How the Ukrainian crisis touches on North Ossetia

By Vestnik Kavkaza

The events in Ukraine and surrounding the country have touched on the whole of Russia. This involves the tense international situation, Ukrainian refugees who are coming to Russia, and sanctions. When imports of certain agricultural products were banned from the countries which launched sanctions against Russia, many Russian entrepreneurs and experts began to discuss intensive development of the domestic industry and import substitution. The authorities of North Ossetia think that the current situation could provide an impetus to the development of farms, as the main problem of production distribution will be solved.

Taymuraz Mamsurov, the head of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, says that even though the republic is not a breadbasket, they have successfully developing industries. “They've had a reserve which they could not implement, because the market was overcrowded by imported products. Now this reserve will be fully operational. This applies to fish, fry, trout and salmon. We have already exported these products to the north-west of the country and to central Russia. There are great prospects for the production of natural fruits and vegetables and products based on them. We have contemporary processing technologies and we will put them to use. We will probably leave red meat to ourselves because we need it ourselves, but we will also export poultry, since we are capable of producing much more than the republic needs,” Mamsurov states.

He believes that it will be difficult to reverse industrial development in Russia: “We all understand that if Russia, including North Ossetia, wants to develop the fields of production, processing and sales of its goods, it is necessary to work on their presentation. People in supermarkets are used to purchasing goods in beautiful packages, with all the data, standards, and so on. This is also a problem, it has to be addressed as well. In any case, whether the sanctions are cancelled eventually or not, there will be no regress in production.”

The other sphere which connects North Ossetia with Ukraine is reception of refugees. Not only frontier and central regions of Russia have welcomed refugees, but also the North Caucasus republics. Today in North Ossetia there are about 1000 people who have fled Ukraine. According to Mamsurov, 275 among them are children of school age.

The head of the republic says that in terms of refugees, they are the most overloaded region in the history of Russia: “In the early 1990s, due to events in Georgia, more than 100,000 people fled from the inland areas of Georgia and South Ossetia. They settled here, more than 120 thousand people. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, several tens of thousands of people came here from Central Asia. At the time, we hoped it was going to be a temporary phenomenon, that it would be resolved and people would leave, but they stayed with us. In a year and a half, from a republic with a population of 600 thousand, North Ossetia turned into a republic with a population of 720 thousand people. At the moment there are still 8000 people from twenty years ago with the status of internally-displaced persons”. 

Mamsurov says that there is a great problem with employment, despite the fact that there are 1500 open jobs in our republic. “There are three issues that have to come together like in a Rubik's Cube: work, housing, a school or a daycare center. Naturally, housing comes first. If a person has a place to live, he can look for a job nearby. All heads of districts and cities are trying to solve the problem all the time. We are constantly working on it, including doctors and psychologists. There are many job offers, many people have already gone to rural areas. They got housing there for free.

As for employment, we will try all methods. In particular, recently we conducted a video conference with the Irkutsk region. Our Irkutsk partners told us about their jobs that come with housing. We have bought tickets for more than 30 people and they have already moved there. That is, we do not limit our possibilities only to our republic, we use the opportunities provided by other regions as well.”

The head of the republic promises that the issues of housing, employment and education in schools, universities and colleges will be resolved by September 1.