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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Putin envoy slams Caucasus policies in secret report |
| 2005-06-17 |
| Dmitri Kozak, presidential envoy to the North Caucasus that includes Chechnya, has told Vladimir Putin in a report that his policy of nominating rulers in the region could spawn the chaos it is meant to prevent, the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported Thursday. Kozak, who was sent to the North Caucasus after the Beslan school seizure, accused regional leaders of handing out top jobs to their kinsmen. "As a result, the whole system of checks and balances has been destroyed which is leading to the spread of corruption," he said. Many analysts have said the Kremlin's policy of opting to support a single group over others could be fatal for stability in a region that depends on a balance of clan interests. The report, leaked from Kozak's circle and confirmed by his aide, amounts to a highly unusual warning that Kremlin policies in the tinderbox region are bound for disaster. It came about six months after the adoption of a new law that cancels direct elections in the Russian Federation and allows Putin to appoint regional leaders directly. At the time, officials said the new law would allow the Kremlin to break the back of criminal clans. But Putin has chosen to keep leaders like Ingushetia's Murat Zyazikov — blamed by the opposition for allowing the 10-year Chechen war to spread into his region, Reuters points out. He also kept the clan surrounding North Ossetian leader Alexander Dzasokhov — blamed by survivors of the Beslan hostage-taking last September for failing to stop the tragedy that killed 330 people — in power after the veteran leader resigned. Kozak's report said some regional leaders were so corrupt they were alienating their people. "The dominating clan-corporate groups ... have no interest in creating mechanisms that would allow feedback and lead to open dialogue with people," he said. "The arbitrary nature of the authorities has created social apathy in a large section of the population... In many regional areas the authorities do not have any public support." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |