About the board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Tatarstan 

The board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Tatarstan was held in a format closed to the press and outsiders already for the fourth time. But during the meeting there were colleagues and also news. Minister Artyom Khokhorin wrote a report at the end of December, and a number of security officials expected that his successor would be presented at the board. But the decree on Khokhorin’s resignation has not yet been signed, the future Minister of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Tatarstan has not yet been selected, and the documents for his appointment have not yet been submitted to the president’s administration of Russia.

Therefore, the board was chaired by Acting Minister Alexey Sokolov, Khokhorin’s first deputy and head of the republican police. At the most interesting part of the board – closed and only for the inner circle – it became known that the heads of two large departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs – from Zelenodolsk and Elabuga – were resigning, and about a dozen more heads of regional departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who were ready to retire were sitting “on suitcases”.

In the first part, with the presence of Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, and Igor Zubov, the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, State Councilor, we repeat, Sokolov made a lengthy report. According to him, last year 55,000 crimes were registered in Tatarstan – this is 3,000 more than in 2022. “The increase in the total amount of crimes was predictable,” the Acting Minister reassured. The reason for this is the “intensive growth” of telephone Internet fraud: this year they increased by 1.5 times – 26.500. “In every third case, the criminals acted from outside Tatarstan,” Sokolov noted. The number of murders, robberies, thefts, and car thefts is decreasing. The fight against economic crimes is progressing steadily: in a year, employees of the Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Service Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan identified 2.600 crimes (approximately the same as in 2022). But without high-profile arrests and uncovered resonant schemes.

Perhaps the most painful topic from Sokolov’s report is about migrants. Last year they committed 560 crimes (most of all – thefts, robberies, rapes), against them – 446. Sokolov stated that in general statistics this is not much, because “migrant” crimes in general do not affect the overall crime situation in Tatarstan.

“I would like to dwell particularly on the topic of migration. We have prepared our proposals, and I presented them to Mishustin… We cannot refuse migrants. This whole economy requires people,” Minnikhanov commented on the topic not “with a paper” or with a protocol, “… we need to work with migrants. We should create conditions for them to socialize. At the meeting of the Security Council of the Republic and the Council for Interethnic and Interfaith Relations, we developed a set of measures for the social and cultural adaptation and integration of migrants.”

Translated into human language, R.Minnikhanov’s statements may sound as follows, “The economy of Tatarstan is now not in a state that we can refuse using migrant labor. The outflow of the working-age male population negatively affects the human resources potential of the republican industry and agriculture. The reasons for the outflow, especially among skilled workers, and the resulting shortage is the participation of Tatar men in the Special military operation. It is known that migrants are mainly employed in jobs with a low level of qualifications – in housing and communal services, private construction, trade, but there is no choice…”

It is proposed to “take what is given” and adapt poorly trained and poorly educated, random people for subsequent full use in the republican economy, rightfully known for its high educational and qualification level. But for productive adaptation it is necessary to socialize strangers, people of a different culture and way of life. And this is a very complicated thing, which has long been proven, tested and approbated in the economic systems of different countries of the world. It is necessary to convince a migrant to settle in Tatarstan, bring his family here, study the language, improve his qualification, go to work in a factory, etc., etc. And for this purpose, the republican authorities should build housing, a hospital, a kindergarten, a school for the migrant and his family members… This is troublesome and expensive! But  at the board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, R.Minnikhanov chose not to develop the topic of replacing Tatars with migrants, because the topic is unsafe, it is better to bypass it on a curve.

Minnikhanov asked:

· ensure security during major international events planned in Tatarstan this year: BRICS, elections, “Games of theFuture”, etc.;

· monitor more attentive interfaith and interethnic conflicts and protest groups, including opponents of the Special military operation;

· work more closely and unconventionally with young people;

· strengthen efforts to combat crimes in the field of high technology;

· fight drugs and corruption, especially in relation to government defense procurement.

Well, why not target the police to spy on protest groups in the interethnic sphere and among opponents of the Special military operation! The protests in Bashkortostan, although they have not been mentioned directly by the Head of the Republic of Tatarstan, undoubtedly worry him not in the least. After all, for failures on the political front, he can get a blow from the Kremlin on his “skullcap” first of all! Moscow is diligently promoting the idea of “Russian Tatarstan – a zone of social and ethnic prosperity and harmony”, and at the same time allowing something similar to the actions of the Bashkorts…  Later, he will have to apologize to Moscow for a long time on his knees for this.