New tendencies of the North Caucasus policy

By Vestnik Kavkaza

Speaking about problems of the North Caucasus, the majority of experts point out an abyss between people and the elite, which prevents renewal of the elite, leads to social disproportions and improves the clan system which causes corruption. These problems don’t let the situation in the Russian Caucasus become normal, but experts emphiseze some new tendencies in this sphere.

According to Denga Khalidov, co-chairman of the RKNK, vice-president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, “there is an agreement among the major nations and among the general population and the authorities regarding the approaches of informational and national policies of the center. This information policy suits neither the authorities nor the people, or, especially, the educated classes, intellectuals. In this matter, both the authorities and the people think similarly. Somewhere there are debates and discussions, but people mostly believe that security operations also incite tensions, provoke new waves of militants. A tragedy for one family turns into a tragedy for hundreds of families, villages, relatives and so on. There is almost no expert, no Dagestani, who would not say that these counter-terrorism operations are profitable for a solid group of senior officers of the federal security, that they have become accustomed to these operations, that everything is justified by combating terrorism. Completely innocent people are under this hammer.

The mood of the people in Chechnya has changed a little to the other side. Between the population and the government there is, in principle, agreement on many things, and Kadyrov's policy, and in respect of federal information policy, where Caucasophobia and Islamophobia are quite strong in the federal mass media and on TV. But already people are waiting, both from the federal government and from the republican government in Chechnya, for changes in the quality of life. There is stability, but there is no work. People already feel safe, unlike five years ago. They are grateful to the federal government and to Kadyrov for this. But for what reason do we live? Children grow up, and there is no work, no social prospects, social elevators do not work. They say that Kadyrov is surrounded by very biased mercantile-minded people and they block his connection with the people, and he has one or two very wise counselors who advise him to go to the people. And he did happen to go to the people, to know the opinion of the people, what's going on, and to try to stop this or that high-handed official, whether he was in the district administration or in the government. But at the same time there is also corruption flourishing gradually. In general, people are worried about unemployment, the lack of social mobility, the lack of social justice a lot more than in Dagestan. In Dagestan, this also excites people, but this is all compounded by a sufficiently powerful Islamist underground. The dialogue was interrupted after the sheikh’s murder. Many believe that this dialogue could serve to stabilize the situation in Dagestan, could provide restoration of damaged bridges of trust between Muslims of different currents. Again there is a mood of suspicion and mistrust. The coordinating council or center, which they have created from Salafis or Sufis, will work. There is an organization that needs fairly strong support at the federal level, information support - this is "Territory of Peace and Harmony." There are adequate, sane Muslim leaders there.

Under the conditions of the export of any revolutionary scenarios, we can and should talk to the people, to different political and religious movements in this way to maintain and increase the opportunities and human wealth, not only material, of Russia itself, and not only of Russia itself but also of the Eurasian Union. Roughly speaking, Russia can survive only if it is surrounded by a fairly strong union of peoples, religions, areas of the Eurasian Union. If there is no Eurasian Union, Russia will not exist.”

“Just recently, there was a mission by the president, initially closed and now open, on the creation of the Distribution Research Center for international and inter-confessional relations, which received funding,” Magomed Omarov, Professor of Moscow State University, says. “It is engaged in a common theme - monitoring of inter-ethnic relations and the religious situation in the region in a comparative aspect in their annual dynamics with recommendations for government authorities and civil society. That is, some great work is being done, but I would like to speak about another aspect. The fact is that in the North Caucasus there is no mutual understanding or coordination of the efforts by the elite. We invited our officials, senators and deputies  to our event, and no one came. Now you will visit these fashionable restaurants, you will see our senators, deputies, who solve their problems, specific, business, political issues and so on. Because the people who represent the North Caucasus in Moscow, the State Duma, the Federation Council, ignore the events we have held, they are not interested in them, because they came there not on the basis of all-Caucasus or republican organizations but according to quite different rules. If their well-being and their work had depended on how they are positioned, including at such venues at events organized by the Congress of Peoples of the Caucasus and other public organizations, they would come running and help us to carry out these activities. The North Caucasus Development Corporation was created with great financing. "Resorts of the North Caucasus" was created, in which hundreds of billions of rubles were invested. Part of the money works. But realistically, you have seen the republics - what is the situation? We often rely on the center, which does not work. Of course, in society there are xenophobic views. They have always existed. This is not too serious, because people are different, there is not always complete understanding, even in a family where everyone is of one origin, to say nothing of such a large multinational, multi-religious society like Russia, where there are 193 peoples, and several leading faiths are present. I note that high school and government policy do not always accept this ethnic friendship in the strategy of national policy. But, by and large, the awareness of such basic, fundamental things by the state and  society is present, and the desire of the state to conduct this policy is also obvious.”