Residents of Kalmykia treat the campaign "Stop feeding the Caucasus!" held in Moscow as attempt to destabilize situation

The public of Kalmykia believe that the rally "Stop feeding the Caucasus!" was an attempt of certain political forces to win over voters on the eve of the upcoming parliamentary elections.

"This action is aimed at destabilizing the situation, inciting interethnic hatred and deteriorating the relations between the regions. It is not a coincidence that the organizers hold the rallies "Stop feeding the Caucasus!" in the year of parliamentary elections. It is an attempt to destabilize the situation on the eve of voting," Vitaly Shulenin, the founder of the Centre of Slavic Culture of Kalmykia, said.

Let us remind you that on October 22, a rally was held in central Moscow within the campaign "Stop feeding the Caucasus!" announced by nationalists. The participants demanded "to stop the disproportionate", in their opinion, financial support of Russian North-Caucasian republics. Besides, on April 23, nationalists held another rally under the same slogan in Chistye Prudy in Moscow. Meanwhile, on October 1 Alexander Khloponin treated the claims that the Caucasus is "littered with money" as speculations.

Kalmykia, like many other subjects of the Russian Federation, is a so-called "donated" region; and its residents believe that the talks about "end of funding" are unacceptable.

"Today, we protest against financing the Caucasus; tomorrow we'll protest against financial support to Kalmykia, since Kalmykia, like the Caucasus, receives governmental donations. In general, most of the subjects of the Russian Federation are donated. Should all of them be deprived of financial support of the federal centre? This presentation of the problem is unacceptable," Vitaly Shulenin has emphasizes.

According to Erdni Manzhikov, Cossack Chieftain of the Kalmyk Cossack Region "Great-Grand Don Army", donations should depend on the population and area of Russian republics and regions.

Khatimulla Idrisov, Chairman of the Kalmyk public organization "Kazakh Cultural Centre 'Zherlester' (Countrymen)", agrees that regions should be supported; but the funds should be thoroughly controlled.

"I'm indignant about this rally. The authorities do the right thing, when they help to solve social and economic problems of North-Caucasian republics. They'd have done it much earlier. If the needs of the Caucasus had been addressed some 15-20 years ago, then, perhaps, the two Chechen wars could have been avoided."

Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that the people who act under the slogan "Stop feeding the Caucasus!" were "either not very clever or frank provocateurs." This was written by Magomed Mutsolgov, the head of the human rights organization "MASHR", in his blog run on the "Caucasian Knot" website.

"They say: 'Here, we are short of money, and, for example, the Caucasian republics are heavily subsidized, they receive donations.' It is all lie in the sense that these funds go only to the Caucasian republics," the blogger quotes Medvedev as saying.