Committee of Civil Initiatives mentions Kuban among most unstable regions of Russia

The Krasnodar Territory (also named Kuban by the name of the main river) has been mentioned among seven regions with high index of socio-economic and political tensions, which were indicated in the report prepared by experts of the Committee of Civil Initiatives. Meanwhile, the report also mentions several other regions of southern Russia as unstable on certain categories.

The authors of the report have used three parameters, including socio-economic risks, political tension, and protest activity, to study the regions of Russia.

The Krasnodar Territory got a negative effect of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games, which were supposed to become a powerful economic "driver" in the region, the "BBC" reports.

The investments to the Sochi project "gave a good base effect;" however, they decreased sharply on the background of the Crimean problem and slowdown of the domestic economy. This opinion was expressed by Nikolai Petrov, Professor of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Higher School of Economics.

He has also pointed to conflicts between old and new elites that negatively affect the development of the region. In September 2014, Alexander Tkachov, who held the post of the Governor of the Krasnodar Territory for 14 years, was dismissed and replaced by Veniamin Kondratiev.

The authors of the report have also registered an increase in protest activity related to the labour and housing rights in the Krasnodar Territory.

The very high level of economic tension is observed in 36 regions, including the Astrakhan Region, Republics of Kalmykia and North Ossetia. The number of regions with high political tension included Dagestan and Ingushetia, the "Dozhd" (Rain) reports.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.