In First 100 Days, Kalimatov hasn’t Made Contact with Ingush Society, Chablin Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, October 10 – In the 100 days since he was named head of Ingushetia, Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov has proved himself adept at working with the bureaucracy but has signally failed to make contact with Ingush society or address its concerns and thus has failed to lower the political temperature in the republic, Anton Chablin says.

            As he has been throughout his career, the North Caucasus expert says, Kalimatov “has remained an unpublic politician,” working behind the scenes and winning support in the bureaucracy by expanding it, something many Ingush are upset about because the Magas establishment is already larger than that in neighboring and larger republics (6portal.ru/posts/100-дней-калиматова-обещано-многое-а-диа/).

            His only move regarding the bureaucracy that has been popular, Chablin continues, is disbanding the duplication of offices in the republic head’s office and the republic government; but any positive feelings about that have been undercut by his failure to talk about the issues of concern to the people or even meet with them.

            In fact, the analyst continues, “Kalimatov has consciously distanced himself from the social-economic agenda – he is ready to discuss only economic problems.” But even there he has said more good things than done them, and the Ingush population increasingly can see that is the case especially since he responds to all appeals with “silence.”

            The republic head hasn’t even focused on the anti-corruption report prepared by the Ingush Committee for National Unity, possibly because its authors, Akhmed Pogorov and Barakh Chemurziyev, are among the most prominent protest leaders. 

            Another example of the new regime’s failure to respond to complaints from the population has arisen in connection with the September 17 meeting between the procuracy and some 300 to 400 Ingush who were forced to leave their homes in the Prigorodny district in 1992 as a result of ethnic cleansing.

            At the time, officials promised that they would receive answers to their complaints, but so far, the Zamanho news agency reports, they have heard nothing (zamanho.com/?p=13572).

            Meanwhile, there were two other developments worthy of note. On the one hand, lawyers for Akhmet Barakhovyev, the imprisoned head of the Union of Teips, have appealed his incarceration to the European Court for Human Rights (zamanho.com/?p=13589). And on the other,  the Grani news portal has published a profile of Ingush activist Zarifa Sautiyeva, a mark of her increasing prominence in Russia (graniru.org/people/3132/).