Ingush Protest Shifts to Moscow Where Authorities Copy Yevkurov’s Crackdown

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 16 – Individual Ingush picketed Red Square, in front of the Duma and in other public places in Moscow to demand that Yunus-Bek Yevkurov obey the law and that Moscow officials in that North Caucasus republic stop the explosion of illegality and corruption they have unleashed in recent days.

            Not surprisingly given repression in Ingushetia and the current atmosphere in the Russian capital, some of the protesters were warned by police, although most reportedly were ignored. But four of those holding posters were detained. Their fates are not yet known (hzamanho.com/?p=6448 and mbk-news.appspot.com/news/v-moskve-14/).

            In another Moscow-related development, Akhmed Pogorov, the vice president of the World Congress of the Ingush People, sent an open appeal to deputies of the Russian Duma. (He also sent it to deputies in Ingushetia.) He called on the Federal Assembly to form a commission to make an assessment of recent developments in Ingushetia (zamanho.com/?p=6444).

            And also in Moscow, Nikolay Rybakov, the vice president of the opposition Yabloko Party, denounced the latest round of harassment, detentions, arrests and charges against the Ingush opposition. “The escalation of the conflict that the authorities of Ingushetia are promoting is a big mistake” (yabloko.ru/regnews/Ingushetiya/2019/04/15).

            Rybakov, it may be recalled, was the only federal politician who spoke at the Magas demonstration on March 26; and his party has taken a consistent line in supporting the opposition in Ingushetia since last year, arguing that the border concessions Yevkurov made with Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov were wrong and should be reversed.

            Meanwhile in Ingushetia today, there was an especially disturbing development. Opposition activist Khasan Katsiyev who handed in the request for official approval of a meeting on April 26 was detained by police and then simply “disappeared.” Many are worried about his fate (onkavkaz.com/novosti/5198-odnogo-iz-zajavitelei-novogo-mitinga-v-magase-uvezli-v-neizvestnom-napravlenii.html).