Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

Federal discourses, minority rights, and conflict transformation 57alphabet, the demonstrated alliance of the state leadership with orthodoxy,and the collective expulsion of Georgians from Russian cities (in September2006) in retaliation against the expulsion of three Russian spies fromGeorgia.The Russian Minister of Interior, Rashid Murgaliyev, stated in November2006 that there existed 150 extremist groups in Russia with some 10,000members. 8 According to an opinion poll conducted in 2006, the trend ofethnic intolerance is flourishing among ethnic Russians: 62 per cent ofRussians felt that certain ethnic groups should not be allowed to immigrateinto their region, despite the constitutional guarantee of freedom of movementinside Russia. Only 24 per cent opted against such restrictions. 9 A pollof the Levada Centre conducted in September 2006 found that 57 per cent ofRussians felt that an anti-Caucasian pogrom such as occurred in theRepublic of Kareliya (August 2006) could also happen in their region. Fiftytwoper cent agreed with the slogan of the racist ‘Movement Against IllegalImmigration’ (Russian acronym DPNI) –‘Russia for Russians’.Putin and the Kremlin administration have repeatedly called for resistanceagainst manifestations of extremism. Putin publicly criticized the Presidentof Kareliya, Sergei Katanadov, for his initial inaction towards the violentonslaughts on ‘Caucasians’ in the city of Kondopoga. 10 However, governmentpolicy itself contributes to the growing ethnocentrism among ethnicRussians. In October 2006 Putin ordered the government to restrict thenumber of ‘foreigners’ permitted to work in Russian markets. 11 In a statementby Konstantin Romodanovsky, director of the federal migration service,the notion of ‘foreigners’ was defined as being different to the cultureand religion of the Russian population, thus implicitly defining ‘Russian’ notas a notion of citizenship but of ethnicity. In other words, the entry of non-Russians to a market was to be limited, regardless of whether they had aRussian or ‘foreign’ passport.Against a backdrop of rising tensions with Georgia, in September 2006Putin declared that ‘non-Slavs’ ‘dominated’ the market places in mostRussian cities, thus implying that not just ‘foreigners’ but people of a non-Slavic origin were to be targeted. There soon followed a wave of denunciationsand closures of businesses of Russian citizens with Georgian names – acollective punishment. 12 Putin’s own policy thus implemented the slogan‘Russia for Russians’.The restructuring of inter-governmental relations corresponds to the centralistand Russo-centric creed – the strengthening of the regions’ dependenceon central government, the concentration of competencies at the centre, andthe successive roll back of ethno-federal asymmetries. Officially, there is nofarewell to federalism; the disempowerment of the regions is depicted insteadas a strengthening of federalism. The type of federalism which operatedunder Yeltsin is held responsible for undermining the development of a uniformlegal and economic sphere, for promoting corruption and ethnocraticmisuse of power, regional authoritarianism and inefficient government.