The head of the public organization of Kabardino-Balkaria “Khase”, opposition activist Ibragim Yaganov told Olga Allenova why he does not believe that the fight against corruption has begun in the republic.

How do you feel about the detention of KBR officials and fashion designer Madina Khatsukova?

Differently. Khatsukova is a well-known woman in the republic, she sews national clothes, develops culture, and, by and large, this building could simply be given to her for free. But what worked against her was that before June 7, being a relative of the president in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic was a gift from God, and after June 7 it suddenly became an evil fate. And I, of course, hope that she will come out of this situation “safe and sound.”

As far as the officials were concerned, this string had to eventually stop twisting. The level of corruption in the republic has exceeded all acceptable limits. In recent years, republican officials, having felt complete lack of control and impunity, perceived the republic as a joint-stock company and actually lost their sense of reality. They say that our economy is developing, everything is being built around us. And for whom they are building it is not clear. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Well then, you should be glad that such a special operation was carried out in the KBR.

No, I'm not happy, because this is not at all like fighting corruption. There are a lot of facts of corruption in the republic that lie on the surface. For example, the Nart Hotel, a 17-story complex, which was sold for 12 million rubles. Whereas the Khrushchev house in this area costs 5 million. But no one was interested in this fact, and for some reason they took as the basis for the criminal prosecution the old collapsed philharmonic society, which the authorities, I repeat, could have simply given to Hatsukova. But the issue here is not at all about the fight against corruption. In all likelihood, the Elbrus region is being redivided.

How is this connected with the Elbrus region?

There is such a global project “Resorts of the North Caucasus”. The British, French and Chinese already intend to participate there. And against this backdrop, the head of the republic declares that his Sindika holding intends to invest $1 billion in the Elbrus region. Do you think those who are applying for this project liked this? To those who supervise it? There's a lot of money there. They don’t want to give up the Elbrus region; they already consider it theirs. And the head of the KBR also does not want to give in.

I think that in order to show the president of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic that he was wrong, they staged this whole special operation with special forces flying from Moscow to Mozdok. What did it all look like? Special forces in cars with civilian license plates are driving to the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, but the head of the republic knows nothing about it. And he finds out only when the special forces demolish the turnstiles in the government building. And how should this be perceived in the republic? The head, who is the guarantor of the constitution, does not even know what is happening on his territory. What if these were militants? It turns out that he cannot ensure the safety of himself, much less the residents of the republic. This is what they showed him.

Were people not offended by the way this special operation was conducted?

This raid was supposed to offend people and force them to come out to a rally, and that’s what the republican authorities thought. They would try to send special forces from Moscow to Chechnya. But such a raid is not the first and not the last; people are already accustomed to the fact that security forces behave this way with the civilian population. On the other hand, the gap between the government and the people is so great that officials do not have such authority that the people will come to their defense. People didn’t come out because they were so fed up with corruption that there was hope that at least this matter would be brought to an end. But now I don’t even have that hope. The arrest period for KBR officials has been extended until August 6. I think now there is a bargaining around the Elbrus region - by August 6 it will end and the case will be closed. And it's annoying. Corruption rules everywhere, even often in special operations of security forces. I think that if the Olympics will not take place in Sochi, it will be for only one reason - because of corruption.

As a result of the 9-month CTO the year before last, dozens of small and medium-sized businessmen went bankrupt in the Elbrus region. Everyone had loans, plans, hopes. Nobody canceled the loans, loan payments, too, utilities weren’t canceled either, but tourists were canceled for nine months. People went bankrupt, many sold their businesses and simply left. Who needed it? Who needs the Elbrus region without the people living there? There are many questions.

Olga Allenova

“Corruption rules everywhere”