Russian Siloviki Said Concentrating Strike Force in and around Ingush Village

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 21 – Late yesterday, Ingush residents reported “a concentration of a federal group of forces” near the village of Dattykh, a place to which they had been able to go as recently as three days earlier but that now is cordoned off by the police (facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=144334699868496&id=100028759010346, kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/328189/ and kavkazr.com/a/29612787.html).

            There was no confirmation of this in the Ingush capital or in Moscow, but local residents said that “when military actions were taking place in Chechnya, siloviki were constantly located there. When Russian forces were present, they added, they could not gain access to the village  (obzor.io/2018/11/21/siloviki-blokirovali-vezd-v-selo-dattyx-na-granice-ingushetii-i-chechni-14394/).

            Such reports, whether they are confirmed or not, will have the effect of raising the political temperature in Ingushetia and increased the risk of violence by one side or the other.

            The last 24 hours also featured additional information on the 11-year-old who telephoned in a false bomb threat in Ingushetia.  He is being described as “a telephone terrorist,” another locution that will also increase the risk of copycat crimes (kuban.360tv.ru/shkolnik-iz-ingushetii-soobschil-o-bombe-v-magazine-v-respublike-proverili-vse-salony-sotovoj-svjazi/ and  obzor.io/2018/11/20/11-letnij-shkolnik-iz-ingushetii-okazalsya-telefonnym-terroristom-77532/).