Dmitry Litvinovich: Backstage political struggle in Chechnya

The war in Chechnya is going on. We learn about the new acts of terrorism, murders of civilians every day as well as about the destruction of a regular gang of guerrillas. The scenes of violence and death on television do not frighten the viewers anymore – everybody got used to it. The backstage struggle for power in the Chechen republic is not exposed at all.

The head of the Chechen republican government, Akhmad Kadyrov - a powerful and strong-willed person, who has always stood for his point of view – now quarreled with the prime minister of the republic, Stanislav Ilyasov. The reason of the quarrel was the order to dismiss the personnel of the republic’s government and setting up a structure that would be subordinated to him personally. Kadyrov explained such an unfriendly gesture of his, claiming that Ilyasov appointed his own people for all key positions after he had become a premier.

Ilyasov’s position on the score is as follows: “Let him deal with politics; finances, economy and personnel – it is not his business.” Of course Kadyrov is not happy about such a role. He repeatedly visited Moscow to protect his position, but there was no success achieved though. The situation changed when Kadyrov made a trip to Iraq and the Middle East. Making a report on the results of his visit he touched upon the disputable subject too. Vladimir Putin’s reaction is not known, but judging by Kadyrov’s action – he got carte blanche in the Kremlin. Stanislav Ilyasov said the mentioned order was a provocation in its nature, which will bring turmoil in the work of the government. He can be understood: losing his personnel he is also deprived of the control over the situation and therefore – the influence in the republic.

In Kadyrov’s opinion nothing special happened and that would not affect his relations with the premier. It is not known yet how the events are going to develop – will those officials be able to overcome their personal ambitions or will the Kremlin have to interfere again?

Dmitry Litvinovich PRAVDA.Ru