On October 5, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the appointment of Sergei Melikov as the interim head of the Republic of Dagestan.
Since 2010, not a single head of the republic has been in office for the prescribed four years, resigning powers ahead of schedule.
This suggests that all these years the federal center has been "selecting" the right keys for a strategically important republic and, perhaps, was not always satisfied with the result, looking for a figure capable of solving the tasks set by the center.
They say that negotiations with Melikov have been going on for a long time.
And judging by how optimistically the president congratulated him on his appointment, we can conclude that great hopes are pinned on the general.
The first associations with his surname lead us to the Caucasus and famous statesmen of the 19th century.
Count Mikail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov - cavalry general, Russian military leader of Armenian origin, member of the State Council.
While serving in the Caucasus, he fought with the Turks and mountaineers, occupying a number of military-administrative posts in Dagestan and the Terek region.
In the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878.
took the fortresses of Kara and Ardahan (yes, you heard right).
After the war he was appointed governor-general of Astrakhan (in the Caspian), Saratov and Samara, and later, due to the growth of terrorism in Kharkov, governor-general of Kharkov.
The encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron also responds vividly to the keywords “Melikov” and “Dagestan”: “The Melikovs are a princely family of Armenian origin, dating back to the end of the 16th century.
Prince Levan Ivanovich Melikov, adjutant general, general of cavalry, ruled the Dagestan region (1859-1880), was an assistant to the commander-in-chief of the Caucasian army. "
Now let's take a closer look at the biography of the new chapter.
He was born not in Dagestan, but in the Moscow region, but the official biography says that his father, Alim Nur-Magomedovich Melikov, is Lezgin by nationality.
Lezgins are one of the indigenous peoples of the Caucasus, historically living in South Dagestan and North Azerbaijan.
Southern Dagestan itself is a unique fusion of nationalities: Lezgins, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, unique small peoples of Yuzhdag, such as Tabasarans, Rutuls and so on.
In the internal Dagestan "table of ranks", the Lezgins are considered one of the most educated and law-abiding Dagestan ethnic groups making a career in law, science and business, while the Avars, for example, who held the last presidential positions in Dagestan, are leaders in sports, wrestling and movements ( of any kind).
The Avars are difficult to govern, they are always ready to lead something, and it is not a fact that the empire will like this “something”.
Near the grave of the first imam of Chechnya and Dagestan, Gazimagomed, before entering the village of Gimry, one can read a quote from a rebellious imam, an Avar by nationality: "He who thinks about the consequences is not a hero."
And this single phrase will tell you about the propensity for heroism and adventurism of the people inhabiting it, more than a whole encyclopedia.
Despite the fact that the issue of national and religious affiliation is personal, almost intimate, it inevitably becomes public for federal politicians.
So, Sergei Alimovich is baptized as a Christian in the videos captured on the network.
Melikov is from a family of hereditary military men: his father is a retired colonel, brother Mikhail is a major general;
adopted son Dmitry Serkov, the commander of the assault group of the 1st platoon of the special forces "Vityaz", died in Dagestan on August 2, 2007 during the hostilities near Karabudakhkent.
Posthumously - Hero of Russia.
That is, this is a family of real military officers who did not hide their children abroad, trying to get rid of the army.
They know the grief of losses personally.
Melikov graduated from the Faculty of Border and Internal Troops of the Combined Arms Academy.
Frunze.
In the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - since 1986, he served in the escort troops in the "separatist-prone" Lvov and Odessa.
Since 2011 - the commander of the group of troops for CTO in the North Caucasus Federal District, from 2016 until the appointment to the post of the head of Dagestan - the plenipotentiary of the President in the North Caucasus Federal District and the first deputy director of the Federal Service of the National Guard of the Russian Federation.
They say that negotiations with Melikov on the transition to Dagestan have been conducted since 2017 and that the arrival of Vladimir Vasiliev was perceived as an alternative.
Why did the president want to see exactly Melikov at the head of Dagestan?
First, the credit of personal trust is the most significant asset in Russia today.
Secondly, a good reputation.
Today it can be stated that he is a warrior devoted to the president and a "power manager" with vast managerial experience.
Melikov was in the shadows, but since 2011, the most difficult and, frankly, gloomy years in the fight against terrorism in the North Caucasus (and in Dagestan, in particular) were in the area of his personal responsibility.
I often visited Dagestan at that time - and the feeling was exactly the same that you were in a war zone.
The fact that today in the same Dagestan there is order, "polite" checkpoints equipped with video cameras to combat lawlessness, and almost all hotbeds of terrorism have been extinguished - this is also Melikov's merit.
