By Vestnik Kavkaza
The Roki Tunnel connecting South Ossetia with the NCFD was opened yesterday after reconstruction. Tatyana Moskalkova, deputy head of the Russian State Duma committee on CIS affairs, Eurasian integration and contacts with compatriots, evaluated the situation in the North Caucasus in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.
- What is your evaluation of the situation in the NCFD as a whole?
- It seems this traditional question about the political situation in the North Caucasus today should be asked in a different format. Because the situation in Chechnya, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia is very different. It is quite stable in Chechnya, Ingushetia and North Ossetia. There are positive tendencies in the economic sector. Problems associated with the ethnic conflict between Ingushetia and North Ossetia have been solved. It is very important that the situation in the republics is stable today thanks to the wisdom of their leaders. But there is still a lot of work left in the North Caucasus as a whole. It seems disappointing to me that we have no federal executive institution for ethnic relations. It used to be the coordinating center that could develop a common policy in the sector of ethnic relations and react to new challenges and threats in the sector in time.
- In the summer, South Ossetia held parliamentary elections resulting in members of the United Russia Party becoming the majority at the legislative institution and its leader Anatoly Bibilov becoming the speaker. The treaty on alliance and integration between Russia and South Ossetia is currently being developed. In Bibilov’s words, South Ossetia is interested in maximum integration in different sectors, in the social field, not just in security issues. What level of integration is acceptable for Russia?
- We have very big hopes for a new stage of relations associated with stricter control over the financial injections the Russian government is making. Before that, we did not see high efficiency in using material and financial resources. So it is very important for the new parliament to form a package of legislative acts that would set effective work of the Accounts Chamber so that it would access the legislative acts missed today. Its own Criminal Code and own Administrative Code. In this regard, the State Duma will help South Ossetia form a common space.
We also helped form a common information and legal basis. With the help of the Kontinent company, the first computer media product accumulating all regulatory sectors appeared in South Ossetia for the first time. I would really want South Ossetians to stay in their homeland, get high-quality education, have jobs. There is still a lot to do.
It is very important to have all transportation routes set, and an airport for small planes and helicopters formed, so that the space between Tskhinvali and Vladikavkaz could be covered faster. So that patients could be transported to Russian territory in time.
