Dagestani President: unlimited responsibility and limited means

The President himself has stretched out his hand in cooperation. He calls consolidation of society the paramount task.

Many competent experts and politicians maintain that the Dagestani media are virtually the most independent in Russia. According to the well-known expert, head of the department of international relations at the Russian Institute of Political and Military Analysis Sergey Markedonov, there is an unheard-of freedom of speech in Dagestan. The fact that journalists in Dagestan criticize the authorities regularly provides a basis for such statements. And officials, including the republic’s head, have shown tolerance of such criticism, in contrast to officials in many other regions of the North Caucasus and Russia as a whole.

For the past ten years in Dagestan opposition newspapers have been functioning, criticising the authorities uncompromisingly. However, in recent months a unique situation has emerged in the information space of Dagestan. None of the newspapers has been criticising the
government. What is the reason for that? The first reason is that there have recently been changes of those in power and they haven’t  done anything to be criticised for yet.

However, there is another point of view in the republic. It runs that there are no free media outlets in Dagestan, and they’ve never existed. They are just the property of different clans and serve their interests. While there was an information war between the competing
clans, there were exposures of compromising information, mutual insults and provocations. Bystanders could think that there were many independent media outlets in the republic. After the change of authority, the clans have secretly called an information truce.
Therefore, "independent" journalists are staying silent.

The media that criticized the previous president Muhu Aliev have stopped being opposition ones, and haven’t yet decided on the their preferences. However, there are some discontented clans and media, opposed to the incumbent president Magomedsalam Magomedov, who managed to form a strong coalition and came to power. Now that the balance of political power has changed drastically, it is not advantageous for those clans and media which misplaced their bets to quarrel with Magomedov’s coalition and team.


Another reason for the truce was that the republic’s president himself stretched out his hand in cooperation. He called consolidation of society the paramount task. At this stage, consolidation of the clans is the most important thing. None of the most ardent adherents of the ex-president was dismissed or left not of his own accord. At the moment, the political coalition of  Magomedsalam Magomedov is a sure guarantee of stability with limited responsibility. The fact is that there are informal but very influential leaders in this union. As for President Magomedsalam Magomedov, as well as the North Caucasus governor-general Alexander Khloponin, their responsibility is unlimited, but they haven’t become guarantors of stability yet. This can partly be explained by the fact that they do not make all the decisions, including appointing personnel. However, Alexander Khloponin, together with the Presidents of the North Caucasus republics, may manage to put an end to the perpetual lobbying and criminal struggles of various forces for posts and sinecures, not only in regional but also in federal power structures both in Moscow and on a regional level .

It has been discussed in Kremlin that all appointments in the North Caucasus Federal District should be submitted to Alexander Khloponin for approval. Training and formation of a personnel reserve may become the next step.


Musa Musaev, Makhachkala. Exclusive for VK