RUSSIA'S TINDERBOX - Belfer Center for Science and International ...

should be created on the basis of territorial size and economic principles, along the lines of a
German-style Länder system, with every unit having equal privileges.
In formulating policy toward the North Caucasus, federalists advocate the treatment of all
republics on an equal basis. They seek to establish cooperation both among the republics and with
the federal center.
The idea of keeping the existing units of the Russian Federation has been supported by
Galina Staravoitova, the erstwhile presidential advisor on nationalities, and Sergei Kovalev, the
former Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Human Rights. The Länder option has been
promoted by both Valery Tishkov and Sergei Shakhrai as former nationalities ministers, and by
leaders of the Russian democratic parties, such as Yegor Gaidar and Grigory Yavlinsky. Neither
option, however, has found much support in the so-called “power ministries” (Foreign Affairs,
Internal Affairs, Security and Defense), where so much of Moscow’s policy toward the regions has
ultimately been determined.
The Framework for Regulating Relations Between Moscow and the Subjects of the
Federation:
The multiplicity of government agencies concerned with regional policy and of ideas on the
future form of the Russian Federation have resulted in the creation of a contradictory legal
framework for the regulation of Moscow’s relations with its regions. This framework comprises the
Federal Treaty, the Russian Constitution, a set of bilateral treaties, and a draft law on the delimitation
of powers within the Federation.
Initially, the 1992 Federal Treaty was intended to be the fundamental document delimiting
powers between the federal government and the Russian Federation’s constituent republics and
oblasts, and was to be enshrined in the new Russian Constitution. However, as was noted earlier in
the text, Tatarstan and Chechnya did not sign the Treaty and a number of other republics and regions
expressed strong reservations about its provisions. As a result, the chapters dealing with the
delimitation of powers in the Russian Constitution were rewritten and resubmitted to the republics
and regions for approval in the referendum on the Constitution in December 1993. A number of
republics that had initially signed the Federal Treaty––including in the North Caucasus, Adygeia,
Dagestan and Karachaevo-Cherkessia––now rejected the Constitution on the grounds that it violated
the original provisions of the Treaty.
In the wake of these rejections, and to prevent its relations with the regions from falling into
legal limbo, Moscow began to conclude bilateral treaties with key republics. The first of these
treaties on Mutual Delimitation and Delegation of Authority was signed between Russia and
Tatarstan in February 1994. The treaty focused on issues such as foreign economic activity, the
management of state property, budget and taxation, industry and transportation, and the work of the
judicial system, and left the question of the ultimate status of the republic within the Russian
Federation in abeyance. Since February 1994, Moscow has concluded treaties with Bashkortorstan,
Sakha-Yakutia, Buryatia, and Kabardino-Balkaria and North Ossetia in the North Caucasus, more
treaties are planned with additional republics, including Dagestan, Ingushetia, and
Karachaevo-Cherkessia in the North Caucasus.
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