Kazan Not Captured
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s tour of the regions, conceived by its organizers as the spectacular beginning of a new political season, ended up in embarrassment if not scandal: on Mr. Putin’s way back to Moscow his policies came under scathing criticism in of all places Tatarstan, one of Russia’s economically and politically most important regions. One day before Mr. Putin’s arrival, Tatarstan’s President Mintimer Shaimiyev, a veteran of the Russian political scene, made some critical remarks when addressing the World Congress of Tatars. The congress also passed a resolution rather critical of the Kremlin’s centripetal tendencies. Moreover, congress delegates did not shy from telling Mr. Putin their complaints. The president turned out, however, to be totally unprepared for a meaningful discussion: he was winging it, trying to smooth over the sharp edges or giving awkward answers. But in addition, it was obvious that Mr. Putin was not the boss in Tatarstan, that he had arrived here as head of a friendly but different state, and that nobody was afraid of him or lost the faculty of speech on seeing such a popular and universally beloved leader.
This is the reality not only in Tatarstan but throughout Russia. The point is the republican leaders in Kazan find it expedient to display their independence, for this appeals to the voters. Somewhere in Vladivostok, it is far more expedient to demonstrate the love of and devotion to Moscow and feast your eyes on dear Vladimir Vladimirovich — yet, the Russian Far East governor feels no less or even more independent than the president of Tatarstan. What about the president of Russia? What does he rule then? Moscow, where Mayor Yury Luzhkov is wary of him? St. Petersburg, where the public openly dislikes the Putin old boy team headed by Vladimir Yakovlev? Yakutia, a republic run by the ALROSA Company? Or the Kalmyk Republic of the eccentric chess president Iliumzhinov?
These are all rhetorical questions. But it is not Russia’s practice to ask them and admit that its central government is weak, the institution of president is of a limited capacity, and that Mr. Putin both as a politician and a personality has lost the battle with regional leaders for power and money. One rarely, if ever, recalls now the federal districts established by the president in the very first months of his rule — only to say yet again that they are unnecessary and that presidential representatives are unable to influence the situation in the regions. This contrasts with the time when the Russians seriously believed that these districts reflected a new administrative and territorial division of the country and college applicants were forced to study this innovation for their entrance exams. In reality, it proved easier to force a high school graduate, rather than a hardened governor and president, to believe in a political illusion...
This may be stale news, but, in any case, when Mr. Putin toured Tatarstan, you could see his embarrassment on television and read in the newspapers about the problems of center-periphery relations. This is quite a warning for Russia, where the media say daily that the president enjoys high popularity and has no serious rivals in the elections. In the long run, somebody will understand that 89 rivals in the provinces is a far more serious force than any Ziuganov or Zhirinovsky.
