Ingush Siloviki Arrest Several People Seeking to Protest Land Transfer to Chechnya

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 17 – Today a large group of heavily armed Ingush siloviki arrested a small number of Ingush protesters and blocked others who hoped to stage a subbotnik on land slated to be transferred to Chechnya under the terms of the September 26 border accord between Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/328040/ and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/328042/).

            The actual number detained is unknown – sources vary and the republic MVD has not reported anything about the case – and the fate of those who were remains unclear although legal specialists in Ingushetia say that the action appears to be a political meeting convened without permission and so those arrested may be charged with that (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/328026/).

            Meanwhile, the Russian Constitutional Accord agreed to allow the World Congress of the Ingush People access to Yevkurov’s appeal. It had been kept confidential, but now the Ingush opponents of the border accord will be able to see it before the November 27 hearing. They have also been invited to attend the court session (graniru.org/Society/Law/m.273844.html).

            But perhaps the most important development of the last 24 hours was a story by Rosbalt’s Ivan Preobrazhensky who says that a government source has told him that the central government is counting on the November 27 court session to resolve the problem given that all the major participants in the dispute will be present (rosbalt.ru/russia/2018/11/16/1747016.html).

            According to this source, “the resolution of this issue has already been prepared in Moscow … and will have to be a compromise” among all parties. It must satisfy both Kadyrov and the Ingush opposition, the source said. Yevkurov, he continues, has been sidelined and almost certainly is on his way out as head of Ingushetia.

            What that could possibly look like is unclear: Kadyrov isn’t going to want to back down; and neither is the Ingush opposition, although the latter will certainly be pleased if Yevkurov is out. Perhaps the September 26 accord will be scrapped, and a new one, prepared in Moscow, that gives Kadyrov a smaller amount of land from Ingushetia will be put in its place.