Oreshkin: today's presidents of Chechnya and Ingushetia are Kremlin's favourites

Dmitri Oreshkin, a Russian political scientist, believes that the current presidents of Chechnya and Ingushetia are gainful for the Kremlin: Ramzan Kadyrov controls Chechnya, and Murat Zyazikov is loyal to the Russian leadership.

In Mr Oreshkin's opinion, the Grozny-Moscow relations make a typical confederative model: at the level of rhetoric they say that Russia has a vertical of power, and Moscow controls Chechnya, but actually, it is controlled by Kadyrov; and even federal troops feel uneasy in Chechnya, for example, the "Vostok" (East) battalion.

"It's a typical confederative model. The Russian authorities are bargaining and make deals with President of Chechnya, and Moscow starts reckoning with him. Who indeed depends on whom - it's a complex issue," Mr Oreshkin said today on air of the "Echo Moskvy" Radio Station in his comments on the information disseminated by Russian media that Kremlin gets ready to abolish the institute of presidents in national republics.

In his opinion, the relations of Russian leaders with top managers of Ingushetia are absolutely different. The political scientist is confident that replacing Zyazikov will not be so simple, since he is backed by his clan, and his removal will lead to the need to change the whole management structure of Ingushetia. He remarks that the Russian authorities could have returned Ruslan Aushev here, who could keep the situation under control, but "they don't find him loyal."