After the Soviet collapse in 1991, Mr Shaimiev made full but cautious use of Boris Yeltsin's offer to "take as much sovereignty as you can swallow."

苏联1991年解体后，鲍里斯·叶利钦大方的承诺：“主权方面只要咽得下，你们就尽管往嘴里吃”。沙伊米耶夫尽管小心翼翼，但完整地将之变为现实。

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President Mintimer Shaimiev, for instance, has turned Tatarstan into a kind of mini-state, complete with its own economic policy.

ECONOMIST: Devolution is not always good for democracy

That, certainly, is what the Tatar leader, Mr Shaimiev, has proposed.

ECONOMIST: Devolution is not always good for democracy

That did not seem to fit very well with Mr Primakov's comments, or with the line taken by a third OVR leader, President Shaimiev of Tatarstan, who initially told the federal authorities he did not want any young Tatars to be conscripted to fight in the south.

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