Dagestan’s acting Prime Minister and his deputies detained

A spokesperson for the Russian Investigative Committee, Svetlana Petrenko, said that several high-ranking government officials in the Russian Republic of Dagestan were arrested on embezzlement charges, including Dagestan’s acting Prime Minister Abdusamad Gamidov.

According to her, officers from the Federal Security Service, Interior Ministry, and Investigative Committee raided several offices in Dagestan today, detaining Gamidov, acting deputy prime ministers Shamil Isayev and Rayudin Yusufov, and former Education Minister Shakhabas Shakhov, Interfax reported.

She added that "during the inspection, detectives confiscated a golden TT pistol, Beretta and the Makarov pistols, two Kalashnikov machine guns and ammunition from Gamidov."

"Very shortly, investigators are going to file formal charges against all the above officials and petition the court to place them under arrest as a pre-trial restriction measure for all of them," Petrenko concluded.

Police previously opened criminal investigations against Makhachkala Mayor Musa Musayev and the city’s chief architect, Magomedrasul Gitinov, on charges of abuse of authority.

The senior research fellow of the Caucasus Problems and Regional Security Center at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Nikolai Silaev, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that current detentions and arrests of Dagestan's top leadership are an expected continuation of the center's policy to bring life in the republic in line with the norms of Russian legislation, but in order to make this policy effective it is necessary to work not only on a personal level, but also on a system one.

Nikolai Silaev listed the problems that must be solved in Dagestan. "It is necessary to do something with the land in which the solid investments were made. Then, the electricity and gas situations, after all, record North Caucasus debts for gas and electricity are largely created precisely by Dagestan," the senior research fellow of the Caucasus Problems and Regional Security Center at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations stressed.

His colleague Ahmet Yarylkapov predicts that this work will not be limited to the detention of Dagestan's top officials. "I think this is only the beginning of the systemic work on coping with the system crisis in Dagestan, There are already reports that work is being done at district levels. If we talk about the reaction of Dagestan's populations to these events, it is generally positive. It is unlikely to increase the republic's management, but people welcome the detention and arrest of corrupt officials," he said.