On peoples' rights

President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev believes that the Federal Center can grant Chechnya a wider authority without apprehension that any separatist tendencies would recur.

In his yesterday’s interview with the Interfax, M. Shaimiev insisted that there is no need to give strong political emphasis to the Republic’s limited sovereignty status proclaimed in the new constitution project. “The Republic is to be granted a sovereignty within the ambits of its competence, and this is an absolutely legal matter,” – underlined the President of Tatarstan. In his opinion, the decision once adjudged by the Russian Federation Constitutional Court on the issue of republics’ state sovereignty, was largely affected by political aspects.

“The Constitutional Court’s decisions are not usually to be discussed, nevertheless, from all angles and primarily from the legal standpoint, the republics recognized by the Constitution of Russia as states should possess the sovereignty within the federal state frames,” – said the President. M.Shaimiev mentioned also, that he positively evaluates the idea of granting a wide autonomy status to Chechnya, as in this case the Federal center position would look more attractive for the Chechen Republic population. He did not exclude that in the Chechnya’s case, the wide autonomy status could be realized by signing the corresponding treaty and agreements. “I am sure, that a decision of that kind would become a stabilization factor in Chechnya from both political and economic points of view,” – noticed M. Shaimiev.