The president of the Republic of Tatarstan (russian: Президент Республики Татарстан; tt, Татарстан Республикасы Президенты) is the regional head of

Tatarstan The Republic of Tatarstan (russian: Республика Татарстан, Respublika Tatarstan, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə tətɐrˈstan; tt-Cyrl, Татарстан Республикасы), or simply Tatarstan (russian: Татарстан, tt ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. The office was established in 1991.

Title

In 2017, following the expiration of the 1994 agreement between Moscow and Kazan which granted Tatarstan substantial autonomy, the title of ''president'' was expected to be replaced with ''head'', as it was done with other

republics A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

in Russia. The government of Tatarstan however resisted attempts to have the title abolished and the federal government declined to press the issue. However, shortly after legislative elections in September 2021, deputies in the

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper hous ...

prepared a bill to unify the titles of the leaders of all of Russia's regions to ''head''. The bill, seen as directly aimed at Tatarstan, would reserve the title of ''president'' exclusively for the

president of Russia The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federa ...

. In response, lawmakers in Tatarstan's State Council voted against it. The bill was approved in its first reading in November. On 15 December, it was approved by the

Federation Council The Federation Council (russian: Сове́т Федера́ции – ''Soviet Federatsii'', common abbreviation: Совфед – ''Sovfed''), or Senate (officially, starting from July 1, 2020) ( ru , Сенат , translit = Senat), is th ...

and subsequently signed by president

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

on 21 December. The law went into effect on 1 June 2022. Tatarstan's presidential secretary said that the title will remain during a transitional period throughout 2022 where the constitution would be amended. The renaming of the post was expected to be completed by 2023. The loss of the title was perceived by many in Tatarstan as a further erosion of their autonomy within Russia. In December 2022, regional lawmakers voted to change the title of the head of the republic from ''president'' to ''

rais ( ar, رئیس), plural , is an Arabic title meaning 'chief' or 'leader'. It comes from the word for head, . The corresponding word for leadership or chieftaincy is . It is often translated as 'president' in Arabic, and as 'boss' in Persian. Sw ...

'' (an Arabic title for "leader"). The title of president was seen as the last remaining symbol of federalism following the centralization reforms under

. Incumbent president Rustam Minnikhanov however will retain the title of president until his term expires in 2025 under transitional agreements.

List of presidents

The latest election for the office was held on 13 September 2020.Results
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References

{{Presidents of the Republic of Tatarstan Politics of Tatarstan