Translated material
There is no other way
The President of North Ossetia became the first leader in the North Caucasus reappointed by Dmitry Medvedev
The North Ossetian parliament this coming Thursday, April 29, at its next session will consider the candidacy of Taimuraz Mamsurov, submitted by Dmitry Medvedev, and will re-approve him as head of the republic for a second term. Thus, the 56-year-old North Ossetian leader became the first regional leader in the North Caucasus whom Dmitry Medvedev asked to continue working in the future.In the summer of 2008, Dmitry Medvedev introduced to the People's Assembly of Karachay-Cherkessia the candidacy of former judge of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation Boris Ebzeev, who replaced the former President of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic Mustafa Batdyev. In the fall of 2008, the President of Ingushetia, Murat Zyazikov, resigned and was replaced by the head of state with the landing general Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. In February 2010, the president in Dagestan was replaced - the place of the veteran of Dagestan politics, Avar Mukhu Aliyev, was taken by the son of his predecessor in the presidential chair, Dargin Magomedsalam Magomedov.
Almost simultaneously with the Dagestan appointment, the Kremlin made the final decision to separate a new formation from the Southern Federal District - the North Caucasus Federal District. The former governor of the Krasnodar Territory, Alexander Khloponin, became the president's plenipotentiary envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District and at the same time the deputy prime minister of the Russian government (that is, in fact the prime minister's plenipotentiary envoy). The district included six of the seven republics of the North Caucasus (with the exception of Adygea) and the Stavropol Territory, where in May 2008 Valery Gaevsky replaced the former governor Alexander Chernogorov. Thus, there is new leadership in four constituent entities of the new federal district. The remaining three will apparently not be affected by personnel changes for now. And despite all the external differences, there seems to be one reason: there is simply no one to replace the current leaders of North Ossetia, Chechnya and Kabardino-Balkaria.
There was no intrigue in the reappointment of Mr. Mamsurov. In 2005, he became one of the first regional leaders in the country to try out a new system for filling the position of head of a federal subject: instead of direct elections, approval by the local legislative assembly on the proposal of the head of state. The Kremlin endured a tense pause for several months after the tragedy in Beslan, trying to concentrate all the protest sentiments of the victims and sympathizers on the figure of the former head of North Ossetia, Alexander Dzasokhov. Then he fired him and chose the figure of one of Dzasokhov’s closest associates - Taimuraz Mamsurov, who had two of his own children among the hostages in the Beslan school.
The new head of the republic, whom the victims of Beslan perceived as their fellow sufferer, managed to reduce the intensity of passions around this incredibly painful topic, which, it seems, for the first time made many Ossetians think about what their traditionally loyal attitude towards Russia is really worth if it turns out to be unable to protect children from the threat of a handful of terrorists. In addition, Mr. Mamsurov was able, on the one hand, to ensure the preservation of the interests of a significant part of the former republican elite, and on the other, to convince Moscow that the shortcomings of this former system were over.
Achieving these goals was difficult against the backdrop of attempts by the Prosecutor General's Office to understand the corruption relationships within the North Ossetian elite, criminal conflicts around the Vladikavkaz mayor's office related to the state of registration of rights to city real estate and costing the lives of several famous people, and squabbles within the local United Russia during the 2007 elections .
Today the situation in North Ossetia is completely under the control of Taimuraz Mamsurov. After the war with Georgia in August 2008, North Ossetia became the object of constant attention of the federal center, since even in a purely transport sense there is no other road from Russia to South Ossetia. At the beginning of 2010, it was Mr. Mamsurov who became the first of the North Caucasian leaders with whom Dmitry Medvedev discussed the creation of the North Caucasus Federal District. Then, after the North Caucasian Federal District “took flesh,” Alexander Khloponin first visited North Ossetia, as if emphasizing the traditional thesis of the federal government that this particular territory is Russia’s outpost in the North Caucasus. This thesis is not very flattering for the Russian republics on both sides of Ossetia, but it is by no means meaningless: Ossetia is not only a cultural and confessional bridge across the Islamic North Caucasus to Christian Georgia, but also the location of the 58th Army of the Ministry of Defense - the main Russian armed forces in the Caucasus.
The list of candidates for the leadership of North Ossetia, which United Russia, as required by law, proposed to the president of the country, indicated that there was no real alternative. Both potential competitors of Mr. Mamsurov were included there more for show than as a result of the titanic lobbying efforts of the elite groups behind them, as was the case in the fall and winter in Dagestan. In addition to Mr. Mamsurov, the list included the rector of the North Ossetian State University Oleg Khatsaev and the deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, a native of North Ossetian Alagir, Sergei Menyailo. But the current leader has no complaints from the federal center, actively participates in the “hardware setup” of the North Ossetian Federal District and, moreover, personifies the North Ossetian side in the most important process of resolving the consequences of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict of 1992.
During his visit to North Ossetia, Mr. Khloponin was not particularly complimentary. He criticized local officials for the state of the economy and excessive demands for additional federal appropriations and wondered how many of the famous Ossetian distilleries managed to go bankrupt. Quite sharp criticism of the leader also exists within the republic, especially from those who are professionally familiar, for example, with the work of the local tax service. Many joke about the fact that official North Ossetian reports on achievements include such an indicator as the statistical increase in the life expectancy of the population during the years of Mr. Mamsurov's rule.
Taimuraz Mamsurov is not easily considered one of the unimpeachable achievers among the North Caucasus presidents whom Moscow brought to power in the 2000s in the hope that a replacement leader could turn the tide as a whole. But the state of affairs within the North Ossetian elite has changed even compared to 2005, when, in addition to Mr. Mamsurov, several more local politicians and entrepreneurs could at least theoretically apply for the post of head of North Ossetia. This Thursday, the North Ossetian parliament, without even convening an extraordinary session and, as if thereby emphasizing its self-confident slowness, will approve the candidacy submitted by Dmitry Medvedev. For this, the votes of United Russia, which has 56 out of 70 mandates, are sufficient.
Next in line on the issue of changing or reappointing the president is Kabardino-Balkaria. There are also virtually no doubts about the reappointment of the current president Arsen Kanokov, who is one of the “excellent” presidents: he calmed tensions after the militant attack on Nalchik in 2005, brought staff and rules of the game to the region from his Moscow business, officially almost did not reduce subsidies by half, began (or is about to begin) a huge investment project on the northern slope of the Elbrus region.
But Mr. Kanokov, unlike Mr. Mamsurov, has opponents with lobbying capabilities, and they have already declared their ambitions.
The third permanent leader in the North Caucasus Federal District remains the President of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. But his first constitutional presidential term will not expire soon, and even discussing the issue of a possible replacement is still tantamount to dangerous sedition. In Chechnya itself and in the new district center of Pyatigorsk, apparently, they have not yet decided who is really more important in the North Caucasus Federal District: Vladimir Putin’s friend and protégé Ramzan Kadyrov or Dmitry Medvedev’s plenipotentiary and Vladimir Putin’s deputy Alexander Khloponin.