CHECHNYA LINKS LIBRARY

Kadyrov building new “vertical of power” in Chechnya

By Umalt Chadayev

CHECHNYA – On becoming head of the republic on March 2 Ramzan Kadyrov has begun to strengthen his “vertical of power”. In several days, serious changes have taken place in the leadership of the republic, affecting not only the top-ranking officials but also the middle-ranking ones.

On March 5 Ramzan Kadyrov dismissed Rizvan Tantalashev, head of the local administration in Chechnya’s mountainous Vedensky district,  and Shamil Magomayev, chief of the Vedensky district police. Tantalashev was made an adviser to the Chechen president, while Magomayev became deputy head of the republic’s ministry for emergency situations (MChS). Businessman Ali Simbarigov became the new Vedensky district head, and Rasul Isayev, ex-commander of the Naursky district patrol post service (PPS) replaced Magomayev as chief of police.

Akhmed Dikayev, formerly chairman of the Committee for Labour and Employment in the Chechen parliament, became Chechnya’s new minister of labour and social development. His predecessor, Magomed Vakhayev, was made head of the Constitutional Court.

Said-Khasan Tsentroyev, a former assistant to the Chechen prime minister, was appointed administrative head of Grozny’s Oktyabrsky district, while ex-deputy Gudermessky district head Osvad Movlayev became deputy chief of staff to the president and government of the republic.

After that, Ramzan Kadyrov dismissed Grozny’s mayor, Movsar Temirbayev, who was appointed to the post by his father in late 2003. Temirbayev’s place was taken by Muslim Khuchiyev, head of the regional branch of the Fair Russia party and vice-president of the Akhmet Kadyrov Foundation, a journalist by profession.

Former deputy prime minister Odes Baysultanov (a cousin of Ramzan Kadyrov on his mother’s side of the family) will receive the post of prime minister. Khalid Vaykhanov, who had worked as Chechen deputy prime minister for social affairs, was given the post of secretary to the Chechen Council for Economic and Social Security. He replaced German Vok, who tendered his resignation shortly before Alu Alkhanov resigned as Chechen President.

On Monday new personnel changes initiated by President Kadyrov were announced. The reshuffle now affected the republic’s Interior Ministry. The deputy interior minister, police colonel Sultan Satuyev, was transferred to the post of director-general of Grozny airport. Satuyev’s place was taken by Alambek Yasayev, deputy interior minister for the city of Grozny.

Lyoma Magomadov, head of Chechnya’s Road Safety Inspection Office (UGIBDD), received the now vacant position of deputy prime minister for social affairs. The new chief of the Road Safety Inspection Office was Shamkhan Delimkhanov, former head of Grozny's Staropromyslovsky district, who according to some reports is also a relative of the republic’s president.

In addition, Ramzan Kadyrov appointed deputy prime minister for industry, transport and communications Khuseyn Dzhabrailov as his special representative in Moscow. Dzhabrailov,  a well-known Moscow businessman,  received his deputy prime minister’s post only a few months ago.

In the view of local observers, Ramzan Kadyrov is actively building his own “vertical of power” in the republic, placing his men in all the leading and more or less important positions. “I don’t see anything strange in the series of personnel changes that’s underway in the republic just now. A new broom sweeps clean, as they say. Ramzan Kadyrov is putting his ‘own folk’ in power. He’s counting first and foremost on his close relatives (Odes Baysultanov, for example), and men who are personally loyal to him," a Chechen political analyst says.

“In my opinion, Kadyrov’s personnel policy should have been based primarily on the professional qualities of this or that appointee rather than on his devotion to the head of the republic or his membership of the Beno teyp (to which Ramzan Kadyrov belongs). Each man, especially a leader of the highest rank, ought to be a professional at his task, otherwise nothing good will come of it,” he says.

Meanwhile the republic’s citizens are reacting to the present situation in their own way. People joke that the country is now governed by “Benocracy”.

(T,MD)