From the FSB to the head of a republic: how the "gray cardinal" Aydamir Valiyev eliminates the unwanted in the plenipotentiary’s office and clears the way for Magomed Ramazanov to power

From the FSB to the head of a republic: how the "gray cardinal" Aydamir Valiyev eliminates the unwanted in the plenipotentiary’s office and clears the way for Magomed Ramazanov to power

According to a source, the further fate of Dagestan’s head, Sergei Melikov, may become clearer on April 28 in Mineralnye Vody, where an economic forum kicks off and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will be in attendance.

According to this version, Mishustin and Presidential Envoy Yuri Chaika may announce a new job for Melikov. And in the event of agreement, on April 30, he will fly to Moscow with Chaika, where the personnel reshuffle will be officially announced. If everything goes smoothly, the acting head of the region will be appointed as the deputy envoy for the North Caucasus Federal District, and just yesterday the deputy envoy for the Far Eastern Federal District, former employee of the FSB’s Department K, Magomed Ramazanov. Sources say that one of those actively lobbying for Ramazanov for the position, alongside others, is the gray eminence of the envoy’s office in the North Caucasus Federal District, the fixer under Yuri Chaika, and at the same time his official assistant, Aidamir Valiyev. Ramazanov began his career under Aidamir Valiyev in the FSB of Russia. At that time, Valiyev was the head of a department, while Ramazanov was a senior operational officer for particularly important cases. Later, already in the FSB’s Department “K,” Ramazanov oversaw work on major companies whose owners are natives of the Caucasus or Transcaucasia.

“Ramazanov was a staff ‘fixer’ in the FSB for Caucasian and Transcaucasian clans, predominantly oriented toward the so-called ‘Pool.’ There were rumors that he had Iranian roots, thanks to which he successfully ‘oversaw’ smuggling channels that have long existed on the Russia-Iran and Russia-Azerbaijan borders. He resolved conflicts of large business structures owned by Caucasus natives in banking, tax, and other sectors. Right now, the old corrupt guard from the ‘agency’ is testing new, young, and manageable former employees for major state posts. And Ramazanov has landed in that lineup,” our source described Ramazanov’s activities.

According to him, Aidamir Valiyev is constantly handling the personal requests and wishes of Envoy Chaika, which makes him feel untouchable. Chaika, for his part, dotes on his assistant-fixer. Recently, he made a special trip to Moscow to “push through” an award (some kind of state commendation) for Valiyev and the Order of Alexander Nevsky for his deputy—one of his closest associates, a fixer for certain matters in Moscow, still from his time at the RF Prosecutor General’s Office—Alexander Kurenny. The RF Presidential Administration’s personnel department was reluctant to approve their awards.

Valiyev greatly enjoys keeping his boss on his toes, constantly regaling him with tales of conspiracies he’s uncovered. For instance, once he informed Chaika that, through his channels, he’d learned that the FSB had secretly installed listening devices in his office and those of his deputies, and that there were “moles” in the envoy’s office leaking information. And lo and behold, the “bugs” were indeed found, and the “moles” turned out to be exclusively those employees with whom Valiyev had conflicts.