Issue #694 (61), Friday, August 10, 2001

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Chief Cops Named to 7 Super Regions

By Nabi Abdullaev

Staff Writer

MOSCOW - The Interior Ministry on Wednesday named the last of the police chiefs to patrol the country's seven super resgions, completing a week-long process that analysts say is part of a Kremlin drive to reign in the regions.

Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov on Wednesday presented Major General Boris Uyemlyanin as the head of police for the Northwest Federal District in St. Petersburg.

Gryzlov said Uyemlyanin, who had earlier served as police chief for the Arkhangelsk region, would consolidate the operations of the Northwest Region's police departments to avoid "unnecessary overlapping."

Uyemlyanin, in turn, said he would reshuffle the regional police departments and tackle as his top priorities organized and economic crime and juvenile delinquency.

Gryzlov said all federal police departments would coordinate the activities of regional police departments.

The appointment of police chiefs to the seven federal regions, which President Vladimir Putin created from Russia's 89 regions last year in a bid to reduce the powers of regional governors, comes just weeks after parliament passed a Kremlin-backed bill stripping the governors of their right to have a say in the appointment of regional police chiefs. That decision now rests solely with the interior minister.

Gryzlov picked out the seven federal chiefs and forwarded their names to Putin for approval.

The only post whose nominee did not get immediate approval was for the Southern Federal Regions, Interfax reported. The original nominee for the post was Lieutenant General Sergei Shchadrin, who had headed the Rostov regional police for two years. Shchadrin turned down the offer. Late last week, though, he was named the chief for the Central Federal Region. The Southern Federal Region police-chief job ended up going to Krasnoyarsk regional police chief Mikhail Rudchenko.

Political analysts said the federal police chiefs will help the Kremlin in strengthening its powers in the regions, particularly since two important posts - in the Southern and Central regions - are being filled by outsiders.