Moscow Rotates Siloviki Leaders in North Caucasus Increasing Role of Outsiders Even in Chechnya

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 8 – The Russian government has just carried out the largest set of personnel changes at the top of siloviki forces in the North Caucasus, presumably to be prepared for possible protests during the upcoming presidential elections, Accent journalist Anton Chablin says.

            As before, the new appointees come from outside the republic and typically from outside the region or republic as well. Thus , the new head of the FSB in Ingushetia is from Daghestan, the new chief investigator in Daghestan is from Samara Oblast, and the new head of the FSB in Karachayevo-Cherkessia is from North Ossetia (akcent.site/eksklyuziv/23891).

            The exception to this pattern is Chechnya, but even there, as Chablin notes, it is only partial. There, local people dominate the leadership of the siloviki structures, but even there, there are people from outside the republic on whom presumably Moscow can rely without question.

            The FSB forces in Chechnya are headed not by a Chechen but by an ethnic Russian from Chelyabinsk, Maj.Gen. Sergey Bogdanovsky. In addition, the North Caucasus FD police are now headed by an FSB officer from Stavropol Krya, Nikolay Bukin. Both are thus in a position to restrict Ramzan Kadyrov’s activities if Moscow wants.