27 October 2018, 01:00
Kadyrov's visits exacerbate situation in Ingushetia
The visits of Ramzan Kadyrov and his closest officials to Ingush activists, who had criticized the head of Chechnya, are causing tensions in Ingushetia and can lead to bloodshed, Magomed Mutsolgov, a human rights defender, believes.
On September 26, Ramzan Kadyrov and Yunus-Bek Evkurov signed the agreement on securing the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia. From October 4 till October 17, Magas hosted a round-the-clock mass rally against the change in the border with Chechnya. Protestors demanded the referendum on the issue of the border and the resignation of the republic's leader.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 16, the head of Chechnya promised to "request" from Akhmed Pogorov, one of the leaders of protests in Ingushetia, a former head of the Ingush Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), for a number of his statements addressed to Kadyrov and pronounced at the protest rally in Magas. Today, Kadyrov has personally visited Pogorov in Karabulak to discuss the contradictions, while the worried local residents gathered en masse near Pogorov's house, and when law enforcers tried to free the passage, shots were fired. Later, Akhmed Pogorov announced his reconciliation with Kadyrov.
On October 24, Magomed Daudov, the Speaker of the Chechen Parliament, arrived, following Kadyrov's instructions, in the Ingush village of Novy Redant and invited the elder Akhmed Barakhoev to a Sharia trial, because of the latter's statements made at the rally in Magas – a week earlier, Barakhoev answered to Kadyrov's addressed to Pogorov.
In Ingushetia, there are a lot of young people who don't like such "settlement' visits, Magomed Mutsolgov, the head of the "Mashr" human rights organization, is convinced. The visits of Kadyrov and Chechen officials from his encirclement contribute to the increase of tensions in Ingushetia, the human rights defender has added.
"These daily trips are a negative phenomenon; God forbid something will happen. There are many young people in Ingushetia, who dislike such 'settlement' visits. Always more than a thousand people gather there; and people from Chechnya come with their armed guards. It's not safe. The heads of Ingushetia and Chechnya should take responsibility and do something with these trips in order to avoid provocations," said Magomed Mutsolgov.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 26, 2018 at 09:06 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Gor Aleksanyan Source: CK correspondent
