By Vestnik Kavkaza
Last week, Vladimir Putin signed the order on the early resignation of the head of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who immediately told the president that he wanted to be a candidate to the head of the republic in the coming elections. At the same time Yevkurov told Putin that the economic situation in the republic is still difficult, but there is a visible growth. Yevkurov asked Putin “for the Ministry of Economy to allocate a special program for the Republic of Ingushetia to plan the arrangements that should be implemented in the region. It concerns not financial support, but a prompt where we should go further.”
As in the situation with the mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin, Putin accepted the resignation of Yevkurov and appointed him the acting head of the republic until the elections. The next day, Yevkurov commented on the step for Vestnik Kavkaza.
- When the idea of resignation was born, did Sergey Sobyanin’s decision influence on yours?
- There was no “idea.” We have the unified voting day on September 8th, and we decided to hold all events on this day because it is cheaper from the economic point of view and more politically convenient for the region. We decided to hold all elections on the day – both federal and regional. So, we decided not to wait to the end of my term in October. It doesn’t matter whether the elections are direct or through the parliament, they will be held on this day.
The president accepted my resignation and appointed me to the position of the acting head of the republic. Thus, nothing has changed. Now we will work harder. When I became the acting head of the region, the government resigned as well. They all will be acting ministers till the elections.
- What will Ingushetia’s future look like?
- I have once been asked whether I want Ingushetia to be the best. I said that I wanted Ingushetia to be decent. I want Ingushetia to be a decent region of the Russian Federation.
- When will Ingushetia will turn into a donor-republic from a recipient-republic?
- Today, this is far-fetched. Yesterday I told the president that we have only positive indexes. In 2009 our GRP was 19 billion rubles, today it is 29 billion rubles. It is a strategy for us. Our industrial base is weak, as well as economy; and we always fall behind. We will try to find ways out. We have already reduced dependence from subsidiaries by 9%. I predict that if in 10 years we continue working hard, we will reduce the dependence by 60%. Such a small region will hardly be a donor-republic. However, we should strive for it and develop tourism and agriculture.
Ingushetia is the second region of Russia, after Dagestan, which rejected direct elections for the head of the republic. Yesterday Ramazan Abdulatipov, the acting head of Dagestan, stated his view on the past, present, and future. “I found a republic, when it was 'fed', but not treated, and secondly, the republic was fed, but not developed. The fact is that the main sectors of development of the country are close to zero level. Oil, gas, fish, and everything that the republic has, has been brought to a very low level. Specifically, if we used to produce 2.4 million tons of oil in the 1980s, now it is about 200 thousand tons. If we used to raise 380 thousand tons of grapes, now in the best years it is 100 thousand tons. Fisheries and the Caspian Sea, in fact, contribute not a single penny to the budget of the republic. It is necessary to revive all these sectors, to ensure their development. Therefore, what is important for us is not the help of the federal government in terms of subsidies or maintenance. We are interested in support from the point of view of development of the country. We are working in this direction now. Last week ten priority projects of the President of the Republic of Dagestan have been approved, and we are working in all these areas," Abdullatipov said.
In his view, the potential of the republic is really great. "We have to use this potential in the economy, not to plunder it into pieces, to distribute things to cousins, friends, etc," he added.