KADYROV BID GAINS MOMENTUM

Akhmar Zavgaev, Chechnya’s representative in the upper house of the Russian parliament, has given the Kadyrov-for-president bandwagon another push. On June 2 Zavgaev told the Moscow daily Kommersant that the republic’s presidential election will take place no later than November. Zavgaev said that a treaty defining the limits of Chechnya’s “autonomy” is to be signed by December 10, which means that the pro-union administration must have an elected president before then.

Kommersant correspondent Musa Muradov wrote in the newspaper’s June 3 issue that Kadyrov is the only presidential candidate who wants the election to take place this year rather than next. “The earlier the election takes place, the harder it will be for his opponents since they simply will not have enough time to conduct their campaigns.” According to Muradov, the Kremlin has already decided that the election will take place this coming autumn.