NEW GANTAMIROV APPOINTMENT ANNOUNCED.

The online daily Lenta.ru disclosed on June 1 that the former mayor of Djohar (Grozny), Bislan Gantamirov, who resigned that post on May 17, will be appointed chief federal inspector in Chechnya by the plenipotentiary presidential representative in the Southern Federal District, retired General Viktor Kazantsev. Gantamirov will be based in the Chechen capital and “will be empowered to resolve questions connected with the restoration of Chechnya and also to supervise relations with the Chechen diaspora located in Moscow.” As journalist Bakhtiyar Akhmedkhanov noted in the May 31 issue of Obshchaya Gazeta, Viktor Kazantsev has recently become a bitter opponent of Akhmad Kadyrov. Gantamirov’s appointment as a federal inspector could render him de facto more powerful than his rival Kadyrov.