Acting head of Dagestan Ramazan Abdulatipov has dismissed the volatile republic's government for poor performance and its failure to tackle militant Islamist extremism.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Karibov has been appointed acting head of government, and a new cabinet will be formed within the next 20 days, RIA Novosti reported.
Abdulatipov announced his decision Monday at a meeting about the local economy.
At a Friday meeting of the anti-terrorism commission, Abdulatipov slammed the republic's law enforcement agencies for failing to stop local residents from joining the conflict in Syria.
"We supply extremists for the whole of Russia and now beyond our borders. Extremism is the only 'product' that we supply abroad," Abdulatipov was quoted as saying.
Abdulatipov said extremism and terrorism would continue to flourish in the republic while society remained indifferent to the problem and unless local law enforcement agencies and courts began to function normally.
Andrei Konkin, the republic's Federal Security Service head, said about 200 Dagestan natives were currently fighting with the rebels in Syria. He said most young people officially traveled to Syria to study or work, but once there they joined various terrorist organizations.
Abdulatipov said local authorities should take extra care when issuing travel documents to young people, especially those from religious families and those who had studied in Islamic religious schools abroad.
He has held his position since his predecessor Magomedsalam Magomedov was removed from his post and given a job in the presidential administration in January.
Dagestan in April became the first region to cancel this fall's gubernatorial elections. State Duma deputies said that elections could provoke instability because of the region's ethnic diversity.
Abdulatipov supported the move at the time, declaring himself the only candidate capable of "renewing and cleansing Dagestan."
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