Kalimatov Urged to Take Decisive Action on Pandemic, but He Only Talks about How Ingush Coped Centuries Ago

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 17 – Because there more than 70,000 Ingush without jobs and because many businesses are shuttered and at the brink of bankruptcy, Ruslan Mutsolgov, head of the republic section of the Yabloko Party, called on Ali-Makhmud Kalimatov to take radical measures to take radical measures to support the nation (kavkaz-uzel.eu/blogs/342/posts/42748).

            Makhmudov, in words that many will read as his response, instead of announcing any new steps or providing more help, called on the Ingush people to show discipline and protect themselves from the pandemic as their ancestors did in the 19^th century and earlier (ingushetia.ru/news/makhmud_ali_kalimatov_napomnil_o_predkakh_izolirovavshikhsya_v_solnechnykh_mogilnikakh_pri_epidemiya/).

            The republic head’s failure to call for more comprehensive action, one especially disturbing because other federal subject leaders are doing more, will do little so help calm a republic which is faced with a dramatic hike in the number of coronavirus cases and which lacks the resources to provide basic health care let alone help businesses survive.

            There have been two consequences of Kalimatov’s failure, one negative and one positive. The negative one shows just how tense the situation is. When a video clip showing police using weapons to arrest someone, many Ingush immediately assumed that showed how the authorities planned to respond to any challenge during the pandemic (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/348440/).

            The positive one, in fact a damning indictment of Kalimatov and Moscow as far as the pandemic is concerned, involves a major contribution by an anonymous Ingush businessman that has allowed for the purchase of more than 10,000 face masks and cash assistance to 100 of the poorest families, things the Ingush government has not done (etokavkaz.ru/news/80727).