Late in the evening of October 30, the presidential press service reported that the president of the Russian republic of Ingushetia, Murat Zyazikov, had resigned from his post. The news caused mixed reaction for analysts, but the general response was positive - for the past several months, Ingushetia has been one of the most troubled Russian regions, and it is expected that the government reshuffling will help to improve the situation.
In comments to the press the former president said the move was a completely voluntary decision. Analysts seem almost unanimous in the belief that the move was prudent. Indeed, the situation in Ingushetia had become extremely tense over the past few months - with attacks on regional officials and regional and federal law enforcements becoming almost a daily routine. Ingushetia is a republic in the North Caucasus bordering the Chechen Republic in the south. and the people of Ingushetia are very close to Chechens ethnically and linguistically.
Shortly after Zyazikov tendered his resignation to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev it was announced that he would be replaced by Yusunbek Yevkurov, a military officer.
"The appointment of an Ingush who has lived outside of Ingushetia and has made a career in Russia, in a Russian structure - this is a positive signal," Sergei Markedonov, an inter-ethnic relations specialist at the Institute of Political and Military Analysis, told The Moscow News, speaking Yevkurov.
"But it is merely a signal. We should not expect that the new appointment will create order in just two days."
Yevkurov has held the post of a deputy chief of staff in the Volga Military District. He started as a marine, but then graduated from the Ryazan Paratroopers' Academy and then from the General Staff Academy.
Although Yevkurov was awarded a Hero of Russia title for courage he showed during the second Chechen campaign, but he is more famous for leading the Russian raid to capture the international airport in Kosovo in 1999. After returning home from the peacekeeping operation he was appointed chief of staff in the paratrooper regiment.
The appointment was welcomed in the republic. Ruslan Aushev and his colleague, Magomed Khazbiyev, told The Associated Press news agency they were willing to cooperate with the new president. In an interview with the Kommersant daily Aushev said that Yevkurov was "the best candidate for Ingushetia" and added that "the situation will become more calm, at least to a certain degree."
The former president, Murat Zyazikov, was elected president in 2002 to replace Ruslan Aushev, who was a strong leader, but had ties with Chechen separatists and even openly supported their leader, Aslan Maskhadov.
A career officer in the Russian Federal Security Service, the FSB, Zyazikov enjoyed government support, but still had serious problems in Ingushetia. He barely managed to win the 2002 elections and got involved in a series of scandals, which were extensively covered by the opposition. Zyazikov became especially unpopular when he chose not to come in the North Ossetian city of Beslan where a group of Chechen terrorists captured a school and held children hostage in September 2004.
Commenting on his decision, Zyazikov told the Kommersant daily that he had considered coming to Beslan "too dangerous."
The latest and probably most outrageous scandal developed on August 31 this year when Magomed Yevloyev, the head of the pro-opposition web-site Ingushetia.ru, was shot dead inside of a police car soon after his detention in the airport of the republic's capital Magas.
Police said Yevloyev fell victim to an accidental pistol discharge, but apparently the relatives and allies of the victim have not found this explanation credible.
On September 10, Zyazikov's cousin Bekhan Zyazikov was shot dead and on October 26 a bomb blast hit the car of Arsambak Zyazikov - another relative of the leader of the republic. It should be noted, however, that officially all representatives of Ingushetia's opposition denied any connection to these incidents.
"We shouldn't overestimate the personal factor," Markedonov said, cautioning against blaming the problems on Zyazikov alone.
"Of course, it [Zyazikov's resignation] was expected, but I think that many of the problems are not connected with Zyazikov. He came to the post in 2002, while the Ossetian conflict, for instance, exploded in 1992. There were general problems of Ingushetia integrating into Russia as a whole. But it's important that Medvedev has started addressing this problem."
By Kirill Bessonov
