratulated his successor on taking office and briefly described the results of his work. He noted that thanks to the “state approach” and “trustful attitude” of the Russian presidents, “attempts at a distorted, one-sided interpretation of the role of the Tatar people at different stages of the formation of the Russian state were thrown into the dustbin of history.” At the same time, he noted: “We are somewhat concerned about the federal center’s underestimation of the need to develop a deeply thought-out, coordinated national policy for the state.” Mr. Shaimiev admonished his successor with a quotation from the works of the poet Gabdulla Tukay: “Love life, love your people, honor the people’s dream / We are mortal, we would not exchange the gift of life for vanity.” The first president concluded his speech with the traditional slogan “We can!”

The following speakers spoke more about the former than the incoming president. Thus, Dmitry Medvedev's plenipotentiary representative in the Volga Federal District Grigory Rapota said in Tatar the proverb “Where you were born, you are useful there,” after which he drew the attention of those gathered to the fact that “the federals are already learning Tatar.” The head of Mordovia, Nikolai Merkushkin, although he noted that “you (in Tataria —Kommersant ) don’t have much democracy,” expressed the opinion that the people of the republic should “pray for him for a thousand years” for Mr. Shaimiev’s achievements. And OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu made a fiery speech about the role of Mr. Shaimiev in the integration of Russia into the Muslim world, after which he kissed the ex-president not only on both cheeks, but also on the forehead.

Rustam Minnikhanov presented Mr. Shaimiev with the highest award of the republic - the Order of Merit for the Republic of Tatarstan. In his speech, the new president spoke about the need for modernization and innovation in all spheres of life in the republic, including management. But he ended his speech with the same words as the previous president - “We can!”

The presidential press service did not comment on the question of where Mintimer Shaimiev would go after the inauguration, only suggesting that he would take a “temporary rest.” When asked by Kommersant whether Mr. Shaimiev can be legally considered an unemployed pensioner, the press service replied that they prefer to call him “the first president of Tatarstan.”

Let us recall that the State Council of the Republic introduced a new position - State Advisor of the Republic of Tatarstan, which will be filled by a person who has ceased to serve as the President of the Republic. The corresponding law has not yet been signed by the head of the republic; in addition, a candidate for a new position is officially nominated by the current president, and then approved by the State Council. Mr. Mukhametshin previously stated that the issue of appointing Mr. Shaimiev could be considered at the next meeting of the State Council, which will take place approximately on April 22. Yesterday, the press secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers of Tatarstan, Andrei Kuzmin, told Kommersant that the issue of Rustam Minnikhanov’s move to the Kazan Kremlin “will be resolved within a month” and for now his office remains in the government building of the republic. It is known so far that on one of the buildings of the Kremlin, which was previously occupied by the Ministry of Agriculture, a sign appeared “Office of the President of Tatarstan.” So far, Mr. Minnikhanov has received only a virtual address - the website of the head of the republic. Mintimer Shaimiev’s personal website received a new address yesterday. But on the website of the President of Tatarstan there is a banner leading to the page to Mr. Shaimiev.

Vsevolod Boyko, Kazan

Mintimer Shaimiev transferred powers