RUSSIA: President Vladimir Putin yesterday responded to an unprecedented string of Chechen terror attacks by ordering a radical overhaul of Russia's political system. Critics said the reforms would place even more power in the hands of the former KGB spy, writes Daniel McLaughlin
Mr Putin and his loyal security services have faced a rare barrage of criticism from Russian newspapers after two airline bombings, a suicide attack in Moscow and the school siege in North Ossetia killed a total of 430 people in three weeks of violence.
Liberals at home and abroad have denounced the Kremlin's refusal to talk to any Chechen rebels and its continued faith in the military to crush resistance, despite the lack of any obvious progress during a decade of almost constant war.
Mr Putin told the cabinet and regional leaders that he would now nominate governors across the country rather than allow open elections. A powerful security agency will also be set up to deal solely with the threat of terror.
"The organisers and perpetrators of the terror attack are aiming at the disintegration of the state, the break-up of Russia," he said.
"Top officials in the members of the Federation should be elected by local legislative assemblies upon nomination by the head of state," Mr Putin told dozens of governors from across the world's largest country. It is a move that places their personal futures in the hands of the Kremlin.
Mr Putin gradually reined in the power of Russia's regional leaders during his first four-year term in office, taking back privileges that his predecessor, Mr Boris Yeltsin, handed out in return for loyalty.
It was a 1990s trend that analysts say was abhorred by Mr Putin and the old security service colleagues he brought into politics. These are men who objected to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and whose power was usurped by liberal reformers and tycoons under Mr Yeltsin.
"Putin has planned to centralise power and tighten the screws from the time he came to power," said Mr Yuri Korgunyuk of the Indem think-tank in Moscow.
"Terrorism is the pretext. The goal is to place the entire power apparatus under his personal control."
Mr Putin also said that the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, should now be elected solely on a party-list basis. This move threatens the future of the few surviving small groups, and strengthens the already dominant hand of the major political parties.
"In the interests of strengthening the national political system I deem it necessary to introduce a proportional system of elections to the State Duma," the President said.
At present half of the Duma's 450 deputies are elected on party lists, while most of the independent candidates come from single-mandate local constituencies.
The pro-Kremlin United Russia party already holds more than two-thirds of Duma seats, and controls all of its powerful committees.
Opponents of Mr Putin quickly accused him of using the widespread fear of more terror attacks to strengthen his already vice-like grip on Russian politics.
"Such proposals have nothing to do with the security of people in fighting terrorism," said Mr Vladimir Ryzhkov, one of the few independent deputies in the Duma. "The Kremlin is simply exploiting the momentum."
"Putin has proposed renting out parliament to puppet Moscow-based parties," the liberal added. "In fact this will only strengthen his personal powers."
The Kremlin leader, just six months into his second term, also announced the creation of a new security body to focus on what he calls Russia's role in the US-led "war on terror".
"We need a single organisation capable of not only dealing with terror attacks but also working to avert them, to destroy criminals in their lairs and, if necessary, abroad." That pledge echoed a recent threat from the head of Russia's military that it would strike at suspected terror bases and training camps "anywhere in the world". The warning caused particular alarm among Russia's neighbours in the volatile Caucasus region.
Mr Putin named a close ally, Mr Dmitri Kozak, as his personal envoy for southern Russia, an area where he said unemployment and poor public services were creating widespread disaffection that militants could easily exploit.
"This is fertile ground for the growth of extremist propaganda and the recruitment of new supporters of terror," Mr Putin said.
"The North Caucasus is a key strategic region for Russia. It is a victim and also a springboard for terrorism." To perhaps counter complaints about growing authoritarianism in a country where political opposition is in disarray and national television is state-controlled, Mr Putin announced the creation of the Public Chamber to monitor the activities of government and law-enforcement agencies. It will mostly comprise non-governmental organisations, he said.