SECURITY

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CHAPTER 2
CHECHEN KHANATE
Soon after his appointment as head of Chechnya,
Ramzan Kadyrov took hold of all the mechanisms
forgoverning the region. As Sergei Markov,
a pro-Kremlin political analyst, noted, a “big political
agreement” had been reached between Putin and
Kadyrov, under which all powers of government
in the republic were vested in the new Chechen
leader. 33 Kadyrov’s personal loyalty and extensive
political support of the Russian president have become
the price the Chechen leader paid for this.
REGIME OF PERSONAL POWER
The political system established by Kadyrov in
Chechnya can be described as a regime of personal power.
His authority in the republic is practically unlimited. Parliament,
the media, the judicial system are all controlled by the
region’s leader. Kadyrov declares that Vladimir Putin is the
only limiting factor of his personal authority in the republic.
“I am Putin’s man. His word is law for me. How can one not
worship him? Putin is a gift of God” 34 .
Ramzan Kadyrov as good as prohibited opposition
activity on the territory of Chechnya. “I said that the word
‘opposition’ should be forgotten [in the republic]” 35 . From
his point of view, opposition is harmful to the state. “We
have no opposition, this system is made up to undermine
[state] authority. I will not allow to play with the people,”
Kadyrov clarifies 36 . Not one political party except United
Russia in active on the territory of the republic. Furthermore,
it appears to be impossible to monitor elections, since
independent observers are concerned about their own safety.
Due to a total lack of political counterbalance, Kadyrov’s
regime guarantees almost 100 percent of the vote for
Putin and the United Russia party in elections for positions
at all levels of government. “The voter turnout during the
elections would be no less than 100 percent and maybe even
more,” Kadyrov once stated in the run-up to the elections in
the republic, 37 and his forecast turned out to be close to reality.
Today, out of 41 members of the Chechen Parliament,
37 represent the United Russia party, the regional branch
of which is headed by Kadyrov himself. During the 2011
elections to the State Duma, the local electoral commission
registered a 99 percent voter turnout, and United Russia’s
electoral list with Kadyrov at its head received 99 percent
of the vote. During the 2012 presidential elections, Putin
received 99.73 percent of the vote in Chechnya, with a
99.59 percent voter turnout 38 .
Arkady Lyubarev, an expert of the Golos Association,
openly calls the results of the elections in Chechnya
falsified 39 . Political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin describes the
republic as an area of a specific electoral regime, where “an
independent observer risks his own head by coming to the
polling place” 40 .
Even the supporters of the current regime have to
admit that elections in Chechnya are an obvious fraud.
“The political system in Chechnya is based on authoritarianism,
and it is able to guarantee proper results. I have
not seen similar results since the Soviet times,” Vyacheslav
Nikonov, a State Duma member from United Russia,
commented on the results of the 2011 parliamentary
elections 41 .
Photo: Valery Melnikov/Kommersant, A.Astakhova
Live broadcast
According to the figures released
by the Central Electoral Committee
The Republic of Chechnya
1. United Russia – 99.47 percent