Interviewed by Maria Sidelnikova, exclusively to VK
In a single day of voting, on September 8, elections at various levels will take place in more than 70 federal subjects. Ten regions should hold gubernatorial elections, and in Dagestan and Ingushetia, senior officials will be elected by the deputies of national parliaments. Professor at the Higher School of Economics Oleg Matveychev shared his opinion about the upcoming elections in the North Caucasus and in Moscow for VK.
- Do you agree with the statement that the ultimate goal of Navalny is to become a figure, a politician on a federal scale?
- I agree that he wants to be a politician on the federal scale. Even more, I think that the place that he would like to take is the place of Zhirinovsky. Zhirinovsky is a man, as they say, on the decline, aging and is no longer able to perform the functions that he performs. Namely, a critic of power, a man who seems to be protesting, speaking up, but had never had any relationship to the executive branch and does not bear any responsibility to the people, and at the same time is making money in politics. That is, he is addressed by some businessmen, these, others, he sells seats on the list, he voices the interests of a particular industry or group of governors, political parties or certain theses, he is struggling to be involved in this all, he gets paid for it, capitalizes on it, earns on this and is not responsible for anything. A very convenient position. The necessity to have such a character will appear. It is necessary that such a character, when Zhirinovsky leaves in a few years, appeared on our horizon.
- September 8, elections will be held not only in Moscow but also in the North Caucasus. How do you assess the chances of Yevkurov and Abdulatipov?
- I think they'll be fine. These are two popular politicians in the Caucasus. I think that there are no issues at all. And only some provocations that may take place, the Caucasus is after all a hot area, and we always expect from this region possible acts of terrorism, provocations, or something else. God forbid that this actually happens, I hope it ends peacefully. I think that everything will be fine, and, of course, these two politicians will win.
- Some time ago, Ingushetia topped the list of the safest regions in the North Caucasus Federal District. And this morning, the Secretary of the Security Council of Ingushetia was murdered. Could this be due to the election?
Certainly, I think that this is due to the elections. Because in general, the elections are the catalyst of all the negative processes. One of the reasons, at the time when Vladimir Putin abolished elections, firstly, the immediate cause was Beslan, and secondly, one of the main reasons was that elections contribute to the growth of extremism. Here and there leaflets are distributed, attacks occur, and so on. That is, there is a sharp politicization of society at the time of the election, and all kinds of forces are starting to use such methods. Therefore, for the Caucasus, I believe, the principle of the model of the election of the first person through parliament, I think it should be expanded. Not only for Dagestan, but maybe for other republics as well. It will be better for the people of the Caucasus, they themselves will benefit from it.
- Which republics exactly?
For all other Caucasian republics, I would have it introduced, and not just in the Caucasus. This is also true for Buryatia, Tuva and Yakutia, and in general, for many Russian territories which are subsidized. Elections, generally speaking, are expensive. And if a republic is subsidized, if it already has budget deficit, if there is no money, then why spend the money? Anyway, regardless of who comes to power, they would not be able to change anything if there is no money in the budget. Why this nonsense, it is better not to spend the money and spend it on something useful.
