Interview by Maria Sidelnikova. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
Three months ago the Federal government adopted a project of the state program “Development of the North Caucasus Federal District” to 2025. It is aimed at encouragement of economic development of the region. It requires the establishment of new centers of economic growth, the coordination of infrastructural investments by the state and investment business strategies, considering priorities of space development and resource restrictions. Maxim Shevchenko, member of the Presidential Council on Human Rights, told Vestnik Kavkaza about the program and the situation in the North Caucasus.
- In December the program of the NCFD development was adopted. Are there any first steps on its implementation?
- No, I don’t see any steps. I can see that the major cluster project “The North Caucasus Resorts” is discredited. Everything was based on it. I don’t see any trends of development in the Caucasus today. The key goal is to bring investments to the Caucasus, at least state investments, if not private, to protect them and to allocate them to those who really need them, rather than representatives of criminal communities, who will later allocate them to their “slaves”, i.e. the majority of the region’s population. I think investments in the Caucasus are connected with deep socio-political changes both in the region and the country. I am sure without wide democratization, returning of people to state management we cannot protect any investments from stealing, i.e. no economic growth will take place. Until all decisions are made by a narrow group of people in the Caucasus and other parts of Russia, there will be nothing. The problem of the Caucasus is that a political reaction of the population is stronger there – due to the ethnic and cultural diversity the political mobilization is very active. The happening events are similar to other regions of Russia. However, there are regions where local authorities introduced elements of socialism – the Belgorod Region, the Lipetsk Region. We can see these regions are prosperous, with prosperous agriculture, and the authorities do not do well out of farmers and those who organized their work and trade.
It is not about the Caucasus. People gather into groups, protect their business, do their best with arms and criminal agreements. It’s not because people are bad, but because the rules of the game are alike. In other case they would be destroyed or would have to leave. I think the system of the economic growth in the Caucasus must rely on state institutes and be controlled by the state. Investments should be made in several spheres: infrastructure, road-construction, revival of social construction – schools, hospitals, and so on. The system of minor crediting should be established - first of all, protected systems of crediting minor and medium business for people could get, for example, a million of rubles, two millions and be sure that the money won’t be taken away and can be used. I can’t see this.
- Why do you think the project Anzhi (which is an investment project) is under threat?
- Because it brings no revenues. It is not beneficial. Football in Russia doesn’t bring revenues. It requires a lot of expenses. Huge sums are spent on buying expensive players.
At the same time, it provides work for many people – not only service staff of stadiums and people who work with a team. These are professional jobs among fans, various jobs connected with food organization during football matches… The sums are huge and they are in Dagestan due to Anzhi. I believe that disappearance of Anzhi or other football teams would be a big loss for the region.
Of course, these are weird, but real investments to the region. People know that Suleiman Kerimov invested into Anzhi, and it is a big advantage for Dagestan’s investment environment. Yes, many people know that Suleiman did it for political reasons and it wasn’t beneficial for him. But his name as an investor brings tiny confidence, which is a lot in fact. His leaving would be a disaster.
- Is there a conflict between heads of Chechnya and Ingushetia after the incident with the Sunzhin District?
- I think there is a dispute between the heads of the constituents. Obviously there are problems, including administrative borders, which were not settled in 1992 when the Republic of Ingushetia was established. All economic ties of Ingushetia were left in Grozny. The Ingush military and political elite lived in Grozny. Previous president – Aushev and Zyazikov – were natives of Grozny. Yevkurov is from Ossetia. Actually when they established Ingushetia, they left the republic without any economic and social fundament, with a great number of refugees who left the Prigorodny District of Ossetia and Chechen refugees. It wasn’t a constituent of the Russian Federation, but a logistic base which appeared during the military developments in the Chechen Republic.
The war is over, but it is found out that there are no any other forms of communication between the regions – only refugees, humanitarian support, and so on. A significant part of Ingush intellectuals lost their jobs in Grozny. Vladikavkaz was closed for Ingushs. Ingushetia found itself in a very difficult situation, a blockade. Ingushs cannot live and work in Vladikavkaz like it was in the Soviet times. As for Grozny, they can work there, but all working places are occupied by Chechens. In the Soviet period Grozny was a much more developed center which had management institutes, oil-producing industry, mining, military institutues.
This is the problem. Each time when a land problem appears, it means that serious economic, social, humanitarian ties have been ruined. I won’t call it a dispute. It is an objective problem. I know that Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and Ramzan Kadyrov are talking to each other, communicating. They have different life experiences, different mentality. But both of them are reasonable people who realize the difficulty of the situation and don’t want any conflict. A conflict between two parts of one Vainakh ethnic group is impossible.
But problems must be solved. They must be solved gradually. Today Ingushetia is living for getting money from the center. But the little agricultural republic cannot implement the money which is allocated to them. Population doesn’t get used to deal with jobs which are required by the investments. These investments are excess for agriculture. That is why corruption appears. It is natural. This problem has to be discussed and solved. I am sure Ramzan and Yunus-Bek can solve it.
- Do you think the center shouldn’t react to the situation?
- There is no situation which needs the center’s reaction. The center has to react to the problems of the Prigoridny District as they are not being settled. But there is no conflict between Chechnya and Ingushetia. All these issues can be solved by negotiations, a Chechen-Ingush committee, people from both sides. They are relative nations. They can discuss the issues calmly, without emotions, like it has always been between Chechens and Ingushs.
