04 May 2013, 23:00
Governors of NCFD regions claim safety of visiting their regions
Leaders of the regions of the North-Caucasian Federal District have criticized the recommendations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Great Britain to refrain from visiting the regions of the district and offered tourists to personally make sure that visiting Northern Caucasus is absolutely safe.
The MFA of the UK has recommended its citizens not to visit Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan and part of the districts of the Stavropol Territory, and travel to other regions of the NCFD only in case of extreme necessity. The reason for this recommendation was, as stated in the message of the MFA, in "the high level of terrorist threat."
According to the calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own material and information from other open sources, in the first quarter of 2013, at least 199 persons fell victim to the armed conflict in the regions of the NCFD, including 124 killed and 75 wounded persons. In 2012, there were at least 1225 victims – 700 killed and 525 wounded persons; and in 2011, there were at least 1378 victims – 750 killed and 628 wounded persons.
The head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov posted his response to the statement of the British MFA on his Twitter. "I declare with my all responsibility that the Chechen Republic is safer than England. Welcome!" he wrote.
The Ingush leader Yunus-Bek Evkurov has offered tourists from all over the world come to the Republic. "For my part, I can only invite tourists both from all regions of the Russian Federation and all over the world to come to Ingushetia that they could personally get convinced that nothing threatens them in our republic it is not in danger," the RIA "Novosti" quotes Mr Evkurov as saying.
The Governor of the Stavropol Territory Valery Zerenkov believes that there is no reason to make the statements like the one made by the British MFA. "Every year this is confirmed by thousands of foreign citizens from Europe, America and other parts of the world, who come to us on business or on holiday, as well as by the growing volume of foreign investments," said the Governor of the Stavropol Territory, as quoted by the "Vestnik Kavkaza" (Herald of the Caucasus).
