Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07MOSCOW3354
2007-07-09 14:25:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Moscow
Cable title:
RUSSIA: TATARS CALL NEW FEDERAL TREATY "SYMBOLIC"
how-toVZCZCXRO6992 PP RUEHDBU DE RUEHMO #3354 1901425 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 091425Z JUL 07 FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1929 INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 003354
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/09/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIA: TATARS CALL NEW FEDERAL TREATY "SYMBOLIC"
Classified By: PolMinCouns Alice G. Wells. Reason: 1.4 (b, d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 003354
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/09/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIA: TATARS CALL NEW FEDERAL TREATY "SYMBOLIC"
Classified By: PolMinCouns Alice G. Wells. Reason: 1.4 (b, d)
1. (C) Tatarstani officials and academics alike told us July
6-7 that the federal treaty between Tatarstan and Russia, now
before the Federation Council, is only "symbolic." The
issues of practical substance -- primarily division of state
property -- were settled in the original 1994 treaty,
according to President Shaymiyev's senior political advisor
Rafael Khakimov, political scientist Nail Mukharryamov and
the head of Tatarstan's external relations department, Eduard
Khabibullin. The new treaty symbolizes the nation's
commitment to federalism despite the rhetoric of the
"vertical of power," they said.
2. (C) All believed the Federation Council's rejection of a
previous draft of the new treaty was pure politics -- Sergei
Mironov's need to stake out political turf as leader of a
political party in opposition to the ruling United Russia.
Khakimov spun Tatarstan's concessions in the new draft as
minimal: a recognition that Russia's laws, not only its
constitution and that of Tatarstan, would be supreme in the
republic; and a dilution of the official language clause to
require only that the President and senior officials be
bilingual in Tatar and Russian.
3. (C) Comment: The fact that Tatarstan is interested in the
Treaty despite its purely "symbolic" value shows concern that
the new rulers in Moscow after 2008 might seek to reduce
Tatar autonomy. Given the highly personal nature of all such
deals, the Tatars want the treaty to lock in the gains they
have made so far. In contrast, Chechnya's rough-hewn
president Ramzan Kadyrov has made it clear that he needs no
stinkin' piece of paper to guarantee his freedom of movement
-- and that a formal treaty might only constrain him when he
presses Putin's successor for even more concessions.
BURNS
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/09/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIA: TATARS CALL NEW FEDERAL TREATY "SYMBOLIC"
Classified By: PolMinCouns Alice G. Wells. Reason: 1.4 (b, d)
1. (C) Tatarstani officials and academics alike told us July
6-7 that the federal treaty between Tatarstan and Russia, now
before the Federation Council, is only "symbolic." The
issues of practical substance -- primarily division of state
property -- were settled in the original 1994 treaty,
according to President Shaymiyev's senior political advisor
Rafael Khakimov, political scientist Nail Mukharryamov and
the head of Tatarstan's external relations department, Eduard
Khabibullin. The new treaty symbolizes the nation's
commitment to federalism despite the rhetoric of the
"vertical of power," they said.
2. (C) All believed the Federation Council's rejection of a
previous draft of the new treaty was pure politics -- Sergei
Mironov's need to stake out political turf as leader of a
political party in opposition to the ruling United Russia.
Khakimov spun Tatarstan's concessions in the new draft as
minimal: a recognition that Russia's laws, not only its
constitution and that of Tatarstan, would be supreme in the
republic; and a dilution of the official language clause to
require only that the President and senior officials be
bilingual in Tatar and Russian.
3. (C) Comment: The fact that Tatarstan is interested in the
Treaty despite its purely "symbolic" value shows concern that
the new rulers in Moscow after 2008 might seek to reduce
Tatar autonomy. Given the highly personal nature of all such
deals, the Tatars want the treaty to lock in the gains they
have made so far. In contrast, Chechnya's rough-hewn
president Ramzan Kadyrov has made it clear that he needs no
stinkin' piece of paper to guarantee his freedom of movement
-- and that a formal treaty might only constrain him when he
presses Putin's successor for even more concessions.
BURNS