The Decline of Regionalism in Putin's Russia: Boundary Issues by J. Paul Goode

Author:J. Paul Goode [Goode, J. Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ethnic Studies, General, Social Science, Political Science, American Government, State, Local, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781136720727
Google: QHCsAgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 17550736
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2011-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

Defining the rationale, scope, and targets of regional enlargement

The legal mechanisms enabling regional enlargement were established in the midst of general speculation that Putin intended to redraw Russia’s internal borders. Immediately following the creation of the Federal Districts in May 2000, the new districts’ ambiguous status and powers led many observers to see them as new “super-regions” that would supplant the existing set of regions. Throughout Putin’s first term, however, the Presidential Administration maintained that the process of regional enlargement must begin “from below,” on the regions’ own initiative, and only when approved by referendum. This is not to say that the Presidential Administration did not encourage regional mergers. Already in July 2000, Kozak took specific aim at the AOs, stating that it would be “wise” to satisfy their desire to merge with oblasts and krais.27

If the Kremlin insisted that the process of regional enlargement should proceed “from below,” many governors were more than willing to oblige. Novgorod oblast Governor Mikhail Prusak stated in early 2001 that his region would have no problems merging with Pskov, to some extent pre-empting the suggestion of Northwest polpred Cherkesov. But Prusak went even further in arguing that the total number of regions should be no more than fifty, and that these should be directly subordinated to “governor-generals” whom the Russian president would appoint.28 The former governor of Chukotka (and chairman of the Federation Council Committee for Northern Affairs and Indigenous Peoples), Alexander Nazarov, stated in a meeting with governors of the Far Eastern Federal District that Chukotka should be merged with Magadan. Nazarov added that the process should continue with the merging of all regions within the Federal District.29 Siberian leaders were even more vocal. The speaker of Altai krai’s assembly, Alexander Nazarchuk, caused a stir in spring 2001 by suggesting the possibility of merging with the Altai Republic. Nazarchuk’s proposal was poorly received in the republic.30 That did not stop Altai krai Governor Alexander Surikov from repeatedly raising the issue over the next two years until losing office in April 2004.31 In Krasnoiarsk krai, Governor Alexander Lebed claimed in March 2001 that he had been ordered by Putin to prepare a scheme for merging the krai with the Evenk and Taimyr AOs, to be presented to the president by the end of April 2002. The Presidential Administration later clarified that Putin merely did not exclude the possibility of merging the regions over the long term in talks with both Lebed and Taimyr’s Governor Alexander Khloponin.32 In April 2001, the governor of Ust-Orda Buryat AO, Valery Maleev, stated that “we are for merging [Irkutsk] oblast and okrug, but it should proceed in the event that residents of the okrug know the benefits of unification and the national interests of the titular people are taken into account.”33 A number of governors supported the idea of regional enlargement, but only insofar as it was economically advantageous. Yaroslavl Governor Anatoly Lisitsyn suggested that the process begin with experiments conducted in either the Northwest or Central Federal Districts by merging donor and debtor regions.

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