By Musa Musayev, exclusively to VK
On March, 4 Dagestan tried to choose the better of five evils: it is obvious that Dagestani residents are not content with the general state of affairs in their republic and much less will constant terrorist activity and murders. Vladimir Putin failed to improve the state of affairs in the republic in 12 years, but Dagestani believe that he managed to create relative stability in the troubled North Caucasus. So now, according to politically educated Dagestani who gave a great deal of thought to their choice during these elections, if Putin will be given a chance to carry on with his policy, he will be finally able to restore absolute stability in the North Caucasus. Dagestani people haven’t lost hope that the state which they had to defend by arms in 1999 will guarantee them decent quality of life and career opportunities.
Lawlessness, unemployment and low quality of education could be listed as most important reasons for the increase of instability in Dagestan. And the people of Dagestan don’t believe that any of the four alternative candidates could normalize this situation. According to them, Russia hasn’t yet developed such political institutions that would grant stability of the state without a strong person at the wheel. The relations within the ruling elite are still regulated by personal issues rather than by law, and the siloviki are personally loyal to Putin. And Dagestan has always staked on strong personalities.
Mikhail Prokhorov remained unknown to the Dagestani people, while communist Zuganov has a stable pool of supporters here. In 1996 he even won the presidential election in this republic. However, after that year’s election Zuganov was the first one to congratulate Yeltsin on his victory, and Dagestani people though this to be a display of soft temper, some even called it treason. After that thee communist candidate lost his popularity in Dagestan. Another reason for this rating drop is the unwillingness of the region to change development vector again, which could lead to new inter-ethnic and social conflicts.
In the Caucasus and in Dagestan in particular civic activity and aspiration for justice, democracy and freedom is generally higher than on the rest of Russia. However, people of Dagestan understand, that it is impossible to create a European democracy on the ruins of the USSR is impossible even in 10 years. The collapse of the Union led to the formation of strong criminal groups in each region that gradually monopolized the local administration. Chechnya was turned into a base of international terrorists, and Dagestan was next in line. Today Dagestani people believe that it was Putin who saved the state from falling apart back then, as he created vertical line of power and crushed separatism of Basayev and Hattab who tried to tear Dagestan away from Russia. If any of his current rivals would have been in his place back then, the story might have had quite a different ending.
After visiting two separatist Dagestani villages in 1999, Putin’s predecessor in the PM’s office, Viktor Stepashin, stated that “Russia has lost the Caucasus”. Nevertheless, the majority of the republic’s population wanted it to remain a part of Russian Federation. When the partisans of Basayev and Hattab tried to break away by force, a people's volunteer corps was formed to prevent it. The corps didn’t let the militants to gain ground in the republic. Putin took decisive actions and introduced troops, saving not only Russia’s integrity but also Dagestani people’s right for self-determination. In order to protect the state’s integrity Putin had to temporarily abolish governor’s elections. Now, however, Putin suggests a pattern of democracy development that comes from the grass roots and grants regions economic independence and a right to use the taxes they collect: so now the Dagestani tax-payers will actually see where their money goes and how it is being spent.