Melikov's specialty since the days of the Academy.
Frunze - faculty of border troops and escort troops (protection of strategically important state facilities, railways, and so on).
Dagestan is the southernmost point of Russia, bordering Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran (by sea) and by land with Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Thus, today it is conducting hostilities from Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.
And in Azerbaijan, as some media testify (for example, the video of Al Jazeera with the leading military men accidentally caught in the frame), representatives of the Turkish army are present today.
Russia has joint military operations with Turkey in Syria, but I am more than sure that Russia would not want to fix the army of Turkey (a NATO member) at its southern borders in Dagestan.
Can Russia today allow military clashes with Turkey at its borders?
Of course not.
It is for this, as one might suppose, that Putin promptly appoints Melikov, a specialist in the border troops and on internal security, there.
Also, Russia will not allow various forms of interethnic and religious conflicts that may erupt during the destabilizing factor of the Karabakh conflict.
As, for example, bursts of activity of nationalists and centrifugal sentiments have already flared up and rolled through the Azerbaijani provinces of Iran.
His official Lezghin factor in his biography will allow him to work successfully with South Dagestan, diasporas associated with Azerbaijan and other southern neighbors of Russia.
Let us not forget that Melikov is not just a “maroon beret” or “military boot”, as some part of the Dagestan media community managed to write about him, underestimating this purpose.
Saratov Higher Military Command School of Internal Troops.
Dzerzhinsky Sergey Melikov graduated with a specialty "intelligence officer".
In December 2016, when the President created another intelligence service as part of the National Guard, in addition to everyone already known, Sergei Melikov, who led it, explained its tasks: “The intelligence of the National Guard will be engaged not only in military methods of opening the location of illegal bandit formations ... but also in opening such threats that may entail global risks for the existence of the state system.
The sources of extremism can be interreligious hostility, interethnic hatred.
The service will suppress any actions that can lead to riots. "
There is no doubt that Melikov will strengthen the borders and control the spending of financial defense and social infrastructure projects.
His appointment also coincided with the strategic relocation of the entire Caspian flotilla of the Russian Federation from Astrakhan to Dagestan.
The decision to change the location was made back in 2018, but it was in 2020 that it entered an active active phase.
On October 5, the day Melikov was appointed head of Dagestan, the artillery of the Caspian Flotilla conducted combat exercises, as the website of the Russian Ministry of Defense informs us.
The transfer of the Caspian flotilla to Dagestan, the appointment of Melikov, the strengthening of the military presence on the southern borders - for me, all these events are of the same series, and for me they are certainly joyful.
This means that peace, tranquility and security will return here (someone will call it "pacification", but we will pretend that we did not hear).
The transfer of the flotilla has already changed the operation of the airport: by 2021, the use of the airfield infrastructure will reach its maximum and, according to the director of the airport, Arsen Pirmagomedov, a second runway and a new terminal will appear.
This will potentially increase the passenger traffic from one and a half to five million people a year (this will seriously develop the tourism sector of the republic).
The planned new directions include Baku, Tel Aviv, Tehran, Hainan, Sochi, Minvody and Tyumen.
In 2016, I participated in the elections to the State Duma from the Republic of Dagestan and, as an election project, I wrote my vision of the future of Dagestan.
It included the development of the port in Makhachkala and the creation of the North-South logistics corridor, the transformation of Dagestan into an international transport hub, the creation of conditions for the development of the digital economy, IT technologies and much more.
I still believe in the great future of Dagestan, which has absolutely all the resources for this.
But, apparently, it was still too early to engage in investments: capital needs security guarantees, and no one will carry money to a burning house.
The local elites themselves took advantage of the "fire in the house" in their own interests: with the appetite of dinosaurs they assimilated federal subsidies, stealing even children's allowances and pies in school canteens (this is not a figure of speech, but a real fact).
Under Vladimir Vasiliev, this theft was suppressed.
Now - the next stage.
Because where the state has come - it has come in earnest, with ships, military bases, tens of thousands of servicemen and increased protection of state borders - serious investments will also come.
Sergey Melikov and Ramzan Kadyrov at a meeting of the board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Chechen Republic
© YouTube
The new head of Dagestan looks impressive, like a real governor in the Caucasus, serves the tsar and the fatherland in his understanding of this meaning, does not belong to any feudal princes or clans (and if he can now professionally and competently build the work of his press service and dialogue with society - has every chance of becoming a national favorite).
It is interesting that Putin appointed Melikov to Dagestan on the birthday of Academician Kadyrov.
The general fought in the first Chechen war, when the young academician Kadyrov had not yet taken the path of truth.
Putin's subtle symbolism is a special kind of art.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.