Bakhtiyar Akhmedkhanov, Odnako Magazine
Considering the amount of articles, TV-shows, and graffiti on fences, the issue of the North Caucasus worries Russian society a lot. And it is understandable that bearded people with guns who live in forests in the south of country, commit terrorist attacks in subways, while ignorant young people dance on the streets and boldly demonstrate their difference and ethnic identity.
It seems special services and the police should be responsible for forest brothers and the police. But there is a problem: the number of both categories doesn’t decrease.
The point is not in a special super-wildness or fanaticism which are thought to be typical for residents of small, but proud republics and not in activities of foreign enemies. The failure of the Caucasus policy is explained by a strange belief that local residents dream only about separation from Russia, and Russia has to spend enormous amounts of money to hold them.
This drivel is a basis for analyses of 90% of Moscow experts on the Caucasus, and 99% of them have visited the region once in a blue moon. This idea not only destroys any further logical arguments of experts, but also becomes a basis for making political and economic decisions, which is worse.
At the same time, a whole generation has grown in the financed republics. These people have studied for bribes, have found a job for bribes, but they do nothing at work and cannot do anything except for distribution of money. But what will happen if oil prices fall or oil becomes exhausted? Or if Moscow stops paying? Or it decides to put everything in order? If it happens, Afghanistan and Pakistan with their tribes will seem to us a resort.
Thus, those who want to separate the North Caucasus and forget about it forever can be understood. But I’m afraid it is unreal. None of the republics is at the level of self-sustainability which is necessary for establishing of an independent state. Chechnya in Maskhadov’s period is the best confirmation.
The united North Caucasus is impossible as well. It is an illusion that all Caucasus residents are alike. These peoples differ from each other by language, culture, and even have territorial conflicts.
There is no way out of Russia. Russia’s withdrawal from the North Caucasus is fearful not only for common people. The elite and top officials will stay without financing and face to face with annoyed people.
Pessimists say that the point of no-return has been passed. Optimists believe that the situation can be improved by establishing of working places. That is another illusion. The North Caucasus has always been an excess working region, and people have always left the region searching for a job.
Every second resident of the Caucasus will answer the question “What should be done?” identically: to sent thieves to prison and don’t let them be in power. If we imagine an impossible situation that money sending to the Caucasus is spent for social and economic life, by Saturday the number of militants will twice reduce.
