Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

62 Andreas Heinemann-Grüderscattered over Karachaeva-Cherkessiya, Stavropol Krai, Dagestan, andChechnya.4 Conflicts between migrants, descendants of deported people and refugeeson the one hand and permanent regional residents – this conflict patternpertains particularly to the Krasnodar Krai, the Stavropol Krai, theRostov Region and several republics in the North Caucasus. In theKrasnodar Krai, for example, live some 16,000–18,000 TurkicMeskhetian, returnees or descendants of deportation under Stalin, some10,000–12,000 of whom a residency permit was denied. 28 The OSCE,UNHCR and the Council of Europe try to assist the Meskhetians, andsince 2004 several thousand have moved to the U.S.5 The primarily socio-economic problems of small indigenous peoples,mostly in the high North and Far East, who do not feel adequately supportedby the federal government and yet rather feel threatened byimmigration or large business projects.6 Conflicts between Russian and non-Russian groups that lead to an emigrationof ethnic Russians. This pertains particularly to the Caucasianrepublics of Dagestan, North Osetiya-Alaniya, Kabardino-Balkariya, andKarachaeva-Cherkessiya, where, according to some observers, an anti-Russian policy of alienation takes place. Others hold that the emigrationof ethnic Russians is mostly due to the catastrophic situation of thelabour market. 297 Violent conflicts with militants, first of all in Chechnya and emanating fromthere to North Osetiya, Dagestan and other North Caucasian republics.8 The non-Russian minorities outside Russia who see an association with orinclusion into Russia as a way to secede from their current host country(South Osetiya, Abkhasiya).9 Conflicts between Muslim groups, especially the official Islam and independentIslamic groups – these include the Wahhabites around AhmedkadiAkhtayev, moderate Salafites around Bagauddin Kebedov and radicalWahhabites around Ayub Omarov.Russian observers perceive the situation in the North Caucasus as the mostcritical. Although the situation varies in the individual republics, there areoverarching factors that could contribute to an escalation of conflicts: highunemployment, an extreme social polarization, a shift of Islamic elites fromthe ‘official’ Islam to autonomous Islamic leaders, a general change fromSoviet to post-Soviet behavioural patterns, sharp tensions in multiethnicrepublics such as Kabardino-Balkariya, Dagestan and Karachaeva-Cherkessiya, as well as a high crime rate, corruption and sultanistic policypatterns. The central government seems increasingly perplexed. The preferredpolicy of nominating politicians loyal to Moscow – such as in Chechnya – doesnot take the local balance of power into account and often contributes to anincrease in tensions. According to the former Duma deputy Vladimir Lysenko,the Caucasians oppose anybody imposed from above or outside. 30