Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

Federal discourses, minority rights, and conflict transformation 79Putin’s Reform of Federal-Regional Relations, Vol. II, Lanham, MD: Rowman &Littlefield, 2005, pp. 7–32.5 See for example Midkhat Farukshin (Kazan State University), ‘New dimensionsof regionalism and federalism: the case of Tatarstan’, paper presented at the conference,‘The Russian Federation and the EU: New Dimensions of Federalismand Regionalism’, University of Leuven, 8 November 2005.6 For example, Rafael' Khakimov, Mikhail Stolyarov, Midhkat Farukshin, SurenAvakian, and Il'dar Gabdrafikov, to name just a few of experts with non-Russianorigin and federalist convictions – this, however, does not mean that a non-Russian origin pre-determines federalist views, or vice versa.7 Kontseptsiya administrativnoi reformy v Rossiiskoi Federatsii v 2006-2008 godakh,No. 1789-g, Goverment of the Russian Federation, 25 October 2005, www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/bycountry.html.8 Johnson’s Russia List, No. 261, 20 November 2006.9 Interfax, 17 November 2006.10 Johnson’s Russia List, No. 247, 3 November 2006.11 Interfax, 16 November 2006.12 Fred Weir, ‘Ethnic cleansing in Russia. Putin stokes the flames of xenophobia’, 15November 2006 at http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2887/.13 Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, Resisting the State: Reform and Retrenchment in Post-Soviet Russia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 7–14.14 See V. E. Chernik, Konstitutsionnoe pravo Rossii, Moscow: ‘Yurist’, 2004, pp. 200ff.15 Viktor A. Cherepanov, Teoriia Rossiiskovo Federalizma: Uchebnoe Posobie,Moscow: ‘MZ-Press’, 2005, p. 173.16 B. N. Topornina, Konstitutsiia Rossiiskoi Federatsii. Nauchno-prakticheskiiKommentarii, Moskva: ‘Iurist’, Izdanie tret'e, pod redaktsiei akademika InstitutGosudarstva i Prava RAN, 2003, p. 111.17 Ibid.18 Irina A. Konyuchova, Sovremennyi Rossiiski Federalizm i Mirovoi Opyt: ItogiStanovlenia Perspektivy Razivitiya, Moskva: Izdatel'skii dom Gorodes, 2004, p. 43.19 A similar view is the red string, in Richard Sakwa, Putin: Russia’s Choice,London and New York: Routledge, 2004.20 Milena V. Gligich-Zolotareva, Pravovye Osnovy Federalizma, Moksva: Iurist,2006, p. 213.21 Ibid., pp. 210f.22 Sobranie Zakonodatel'stvo 2000, No. 31 (3205).23 ‘Russia: Putin calls for ‘universal principles’ to settle frozen conflicts’, Radio FreeEurope/Radio Liberty, 1 February 2006.24 ‘Public Chamber to Help Russians in Self-Proclaimed Republics’. Johnson’sRussia List, No. 284, 19 December 2006.25 I am using the term ‘autochthonous people’ because the term ‘indigenous people’pertains in the Russian context only to the small people with a traditional lifestylein the high North, Siberia and the Far East.26 Olga Rom-Sourkova, Die Sprachliche Situation in der Russischen Föderation,Berlin: BWV Berliner Wissenschaftsverlag, 2004, p. 149.27 Alex Rodriguez, ‘Muted Voices, Compelling Cry’, Chicago Tribune, 13 December2006.28 Alexander Osipov, The Situation and Legal Status of Meskhetians in RussianFederation, Moscow: Memorial Human Rights Centre, 2003; Oskari Pentikäinen,Tom Trier, ‘Between integration and resettlement: the meskhetian Turks’, ECMIWorking Paper, No. 21, September 2004.29 Ludmilla Lobova, ‘Ethnopolitische konflikte im nordkaukasus: geschichte-gegenwart-perspektiven’,in Erich Reitter (ed.), Jahrbuch für InternationaleSicherheitspolitik, Wien: Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn, 2001, pp. 17–30.