The Federation Council dismissed Chechen Senator Umar Dzhabrailov at his “personal request” Wednesday, two years before his term was to expire.
“I have done everything I could. … I see myself in a capacity that would be more useful for an active person,” Dzhabrailov told the Infox.ru web site. “And I think there should be a rotation of personnel. I served for six years in the Federation Council, that’s a long time.”
Dzhabrailov, a prominent Moscow businessman whose assets have included the hotel Radisson SAS Slavyanskaya and the Smolensky Passazh retail and office center, had been a senator since 2004, representing the executive branch of the Chechen government. He was reappointed in 2007 and his term was to last until 2011. Dzhabrailov was also deputy head of the International Affairs Committee and a member of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which returned from Strasbourg on Friday.
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov’s spokesman, Alvi Karimov, confirmed that the initiative to leave the Federation Council came from Dzhabrailov, rather than from the Chechen authorities.
“Perhaps he wants to pay more attention to business,” he told The Moscow Times, adding that it was “too early” to talk about replacement candidates.
Dzhabrailov, known as one of the wealthiest people in Chechnya, was active in the hotel and real estate industries before his appointment. He was a business partner to American entrepreneur Paul Tatum, who was shot and killed in Moscow in 1996 after a highly public battle for control of hotel Radisson SAS Slavyanskaya. No one has been convicted in the killing.
The Radisson SAS Slavyanskaya complex eventually came under the control of the Moscow city government. Dzhabrailov ran for president in 2000, taking last place.
In an interview with Infox.ru earlier this year, Dzhabrailov complained that State Duma deputies have better working conditions than senators. “They have better parking, a better building, larger offices,” he said. “Their cafeteria is probably better, too.”
Dzhabrailov’s predecessor, Akhmar Zavgayev, requested dismissal from the Federation Council in 2003 after representing the Chechen administration for three years. He is now a Duma deputy.
The Federation Council started its fall session Wednesday. Dzhabrailov was not immediately available for comment.
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