Mutsolgov, Head of Yabloko Party Organization in Ingushetia, Elected to Party’s All-Russian Bureau

Paul Goble

            Staunton, December 18 – Ruslan Mutsolgov, head of the Yabloko Party organization in Ingushetia, was elected to the party’s all-Russian policy-making bureau, the only party official from the North Caucasus to be elevated to that position and an indication that Ingush concerns will continue to animate Yabloko activities (6portal.ru/posts/яблоко-не-оставит-ингушетию/).

            Mutsolgov has been extremely active in Ingushetia over the last two years, organizing seminars and meetings, taking part in demonstrations, and protesting on behalf of other activists detained by the authorities. As a result, the party leader has been subject to repressive actions by the powers that be, most recently in October when the confiscated his computer.

            Tensions between Ingushetia and Chechnya are heating up. On the one hand, Ingush activists suspect that Grozny is behind acts of vandalism in the village of Beyni where stones from Ingush towers have been stolen. They believe that the Chechens who have been restoring their own towers elsewhere may need stones of the right period (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/343661/ and zamanho.com/?p=16058).

            And on the other, an Ingush woman who sang a song in praise of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been sharply criticized by Ingush activists and bloggers who say she is betraying the ingush people by celebrating a man who took away so much of Ingushetia’s land (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/343688/).

            Meanwhile in the Stavropol courts, there were two Ingush-related developments. First, two activists, Eliskhn Azhigov and Musa Pliyeva, admitted to having thrown rocks at the police during the March demonstrations and were thus guilty of the charges brought against them. They await sentencing (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/343683/ and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/343678/).

            And second, the court extended the detention of two other Ingush activists, Malsag Uzhakhov an Magomed Ozdoyev, into next year despite pleas from lawyers that they be released on their own recognizance (fortanga.org/2019/12/sud-ostavil-malsaga-uzhahova-pod-strazhej-do-25-marta-2020-goda/  and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/343676/).