Agency Caucasus—Russian President Dmitri Medvedev dismissed Murat Zyazikov, 51, as Ingushetiya’s President on Thursday.
Zyazikov had been a former officer in the Soviet KGB secret police until he was elected president of the Ingushetiya region of the Russian Federation in 2002 with the Kremlin’s backing.
He said on Thursday that he had tendered his resignation to President Medvedev in the hopes that he would get a new job in Moscow.
The Russian news agency Interfax quoted him as saying that his was “an absolutely voluntary decision related to a move to a new post." "I will work in Moscow," he further said.
In contrast to his own statements, however, Russian news agencies reported that he was plainly dismissed from office.
Medvedev chose Yunus Erkurov as the replacement of Zyazikov. Evkurov, 45, also has a background in the Soviet intelligence service and has been granted one of the highest awards, the Hero of Russia medal.
Analysts say that the Kremlin has dismissed Zyazikov from his post because it has possibly feared that it would face a situation similar to what it had formerly experienced in Chechnya as violence continued to spiral in its Ingushetiya region.
Ingushetiya has become the locus of growing instability as well as of violence over the recent years. Zyazikov was accused by his critics of resorting to corruption and heavy-handed security tactics against civilians to get his country calm. What is more is that Ingushetiya has recently become notorious for police ambushes, kidnappings and explosions that have turned out to be a regular feature of the country.
HS
