Captives of the Caucasus

The Communists left the Russian leadership an amazing legacy. Where one can find some logic in the formation of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Republic (since both parts are inhabited by the Vainakhs, although it was the first post-Soviet structure to split after the empire's collapse). The logic of multinational Dagestan can also be understood (it is impossible to draw any ethnic boundaries there). But why Kabardino-Balkaria or Karachay-Cherkessia?

Conflict between the Kabardinians and Balkars (the latter came up with the idea of creating a republic of their own) has been assuaged so far, perhaps because the national elites on both sides could come to terms. In Karachay-Cherkessia the gap between the Karachay and Cherkess has become obvious only now after the first general presidential elections. Mr. Stepashin offers the national elites compromises, showing that the Russian Premier has learned from the Chechnya experience: a conflict should be stopped at the earliest stage, rather than taking one's time making plans to halt it later. Whatever the outcome, someone will feel they are the loser; the Karachay will if their candidate, General Vladimir Semnov, loses the elections; the Cherkess will if he becomes President... The Karachay are numerically stronger, yet the Cherkess will defend their right to take part in running the republic.

The author of these "dual republics," Stalin, was a quite a joker! He made his descendants eternal captives of the Caucasus, to be precise, of Caucasian problems, as though trying to prove long after his death that this land can be ruled only by an iron hand; that any form of democracy will result in ethnic confrontations, separatism, and breakup among federation members. Former Soviet republics found a more or less effective remedy by becoming independent, but finding a remedy in Russia is proving much harder.