Paul Goble
Staunton, April 1 – Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov may have survived three years as head of Ingushetia not only because he is no longer in effective control of that North Caucasus republic, it having been declared bankrupt and Moscow having assumed direct charge, but also because he has been subject to withering criticism by the opposition and regional experts.
His lack of any independence means that Moscow is not as unhappy with him as his own population is especially as he has not defended the Ingush people on the issues they most care about – losses of land to North Ossetia and Chechnya or the recently completed trial of the Ingush Seven.
And paradoxically, Kalimatov may have remained in office because he has been under nearly constant attack for his failures to do even those things he might have done to address Ingush problems like overcrowding in schools and medical problems given that the Kremlin does not like to give the impression that it is bowing to popular anger.
But now the situation may have changed: the Ingush Seven trial is over and popular activism seems to have ebbed, Kalimatov has managed to hold on for three years, the typical term for many governors, and his recent reporting to Putin about conditions in his republic highlighted his failures.
As a result, those who have predicted Kalimatov’s replacement before are now suggesting he may about to be removed given that his departure would reduce the problems Moscow has in the region and would not look like a concession to the Ingush people (kavkaz.mk.ru/economics/2022/03/31/kalimatov-rasskazal-putinu-o-problemakh-malozemelya-v-ingushetii.html).
If he is not replaced in the near term, there is every possibility that the protest wave that swept over Ingushetia about land losses under his predecessor will reemerge given that among the problems Kalimatov has not been able to solve and had to concede in his meeting with Putin is a severe shortage of land for the republic’s agriculture.
No comments:
Post a Comment