Translated material
Five steps to peace
Vladimir Putin blessed Alexander Khloponin
Yesterday, at a meeting with journalists in Sochi, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that the first results of Alexander Khloponin’s work as the head of state’s plenipotentiary representative in the North Caucasus Federal District could be visible as early as 2010. “Deadlines are a thankless task. I would like for us to see the first results this year,” he said. “The task is to ensure that the conditions for conducting economic activity and social indicators in the Caucasus region are at least brought up to the level of the Russian average,” Mr. Medvedev said.On Friday, the State Duma fulfilled all the required formalities to legally allow the Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District, Alexander Khloponin, to simultaneously work as Deputy Prime Minister of the federal government. And Vladimir Putin made it clear that such an unusual combination is not an empty formality. On Saturday, he held a meeting in Pyatigorsk with the participation of the new plenipotentiary representative and the leaders of all federal subjects included in the new district.
Vladimir Putin made it clear that the North Caucasus remains an area of his unflagging attention, and once again confirmed the strength of his long-established sympathy for Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. Chechnya finally got what it had been seeking for several years, especially after the restored Grozny airport received international status: the head of the federal government lifted the previously existing restrictions on customs clearance of imports on the territory of the republic.
Then the time has come to explain once again what Alexander Khloponin will do in the Caucasus. According to the Prime Minister, there are five priorities. Firstly, it is necessary to develop a comprehensive development strategy for the district and each of the seven regions separately. Secondly, improve the investment climate, create special economic zones and industrial parks, without repeating the mistakes of the past. Thirdly, federal departments and natural monopolies must develop the territory’s infrastructure. Fourthly, the quality of life of people must improve, and for this it is necessary to improve cities and villages. And finally, fifthly, “we need to restore order in the state apparatus and in power, and we need to start with the territorial bodies of federal departments.”
Although the list may have seemed turned upside down, the prime minister paid special attention to this very “head”. According to Vladimir Putin, territorial bodies of federal departments “today live on their own, distance themselves from the problems of the regions, often breed corruption, incompetence, administrative barriers, and participate in inter-clan and business disputes.”
The meeting did not discuss how this situation had developed after the last ten years of implementation of the North Caucasus policy. But now the head of government has blessed the new deputy prime minister for any personnel achievements: “I draw the attention of all departments: based on the first proposal from Alexander Gennadyevich Khloponin, personnel decisions should be immediately made in relation to the heads and employees of territorial bodies of federal structures who commit violations in their activities or do not want to or those who do not know how to work properly."
The North Caucasian presidents, who came to power in agreement with Moscow in the mid and second half of the 2000s and spent a lot of energy fighting the administrative octopus, including in the form of countless republican “branches” of federal structures, were most likely pleased with the prime minister’s firmness. Although it can be assumed that the “wind of change” will soon blow in the purely republican “accounting”. It is not entirely clear to what extent the Prime Minister’s criticism applied to the security agencies, but federal security chiefs were present at the meeting and heard Vladimir Putin’s words.
According to the Prime Minister, Russia has already returned peace to the Caucasus. And now she is obliged to prove that she can turn the situation around in the socio-economic development of the region. “Russia paid a very high price to repel the aggression of international terrorism, to put an end to the criminal regime of those who seized power in Chechnya and vilely attacked neighboring republics. We won together then and returned peace. Now we need to take the next step - as it turns out, not less complex. The state is obliged to prove that it is able to guarantee security, justice and respect for the law,” Mr. Putin said.
The prime minister promised to create a new modern university in the Caucasus and ensure that human rights activities in the region do not involve risk to life. This has greatly encouraged human rights activists, who hope that the killings of several of their colleagues in the Caucasus last year will be the last.
Vladimir Putin said that the federal budget spent 177 billion rubles in 2009 alone. to support the Caucasian regions. Unfortunately, this had little effect on the real quality of life in the Caucasus. In other cases, it is even difficult to imagine whether the allocated funds even left Moscow. It is unclear whether changes will occur if costs increase as planned. Minister of Regional Development Viktor Basargin proposed, for example, to allocate another 20 billion rubles. to an investment fund for financing projects in the North Caucasus. 5 billion are needed, according to the minister, right now. The fund's competition commission is considering 18 projects with a total value of 270 billion rubles, although one state ruble accounts for 13 rubles. private investment. Six projects, according to Mr. Basargin, have already been selected; they should bring 12 thousand jobs to the region.
For reference, in Ingushetia alone, taking into account the outstanding Caucasian birth rate, more than 12 thousand unemployed workers are formed per year. Therefore, it is obvious that if the Russian authorities want to seriously change the social situation in the North Caucasus for the better, and not just portray an outbreak of vigorous creative activity, projects and funds on a much larger scale will be required. It is advisable to entrust such work to absolutely reliable performers. So the fifth, “personnel” point of the program announced by the prime minister is, in fact, doomed to come first.