Izvestia: “Ministry of Ethnic Affairs still in question”
The government has not decided if it is worth setting up this department.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has decided to press on with discussions of his latest election article, which is about the national question, and immediately after its publication met with representatives of the peoples of southern Russia. The prime minister asked the meeting participants to decide for themselves what sort of structure would be best suited for handling issues related to nationality. The government has not yet decided on the type of structure this will be, whether it is going to be a separate ministry, a department within the Regional Development Ministry or a strengthened department within the existing government apparatus. Putin is willing to listen to all proposals. What matters is that the structure has to be effective and not turn into a debating club.
The prime minister's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Izvestia that the prime minister has not made a decision yet on whether to create a new ministry of ethnic affairs. It will be remembered that a special department was set up before within the government (under the Culture Department) which was meant to deal with ethnic affairs. Admittedly, this body has not exactly been a flurry of activity, since there is still no one in overall charge of it.
"This department does not have a director as yet," Peskov told Izvestia. "It doesn't have to be a new ministry necessarily. It could be any agency, but whether this will be as a result of transforming an existing structure or setting up a new one is still undecided. The idea is to have an agency with real powers".
Speaking at the Forum of the Peoples of Southern Russian, Putin gave the residents of the national republics the opportunity to join in the discussions. But he said that it must be an effective agency and not some sort of debating club.
We could make changes to the current system of electing governors, as proposed by President Dmitry Medvedev. Putin said that the current wording of the bills regarding the election of governors and the rules on the registration of political parties are by no means final. For example, the text of the amendment that relates to the reinstatement of direct elections for regional leaders could still be subject to the "presidential filter", which Putin referred to in his Direct Line in December.
"If you recall, I was talking about the presidential filter, which is not mentioned in the draft law. But no final decision has been made. Let's consider this matter together," Putin suggested, recalling that the draft law had been circulated to the all the regions for discussion. "The federal centre, if it has authority, should always fulfil the very important role of balancing interests in interregional, interethnic and interfaith relations."
He is confident that the new rules regulating how governors assume office will allow the leaders to become more answerable to the people. The prime minister believes that political parties should not be affiliated to any one particular national republic or region. He said there is no need to create regional, republican or ethnic parties.
"We need both multi-ethnic and national political structures who can look after the development of their region, but whose priority should be to take care of national problems," the prime minister added. "If, God forbid, we moved towards establishing republican or regional parties, that would be a very dangerous path, which would destabilise the country."
The heads of the Caucasian republics are in favour of a separate ministry for ethnic affairs and for keeping the presidential filter for the election of governors. The leader of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Yevkurov told Izvestia that a major federal authority needed to be in charge of handling ethnic matters, nothing less than a ministry would do.
He also supports the idea of the presidential filter. There is currently a phrase in the draft law about voluntary consultations with the president.
"We have to include the presidential filter," Yevkurov said. "This is a huge country, every region is unique in its own way, which is why any type of censorship, the presidential filter has to be there."
The Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov also believes that all problems should be resolved in the federal centre.
"In Chechnya things are as they are, we appoint a governor, we organize direct elections, it's all the same. We do not fear public elections, on the contrary we welcome them," Kadyrov told Izvestia.
This was no idle question for Kadyrov. He said that he had already reached an age when he wanted to devote more time to his family rather than to work.
"The most important thing for me is to make an orderly exit from politics," Kadyrov said.
However, Kadyrov told Izvestia it was not important to him whether the next Chechen leader was appointed to office or directly elected. What mattered was whether the candidate suited Putin.
Alexei Golenishchev
