For the first time, Russian President Vladimir Putin removed the title of “president” of Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov and included his name in an official document.
In the decree he signed regarding the members of the State Council of the Russian Federation, Putin changed the title of President of Tatarstan Minnikhanov to the title of “president”, which is accepted as the title of the highest level manager of the regions forming the federation.
Finally, Putin referred to Minnikhanov as “president” at the State Council meeting held last month.
THE LAW REMOVING THE ADJUSTMENT OF “PRESIDENT”
Some deputies in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, prepared a bill at the federal level on the use of the title of the highest administrator of the regions that make up the Russian Federation in September last year.
The bill was sent to the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan (Tataristan Parliament). Tatarstan Parliament also rejected the aforementioned bill with the votes of 82 out of 100 deputies at the meeting held on October 25.
Despite this, the bill was approved by the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, on 14 December, passed the Federation Council the next day, and was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 21 December.
According to the law, the highest level manager of the regions that make up the federation is named “president”, which means “regional head”. The part of the law regarding the title and powers of the president entered into force in June 2022.
THE DISCUSSION STARTED 20 YEARS AGO
During the work on harmonization of local laws of the regions that make up the Russian Federation with federal laws, the problem with the titles of regional administrators first arose in 2001.
In 2010, when the issue was discussed again, Ramazan Kadyrov, who was the President of the Republic of Chechnya at that time, stated that only one person could use the title of head of state and became the first administrator to abstain from the title of “head of state”. The law in this direction was adopted in the Chechnya Parliament.
Then, in the same year, the Russian Parliament and the then Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev passed the law prohibiting regional heads from holding the title of “head of state”.
According to the law, which was required to make the said regulations until 2015, the regions and republics that make up the Russian Federation could name their top executives according to their historical traditions, and in this context, they could use “president”, “manager”, “representative of the government” or similar adjectives.
However, at that time, Medvedev signaled that the titles of the top managers of the regions could be combined under a single name, and drew attention to the fact that the regions themselves should decide.
TATARISTAN AND BASKORDISTAN OBJECTED TO THE REGULATION
Only Tatarstan and Bashkortostan Republics objected to the said regulation in 2013.
Bashkortostan deputies put the federal law into practice by ratifying the amendment in 2014, which proposes to abolish the position of “head of state” and to use the name “President of the Republic of Bashkortostan” locally.
Tatarstan President Rustam Minnihanov, who opposed the regulation, announced that his name would be announced by law. Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the law enacted in 2015 that Tatarstan President Minnikhanov could use this title for one more year.
Among the structures in the Russian Federation, the only leader who used the title of President corresponding to the title of “head of state” was President of Tatarstan Minnikhanov.
MINNIHANOV REACTED TO THE REGULATION
At the end of last year, Minnikhanov, in his assessment of the change in the use of the title of the highest level regional manager, reminded that the Tatarstan Parliament was opposed to this law, and stated that his views were not taken into account when the law was adopted.
Minnikhanov pointed out that this law gives the President of Russia “the power to dismiss the head of the region due to loss of confidence”. (AA)