Kremlin Would Be ‘Insane’ to Allow a War Between Chechnya and Ingushetia, Mutsolgov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 14 – On the day that the Russian Constitutional Court agreed to hear the appeal by Yunus-Bek Yevkurov about the Chechen-Ingush border accord on November 27 (interfax.ru/russia/637887), Ruslan Mutsolgov, a leader of the protests against the accord said that the Kremlin would be “insane” to allow the conflict to spark a war.

            In an interview with the New Caucasus portal, the head of the Ingush section of the Yabloko Party said that neither Chechens nor Ingush want such a war and were it to occur, it would be as a result of outside interference, perhaps over oil (newcaucasus.com/politics/17098-ruslan-mutsolgov-kreml-soydet-s-uma-esli-dopustit-voynu-na-severnom-kavkaze.html).

            Mutsolgov says that Russian oil companies have an interest in the oil field that underlies the borders of the two republics. Nineteen wells have been drilled but 16 have been capped as not economically viable now. The three that are productive have been shifted from Ingushetia to Chechnya as a result of Yevkurov’s deal with Ramzan Kadyrov.

            While oil may have been a factor in the accord, the activist continues, he says that he believes that the decision to sign it has more to do with the re-appointment of Yevkurov to a third term and to arrangements of various kinds that would profit people close to Vladimir Putin in Moscow. 

            And Mutsolgov stresses that the Ingush opposition didn’t protest the accord because of oil but rather because “for us, any violation of the territorial integrity of Ingushetia is unacceptable.” That remains true, he says. 

                As for Yevkurov, the opposition leader says, the republic head “has always conducted himself as an official of the federal center. For him, fulfilling directives of the center is always more important than the interests of the republic. [He] is one of those people and now this has become obvious who doesn’t listen to the opinion of the population but tries to impose his own.”

            Yevkurov’s dismissal is one of the main demands of the opposition, Mutsolgov says, adding that it hopes to pursue the restoration of the election of the head of the republic in the future.

            The Russian Constitutional Court said that it would consider Yevkurov’s appeal on November 27.  Sergey Mavrin, the deputy head of the court, will serve as the justice in this case, which will be held in open session (interfax.ru/russia/637887). The World Congress of the Ingush People has asked that it be allowed to take part in the hearing (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/327913/).

                Meanwhile, in a transparent effort to provide support for the embattled Yevkurov, the Rusisan government has announced that it will increase its transfer payments to the republic by 967.7 million rubles (17 million US dollars) next year as compared to this (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/327905/).