Thursday, October 26, 2017

Khakass Parliament Speaker Denounces FSB Excesses, Warns It ‘Can Come After Anyone’



Paul Goble

            Staunton, October 26 – Vladimir Stygashev, the speaker of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Khakassia, yesterday accused the FSB of arbitrary and illegal actions in putting pressure on deputies and officials and warned his fellow deputies that the Russian security service “can come after anyone” unless something is done.

            In recent weeks, the FSB has been investigating the construction industry in Khakassia, a republic of just over 500,000 people in southern Siberia whose titular nationality, a Turkic one, forms only 12 percent of the population. Ethnic Russians form 82 percent of the total. Among the deputies are some connected with construction.

            This unusual attack by a senior republic official on the FSB was first reported by the republic’s own news portal (19rus.info:81/index.php/vlast-i-politika/item/74672-vladimir-shtygashev-kollegi-zavtra-mogut-prijti-za-lyubym-iz-vas) and then was picked up by the Tatar-Bashkir Service of Radio Liberty (https://www.idelreal.org/a/28817095.html).

            Stygashev promised to write to the head of the FSB in his republic and demand both an explanation and a new approach.

            His criticism of the FSB comes on the heels of a similar case in Murmansk where the governor complained that the force structures there have been trying to put pressure on her both directly and through her staff, apparently hoping to force her out (kommersant.ru/doc/3447865 and thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy-life-and-public/2017/10/murmansk-governor-i-am-under-big-pressure-law).

            Her response, she said, was to appeal to Vladimir Putin who alone appointed her and who alone can remove her. 

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