Sergey Melikov takes control over attack on journalists on Chechen-Ingush border

According to the Kremlin press service, Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed his subordinates to find out all the circumstances of the incident on the border of Chechnya and Ingushetia, as a result of which human rights defenders and journalists had been injured. Sergey Melikov, Presidential Envoy in the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), has taken the investigation of the attacks on journalists under his personal control.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 9, in Ingushetia, eight human rights defenders, journalists, and a driver of a minivan of the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) were beaten as a result of the attack on them. In the same evening, the JMG's office was attacked in Ingushetia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the attack an act of hooliganism and "instructed the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) to find out all the circumstances of the incident and give the legal assessment of what had happened," reports the website of the Russian President.

In his turn, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Minister of Internal Affairs, has instructed Sergey Chenkin, the head of the Chief Department of the Russian MIA for the NCFD, and Alexander Trofimov, Minister of Internal Affairs for Ingushetia, to take measures to detain the attackers.

Sergey Melikov, Presidential Envoy in the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), has taken the investigation into the attack on journalists under his personal control. He has issued relevant instructions to the heads of the law enforcement bodies, reports the administration of the Presidential Envoy.

It should be noted that the attack in Ingushetia has become the third attack on the JMG in the Caucasus since December 2014.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.