Rights defender explains dispute about Chechen-Ingush border by provocation

The Chechen-Ingush territorial dispute has been artificially provoked and is being pumped from outside, Akhmed Gisaev, the head of the Human Rights Analysis Centre, has stated. The Orstkhoev community, whose lands are the subject of a dispute, had initially indicated the absence of contradictions regarding these territories, the rights defender has noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 26, Ramzan Kadyrov and Yunus-Bek Evkurov signed the agreement on securing the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia. Residents of Ingushetia took to mass actions in protest against the transfer of lands.

Mr Gisaev, the head of the Human Rights Analysis Centre, believes that the problem of fixing the Chechen-Ingush border was raised today not by chance.

"In my opinion, the attendance of thousands of the funeral of Yusup Temirkhanov in the village of Geldagan has demonstrated, unexpectedly for the authorities, solidarity and unity of all the peoples of Northern Caucasus with the Chechen people. Such a spiritual impulse, such a unity could not but cock up the Kremlin's ears. Again, another time in the modern history of Russia, it became necessary to enforce the principle of 'divide and rule'," Akhmed Gisaev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Akhmed believes that conflicts in regions are provoked by the authorities in order to distract people from their problems.

"We see a sharp impoverishment of the people against the enrichment of a part of the society especially close to the Russian president. The adoption of the pension reform law, Putin's rating has dropped significantly. Western sanctions against Russia affect ordinary citizens, not those in power. The authorities provoke conflicts in the regions, by pitting people against each other in order to distract their attention from their own problems," Mr Gisaev believes.

According to his version, initially these events had been wrongly treated. "There is no point in talking about the transfer and exchange of land. The border along the Fortanga River had passed there before the First Chechen War and was fixed as a result of agreements of Djokhar Dudaev with Ruslan Aushev. There is no conflict around these territories inside the Orstkhoev community," Akhmed Gisaev has concluded.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 11, 2018 at 06:52 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.