Daghestanis Call for Challenging Chechnya’s Landgrab as Ingush Opposition Demands Moscow Intervene Against Yevkurov

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 18 – The Daghestani Public Commission on Border Demarcations says that Chechnya last month committed “a crude violation” of the law when it unilaterally included some disputed land within the borders of Chechnya and demanded that the authorities challenge Grozny’s action by all available means.

            Meanwhile, in the face of growing repression and official opposition, the opposition in Ingushetia, which came together last fall to challenge the cession of Ingush land to Chechnya by Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, has called for Moscow to intervene to force Yunus-Bek Yevkurov to negotiate with the opposition and address their grievances about him and the border.

                At a session of the Daghestani Public Commission formed by Makhachkala after activists complained of the secrecy in talks between Chechnya and Daghestan, lawyer Abas Gaydarov said Chechnya’s unilateral demarcation of part of the border was illegal and should be challenged in Russian courts (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/334442/ and chernovik.net/content/lenta-novostey/gde-stoit-granica-dagestana-i-chechni-glazami-obshchestvennoy-komissii).

                The Daghestani republic government may be ready to act on this call: Today, the authorities there called for bids on a contract to use drones to photograph the borders with Chechnya (and also with Stavropol Kray and Kalmykia, pictures that could be used in court (capost.media/news/policy/dagestan-reshil-fotografirovat-granitsy-i-potratit-na-eto-2-8-mln-rubley-/).

                Meanwhile in Ingushetia, the Ingush Committee for National Unity denounced the continuing repressions of Yevkurov’s government, pledged to continue their protests within the law to seek the replacement of his government and the reversal of the September 2018 border accord and called on Moscow to send a high-level delegation to start talks between the opposition and the Ingush government (fortanga.org/2019/04/zayavlenie-ingushskogo-komiteta-natsionalnogo-edinstva/).

            The Committee declared that “practically the entire adult population of the Republic of Ingushetia” is on the side of the protesters. The only ones who aren’t are those who feed at the public trough.  “Today, the Ingush people remains on one side, and the authorities on another, with the latter considering their main task the suppression” of the former.

            Yevkurov’s repressive actions aren’t working, the Committee continues. Instead, “each step of illegal pressure by the authorities is having a boomerang effect,” intensifying the commitment of the opposition to his regime. Dislike of Yevkurov and his team is so great that people don’t want to see him at weddings and funerals and close the door if they appear.

            “In the existing situation,” the Committee says, “the federal authorities must think now about how to put more protesters behind bars but how to correct a situation in which the republic finds itself as a result of the incompetent administrative policies of the Ingush leadership.” And to that end, it should send a commission to Magas to organize talks.

            The first order of business should be the immediate and unqualified release of all the prisoners the Ingush and Russian authorities are holding for participation in protest actions.  If Yevkurov won’t talk, the situation will deteriorate and affect not only the republic but “all of Russia.” The Committee has no wish to see that happen.

            “It is obvious,” the Committee concludes, “that those guilty for the current situation in Ingushetia are the leaders of the Ingush Republic who are trying to push the struggle of the Ingush people beyond the legal limits in order to be in a position to subject them to massive repressions.”

            Meanwhile, there were three other developments in Ingushetia over the last 24 hours:

·         The Yevkurov government continued its campaign of arrests, detentions, and fines (zamanho.com/?p=6529).

·         Magas efused to give permission for a demonstration on April 26 to mark the anniversary of the Moscow law on addressing the problems of repressed peoples, something that was not unexpected because it has done so in the past as well (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/334444/ and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/334447/).

·         And the Ingush interior ministry reported that it has confiscated a variety of guns and ammunition from the population over the last week, with many people turning in weapons voluntarily (zamanho.com/?p=6520).