Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed prime minister of the republic Vyacheslav Bitarov as acting head of North Ossetia instead of the late Tamerlane Aguzarova who passed away on February 19th.
It was announced during their meeting today. "Unfortunately, the meeting is taking place against the backdrop of the fact that Tamerlane Kimovich passed away. You've worked with him together and you were appointed by him to the current post, which you have been holding up to now. I know that he trusted and had a respectful attitude to you. I would like to offer to become the head the republic,'' RIA Novosti cites the President as saying.
"I will appoint you the acting head. But, of course, your work should be to prove to people that you meet the Republic residents' expectations, especially social, spatial planning, economic development, healthcare and education, " Vladimir Putin said.
Vyacheslav Bitarov said that during the six months he had led the government of the republic, the local authorities were guided to preserve all social obligations, despite the difficult financial situation.
"There was no delays of wages, and we fulfilled all our social obligations to people and will continue to do it," he said.
Member of the Council under the Russian President on International Relations Maksim Shevchenko described Vyacheslav Bitarova as "a very well-known businessman."
"His business was also very successful in Moscow. Therefore, he is a very rich person. The late head toted that they would invite a specialist who knows how to solve economic problems. I think not only economic, but also political," he said.
"I think that now Bitarov is the most probable candidate for the post of the Head of the Republic. He is from Aguzarov's team and Aguzarov is an incredibly popular figure, even after his death," Maksim Shevchenko said.
The director of the non-commercial partnership Caucasian Cooperation, Nikolay Silaev, said that im the post of the acting head of North Ossetia Vyacheslav Bitarova will solve a number of problems that the republic is experiencing now.
"The first is that the regional budget has very large debts. The former authorities took out loans, now they need to pay for them, reducing the burden on the budget due to the need to pay the debt off." "The second problem the republic receives fewer taxes than it might collect. And the third problem of the republic is "an extremely confusing situation of land ownership and its use even according to standards of North Caucasus," he noted.
