Collective appeal to the Head and Deputies of the KBR against the Prosecutor’s Office demand
Collective appeal to the Head and Deputies of the KBR against the Prosecutor’s Office demand to exclude from the Republican Constitution provisions on guarantees of integrity and territorial inviolability of the republic, as well as the powers of the Head of the KBR to ensure the security and territorial integrity of the KBR.
10.06.2026
To the Head of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, K. V. KOKOV
To the Chairperson of the Parliament of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, T. B. EGOROVA
To the Deputies of the Parliament of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic of the VII Convocation
COLLECTIVE STATEMENT
of Public Representatives of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic
We, the undersigned, express our deep concern over the intention to remove provisions from the Constitution of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic that secure the principles of the integrity and inviolability of its territory, as well as the status of the Head of the Republic as the guarantor of its statehood.
On June 3, 2026, the Parliament of the KBR accepted for consideration a protest filed by the Republican Prosecutor’s Office at the end of March of this year. The protest demands the exclusion of Parts 2 and 3 of Article 5, Parts 1 and 2 of Article 78, and Part 1 of Article 80 of the KBR Constitution.
We believe that the decision taken by the Parliament to consider this protest is deeply flawed and dangerous for the future of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic as a constituent entity of the Russian Federation. We insist on preserving the constitutional guarantees of the republic’s statehood and territorial integrity.
The protest of the KBR Prosecutor’s Office ignores explicit provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Specifically, Part 2 of Article 5 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation states: “A republic (state) shall have its own constitution and legislation.” This means that the Russian Constitution itself recognizes a republic as a state; therefore, enshrining the concepts of “statehood,” “head of state,” and “territorial integrity” in the KBR Constitution is not only permissible but essential for the development of federal relations.
The supervisory authority’s assertion that protecting the security and integrity of the state falls exclusively within the purview of the President of the Russian Federation constitutes a conflation of concepts. While the President of the Russian Federation ensures the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation as a unified federal state, this does not preclude the right of the constituent entities of the Federation to enshrine guarantees of their own territorial integrity in their constitutions as an integral part of that unified state.
The removal of provisions securing the principle of territorial integrity from the KBR Constitution is the most destructive aspect of the proposed amendments. If the clause on the inviolability of its territory disappears from the republic’s Basic Law, the federal center will gain the legal avenue to alter the borders of the KBR unilaterally — without considering the voice of its multinational population.
- Such a course of events could lead to the following consequences:
- The transfer of territories where Kabardians, Balkars, and other peoples have lived for centuries to neighboring regions of the Russian Federation;
- The dissolution or redrawing of historically established national districts under the guise of “interests of the Federation”;
- The loss of the republic’s final constitutional shield against arbitrary changes to its territorial organization at the sole discretion of the federal center.
We cannot allow the Basic Law of Kabardino-Balkaria to remain silent on the inviolability of the republic’s territory. This is not a matter of legal technicalities, but a question of the very survival of the republic as a national-territorial community.
The intention to remove these provisions from the KBR Constitution is not an isolated event, but part of a systematic effort by the federal center to dismantle the special status of republics within the Russian Federation — a strategy we have witnessed over the last 25 years. Specifically:
- 2001: The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation declared invalid the provisions of the Federal Treaty that secured the sovereignty of the republics. As a result, the declarations of state sovereignty adopted in the 1990s effectively lost their legal force;
- Since 2005: Heads of republics are no longer elected by direct popular vote. The people have ceased to be the real source of power, despite this being still declared by the Constitutions of both the RF and the KBR. Consequently, the republics have been stripped of the right to political self-expression within their own constituent entities;
- 2018: The abolition of the mandatory study of national languages in schools, which dealt a blow to the cultural foundations of statehood, even though the Constitution of the Russian Federation equates the state languages of the republics in status to the Russian language within their respective territories;
- 2020: A constitutional reform aimed at establishing a “unified system of public power,” which effectively subordinated regional authorities to federal structures;
- 2021–2022: The ban on the use of the title “President” for the heads of the republics, which abolished a political symbol of statehood;
- 2023: Constitutional courts were finally abolished in all republics, dismantling one of the primary institutions of statehood;
- And now: The republic’s parliament has accepted the protest of the KBR Prosecutor to remove key provisions regarding statehood and territorial integrity from the republic’s Constitution.
Thus, the treaty-based model of the federal structure of 1992, which lies at the foundation of the KBR Constitution, is being systematically dismantled. We call for this process to be halted while there is still time.
A consistent unitarization of the country is underway, which effectively contradicts the principles of a federal structure and poses a threat to the security and integrity of the Federation itself. Such ill-considered steps that infringe upon the national interests of peoples will inevitably lead to an rise in separatist sentiments, which is certainly not in the interest of the Russian state.
Kabardino-Balkaria is a republic with two titular peoples. For decades, the constitutional formula of “statehood, integrity, and the head of the republic as a guarantor” served as the bedrock of interethnic harmony. The removal of these symbols is perceived as nothing less than the federal center’s renunciation of the guarantees given to the peoples of the KBR when signing the Federal Treaty, and as a signal that the republic’s opinion regarding its own territory no longer carries weight.
We are not calling for confrontation with the federal center; rather, we demand the preservation of the minimum constitutional guarantees that allow us to be a full constituent entity of the Federation, as enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation, rather than just a republic on paper. We categorically oppose the removal of the key provisions concerning statehood and territorial integrity from the KBR Constitution.
It is worth reminding the esteemed addressees of this statement that their primary duty is to enact laws and decisions that do not infringe upon the interests of their home republic. We hope that in this matter you will remain faithful to this principle. You bear a historical responsibility to preserve Kabardino-Balkaria as a national republic possessing the full scope of constitutional rights of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, rather than a mere “subject” with an empty title. The exclusion of guarantees of territorial integrity from the KBR Constitution is a step whose consequences may be irreversible.
Preserving the constitutional provisions contested by the Prosecutor’s Office is a necessary condition for implementing the principles of federalism, and we sincerely hope that you will demonstrate statesmanship and prevent the undermining of the legal foundations of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic as an equal constituent entity of the Russian Federation.
In light of the foregoing, we strongly urge you not to accept the protest submitted by the KBR Prosecutor’s Office, which would exclude from the KBR Constitution the provisions guaranteeing the integrity and inviolability of its territory, the preservation of statehood as a fundamental function of the state, the status of the Head of the Republic as the “head of state,” and their powers to ensure the security and territorial integrity of the KBR.
Respectfully,
Подписи / Signatures:
- Marks SHAKHMURZOV — Chairman of the Kabardino-Balkarian branch of the Russian Association of Victims of Political Repression
- Khakim KUCHMEZOV — Chairman of the Kabardino-Balkarian branch of the Yabloko Party
- Valery KHATAZHUKOV — Chairman of the Kabardino-Balkarian Regional Human Rights Center
- Muzarib BZHAKHOV — Honored Architect of the KBR
- Ismel MESHEV — Public Activist
- Zaurbek KOZHEV — Candidate of Historical Sciences
- Zaudin TOKOV — Artist
- Mukhamed BERKHAMOV — Public Activist
- Azamat SHORMANOV — Public Activist
- Alim PSHIBIEV — Journalist, Editor-in-Chief of the “Made in KBR” channel
10.06.2026