The whole question is who will head the government of the republic

Yesterday it became known about the dismissal of Chechen Prime Minister Odes Baysultanov, who had held this post for the past five years. The name of the new prime minister will make it possible to assess Moscow's future plans for the republic. If Ramzan Kadyrov is allowed to appoint as prime minister a person as loyal to himself as Mr. Baysultanov, it means that the Kremlin’s “Chechen policy” remains unchanged. If a “Moscow” prime minister is appointed, this means that the Kremlin is interested in greater control over the situation in the republic. The second option is quite possible: among the candidates for the post of prime minister, in particular, they name the former mayor of Grozny, and now a high-ranking employee of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) Oleg Zhidkov.

The change of prime minister in Chechnya has been expected for a long time. And yesterday, the office of the Russian Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the North Caucasus Federal District (NCFD) told journalists that “Odes Baysultanov has been fired and his candidacy for the post of Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative for Social Issues is now being considered.” “Currently, the prime minister is on vacation, which he left on April 17,” press secretary of the head of Chechnya Alvi Karimov told Kommersant yesterday, adding that “if a decision is made to nominate Odes Khasaevich for the post of deputy plenipotentiary, we will be happy ".

Mr Baysultanov, Ramzan Kadyrov's cousin, has served as Chechnya's prime minister since April 2007. It was these years that became the period of accelerated restoration of Chechnya, in particular Grozny. Last year, on the 35th anniversary of Ramzan Kadyrov, the Grozny City skyscraper complex was opened, and even earlier, the largest stadium in the North Caucasus, Akhmat Arena, was put into operation.

All these and other impressive achievements, both in Grozny and in Moscow, are associated not so much with the work of Mr. Baysultanov, but with the activities of Mr. Kadyrov, who in the manual control mode in recent years led the republic in general and the process of restoration of the republic in particular. This is how, for example, in May last year, the head of the Accounts Chamber, Sergei Stepashin, assessed the contribution of Ramzan Kadyrov: “What is easy to work with with Ramzan Kadyrov is that if the Accounts Chamber identifies shortcomings, believe me, after six months, either the shortcomings are eliminated, or people Those who allow them will lose their jobs."

Ramzan Kadyrov, enjoying the exclusive support of Vladimir Putin, easily overcame bureaucratic barriers on the part of federal officials and provided financing from the Russian budget for all projects. And what is equally important is that Mr. Kadyrov’s success in reconstructing the republic was facilitated by the absolute loyalty of republican officials, including the prime minister.

Under the former presidents of Chechnya, Akhmat Kadyrov and Alu Alkhanov, all prime ministers were appointed from Moscow and played the role of a kind of controllers over the activities of Chechen officials. This control mainly concerned the spending of money allocated from the federal budget. Attempts by Moscow delegates to take control of financial flows often led to conflicts between the top leaders of Chechnya. Thus, Mikhail Babich, who served as prime minister under Akhmat Kadyrov, left his post with a scandal, without even working for six months. The reason was the disagreement between the head of the republic and the prime minister regarding the candidacy of the minister of finance.

Ramzan Kadyrov, thanks to the exceptional trust and colossal support of the Kremlin, actually made the position of head of government technical and devoid of at least some political influence. If one of the local nominees becomes the new prime minister of Chechnya (in particular, the names of two deputy prime ministers, Eli Isaev and Abubakar Tumkhadzhiev, have already been named), then we can say with confidence that the Kremlin is not going to change its policy towards Chechnya. And Ramzan Kadyrov will continue to receive sufficient resources to restore the republic, while being responsible for stability in the region.

However, Kommersant's sources do not exclude the possibility that Moscow will try to propose its candidacy for the post of prime minister. In particular, they name as a candidate Oleg Zhidkov, the former mayor of Grozny, and now the deputy head of the apparatus of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC). The appointment of a Russian prime minister to Chechnya, and even more so a career special service officer, Zhidkov, may be dictated by the Kremlin’s desire to take control of “Chechen money,” says Alexey Malashenko, an expert on the North Caucasus.

It was not possible to contact Mr. Zhidkov. In the office of the plenipotentiary representative in the North Caucasus Federal District, the possible appointment of Mr. Zhidkov as Prime Minister of Chechnya was neither confirmed nor denied: “It would be nice if this happened.”

Nikolay Krasnov, Alexandra Larintseva, Pyatigorsk

The Chechen team is expecting a replacement