Dagestan Needs More Than a New Leader By Yulia Latynina
There was rejoicing last Thursday at government headquarters in Makhachkala. Magomedali Magomedov, who had ruled Dagestan since 1991, was in Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin. Immediately after the meeting, Magomedov called to say that he would be staying on as head of the republic. Rumors of Magomedov's retirement had been circulating in Dagestan for years, fueled by the leader's advanced age, the chronic corruption of his regime and the epidemic of murders in the republic, where the body count surpasses that in Chechnya.
In the last few months the retirement rumors had intensified. The biggest players in Dagestani politics began traveling to Moscow with suitcases full of cash to ask for the republic's top job. Anyone with presidential ambitions sent agents to search the offices of his rivals. Those who didn't aspire to lead Dagestan feared that their blood enemies would replace Magomedov or acquire greater power under the new regime.
Soon the suitcases stuffed with cash were supplemented with other battle-tested weapons of Dagestani politics. When Kizilyurt district administration chief Abdurakhman Gadzhiyev returned from the hajj in mid-January, he was arrested at the airport in Makhachkala and charged with the attempted murder of Gergebil district chief Makhach Magomedov in December 2005.
Amuchi Amutinov, head of the Dagestani division of the federal pension fund, and regional railways chief Gazi Gaziyev -- both potential leaders of the Lak ethnic group -- couldn't settle their differences amicably. As a result, the modest pensions chief with an official salary of a couple hundred dollars per month lost two armored Mercedes, which were blown to smithereens in an assassination attempt.
Five hitmen were hired to whack State Duma deputy Gadzhi Makhachev in Moscow. Rumor has it that the killers decided to blow up a car loaded with explosives outside the VIP lounge at Vnukovo Airport. If this is true, it may have been the last straw for the Kremlin. Gangland-style murders in the streets of Makhachkala are one thing, but at Vnukovo Airport?
When Magomedali Magomedov phoned from Moscow to say that he was staying put, his people back home were overjoyed. More than political power was at stake, after all. Dagestan receives more in federal funds than just about any region in the country. Half of the officials gorging at the federal trough are Magomedov's relatives; the other half paid good money for their spots and prefer Kalashnikovs to the Russian language as their lingua franca. For all these people Magomedov's reappointment meant more than another term in office; it meant another day above ground.
The festive mood lasted until the evening, when Magomedov returned to Makhachkala and announced his retirement. A few days later Mukhu Aliyev, former speaker of the regional parliament, was confirmed as the first president of Dagestan.
Aliyev lives in a three-room apartment filled with old Soviet furniture. He doesn't even own a car. In a region where the head of the Pension Fund seems to have a new armored Mercedes every week, Aliyev's modest lifestyle is almost unheard of.
In the current political context, the Kremlin's appointment of Aliyev was a sound tactical move. Aliyev didn't buy the job, for one thing. He doesn't have that kind of money. And the general discontent in the republic has given way to goldrush fever as the plum jobs are divided up all over again.
There's just one problem. In the mountains of Dagestan no one cares who the next president will be. In the mountains road signs have been replaced by green plates bearing the names of Allah. And young people from the villages no longer move to Moscow when they leave home -- they join the extremists.
No tactical political appointment can change that now.
Yulia Latynina hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio.
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