Lightless island

Another region with “special relations” with the center appeared in Russia

Crimean President Sergei Aksenov publicly complained about lack of powers and underfunding the peninsula by the federal authorities. In response, Russian news agencies, citing anonymous sources in the government, reported that in Moscow there was irritation to the figure of the head of the peninsula. Specific measures against Aksenov, as well as official criticism of the government, have not yet been made. The press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov even states that the rumors of the conflict are exaggerated. Like, a working moment, the only head of the region requires special powers and publicly criticizes the government.

It is clear that before us an attempt to stop the conflict, which has already escaped into the public sphere - on the initiative of Aksenov. As the Hero of the “Russian Spring”, Sergei Aksenov has a well -known political weight, but his experience with the Russian bureaucracy is insignificant. He frankly violates the rules of the game, publicly claiming his claims to the federal government - no one in the current political system does not allow himself.

Aksenov believes that the rules are not for him, referring to the special status of the region in Russia and the difficulty of the tasks facing him. He openly attacks the Medvedev government, which does not go to response measures that would be perceived as a violation of existing agreements, and is finished with anonymous comments. The head of the peninsula sees his victory in this and makes another statement, according to which there was no specific criticism of his actions by the government, and you should not respond to anonymous.

Aksenov is trying to be confident - in the end, his power is based on unconditional support of the Crimean population in the conditions of the “siege position” and on the regional elite consolidated around his figure: this design is supported by the presence of personal relations with the president of Russia in Aksenov. This model has already been tested in another Russian region, which is lower.

The political confrontation of Aksenov and the government of Medvedev did not begin yesterday. Back in July, the Federal Ministry of Crimea ceased to exist. “New” then managed to get comments from an employee of the department who directly connected the closure of the project with the actions of Aksenov, who allegedly tried to get rid of guardianship from Moscow officials. The latest demarche in the same row is the actual refusal of Aksenov to fulfill the order of Medvedev to reduce the state apparatus by 10% from January 1, 2016. “We do not have such plans for one reason - the tasks facing the authorities of the subject differ from the tasks that the authorities perform in peacetime in the territory of the mainland of the Russian Federation,” Aksyonov said. That is, according to Aksenov, the federal government puts forward to him obviously impossible and unreasonable requirements. It does not take into account the specifics of the peninsula, which, firstly, is cut off from the mainland, and secondly, he actually lives in martial law.

A special region is a special leadership, special powers and special relations with the center, this is the agenda of Aksenov, formulated against the backdrop of inadequate and high, according to Moscow, the amounts requested by Crimea for the implementation of infrastructure projects. The situation is familiar, because at least one special region in the Russian Federation is already there - this, of course, is the Chechen Republic of Ramzan Kadyrov. Kadyrov is also known for his ability to sharply criticize the actions of Russian laws and establish “special relations”, which resulted in, for example, the famous fountain and a recreational complex in a formidable cost of 60 billion rubles.

Aksenov, perhaps, underestimates the influence of Prime Minister Medvedev and the range of capabilities of the federal government - the arrests of local officials are continuing on the peninsula, and the Prosecutor General’s Office promises to be discussed about the quality of budget expenditure of budget funds. At the same time, the head of Crimea, as well as the head of another special region, apparently, in the current situation, it is simply impossible to remove from office. Understanding this, the “revolutionary” makes its statements - its region is now not only special, but also untouchable.

The scandalous results of the political season in Crimea allow us to draw three conclusions. Firstly, the mechanisms of conflict resolution degraded to such an extent that the discussion of the head of the republic with the federal government looks like public bragging, on the one hand, and evil anonymouses on the other. Secondly, the growth of the number of special regions may continue-Kadyrov and Aksenov set an example for other subjects of the Federation.

Inevitably there will be contradictions between individual special regions, which will have to be decided manually, through the intervention of the president. Finally, the example of Aksenov shows how a special status gives his carrier by immunity, which allows the socio-economic policy of extremely low quality, and to write off all failures to lack of powers and a difficult situation in the world.