Bashkortostan: The Kremlin Reasserts Control
Europe’s longest serving leader stepped down on July 19, when President Murtaza Rakhimov of the republic of Bashkortostan in the Urals region of Russia was replaced after 20 years in office. Rakhimov, 76, had long been rumoured to be on his way out, and when the moment finally came, it appears that he had to be given a mild shove, for his term was not due to expire until October 2011.
The Kremlin’s appointment of Rustem Khamitov, 56, hitherto deputy CEO of RusHydro (Russia’s biggest hydroelectric power company), marks the reassertion of Federal control of Bashkortostan, which along with its neighbor Tatarstan, has long been one of the more independent-minded regions of Russia.
The significance of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan stems from the fact that they are both major oil-producing republics, have sizeable populations, and occupy a key part of Russia linking its European core to its Asian periphery. In the early 1990s, the assertiveness of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan – coming at the same time that Chechnya was seeking independence from Russia – led to fears that the Russian Federation itself might dissolve, like the Soviet Union before it.
As I mentioned earlier this year, the Kremlin has been busy replacing regional leaders, removing Yelstin-era appointees – many of whom have essentially run their own fiefdoms – with new blood. The main reason for this is to strengthen Moscow’s control over the regions, a process began by then-president Vladimir Putin in 2000 and reinforced in 2005 when he abolished elections to regional leadership posts. The second reason is that President Dmitry Medvedev favours introducing new talent so that his plans to modernise Russia’s economy will be enacted at a regional and not just a federal level.
As well as Rakhimov, the presidents of Karelia (which borders Finland) and Chuvashia (which lies west of Tatarstan) have also stepped down. All eyes are now turning to Moscow’s long-serving mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, whose term expires in 2011 but could be cut short like Rakhimov’s presidency. Despite its assertiveness, the Kremlin must still be sensitive to local sentiment when appointing new leaders, in case it alienates these regions through ill-considered choices.
While the Kremlin has reasserted its control over key republics and territories, it seems to be losing its grip on the North Caucasus, where an Islamist insurgency has been plaguing Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, and Kabardino-Balkaria, and where the Circassian peoples are mobilising to draw international attention to their past suffering at Imperial Russian hands. Indeed, the North Caucasus will remain a troubled region for many years to come and could prove the Kremlin’s biggest domestic headache.