Vladimir Putin will visit the Republic of Bashkortostan for the first time in the past three years. Kremlin officials hope that he will manage to persuade Murtaza Rakhimov, the oldest among the governors, not to put off his retirement.
The Prime Minister is to chair a meeting of the Government Commission on issues related to regional development on February 8th in Ufa. According to the prime minister's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, the meeting with Mr. Rakhimov will be held after a visit to the battery factory and the conference. He added that the socio-economic situation in the region as well as the fulfillment of anti-crisis measures would top the agenda.
An official close to the Republic's government said that the prime minister's visit to Bashkiria had been scheduled for October 26th of last year. The presidential administration was looking for a preliminary replacement of Murtaza Rakhimov, but the trip was cancelled then. According to a source close to the presidential administration, the recent voluntary resignation of Mintimer Shaimiev, who is 73, and the appointment of his successor as president created far more favourable conditions for such talks. Murtaza Rakhimov will be 76 on February 7th.
Bashkiria President's representative in the Federation Council, Rafael Baydavletov, said that it was a business trip, but Bashkiria feted Mr. Putin, who had always had good relations with the governor. The Russian prime minister has visited Bashkiria five times since 2000. The last time he visited Bashkiria was in 2007, having ignored the previous year's jubilee of the head of the republic. Mr. Baydavletov said that those who had problems were visited more often, while in Bashkiria things were going on smoothly.
Nevertheless, Kremlin officials started to look for the replacement of the Bashkir governor in early 2009. In June 2009, Bashkiria's governor criticized Moscow for excessive centralization of power as well as United Russia for party dictatorship. First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Vladislav Surkov went to the Republic to remedy the situation. On January 26, Mr. Rakhimov came out against United Russia once again. He criticized Chairman of United Russia's Supreme Council Boris Gryzlov for proposing to join subsidized regions to donor regions.
The Prosecutor General's Office checked with Bashkiria's prosecutor's office for several weeks in September. The office was suspected of failing to initiate proceedings on charges of corruption discovered by the Bashkir Interior Ministry. Following the investigation, a case regarding an illegal VAT refund worth 1 billion roubles ($33.95mn) paid from the federal budget to Yumaguzinskoe Water Reservoir was opened in December. Allegations of illegal acquisition of property against Bashkir Prime Minister Rail Sarbayev and Head of the Administration for the Federal Taxation Service of the Republic Sergei Baranov were sent for further inquiry. A source close to the government said that for this reason, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev and Head of the Federal Taxation Service Mikhail Mokretsov, who are not members of the Government Commission, went to Bashkiria along with Mr Putin.
According to the leader of Bashkiria's opposition, Ramil Bignov, Vladimir Putin met with Murtaza Rakhimov and supported him after his first election tour (which he failed to win) in 2003, and now Mr Putin has the moral right to remind the Bashkir Governor how he made it into office. Mr. Peskov believes that the governor's future is to be decided by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
By Natalia Kostenko