10:53, 24 February 2019

Memory of deported nations honoured in Volgograd mosque

About 150 people have visited the Volgograd mosque on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of deportation of Ingushes and Chechens.

Vladimir Kruglyakov, a participant of the event, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the mosque was visited by members of the Kalmyk, Chechen and Ingush Diasporas, as well as Cossacks.

The operation "Chechevitsa" (Lentils), during which Chechens and Ingushes were massively evicted from their homeland, the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, to Kazakhstan and Middle Asia was conducted from February 23 to March 9, 1944. The reasons for the repressions were declared to be massive desertions, evasion from conscription in wartime and the preparation of an uprising in the Soviet rear. Almost 500,000 people were evicted from Chechnya and Ingushetia.

"The deportation of Chechens and Ingushes is one of the most terrible crimes of Stalinism; practically the entire Chechen-Ingush nation was evicted practically in a few days from February 23 to March 9, 1944... A huge number of them died of hunger, cold and thirst. Today, their descendants were present at the event," Mr Kruglyakov has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 23, 2019 at 09:00 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Tatyana Filimonova

Source: CK correspondent