Sunday, October 28, 2018

Kadyrov Says Chechnya Won’t Absorb Ingushetia, Rejects Amalgamation Elsewhere as Well


Paul Goble

            Staunton, October 28.  Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov says that the border between his republic and Ingushetia is settled and there is no basis for further discussion, adding that Grozny has no plans to absorb Ingushetia as some Ingush fear and that he considers any plan to amalgamate federal subjects in Russia inappropriate (tass.ru/politika/5729020).

            Kadyrov’s first declaration will only further inflame Ingush opinion in advance of the restart of protests against the border accord and the opening of the Ingush congress which has been convened to denounce the agreement. But his second statement may get him into trouble with Vladimir Putin who favors regional amalgamation in general but perhaps not in this case.

            Among the most important other developments around the Ingush controversy during the last 24 hours are the following:

·         The first over the border accord is now dividing the influential Ingush taips, with one coming out in favor of the agreement between Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and Kadyrov, but most opposed and electing delegates at a meeting in Nazran to the congress where the accord will be denounced (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/327230/, kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/327227/ and kavkaz-uzel.eu/blogs/342/posts/35089).

·         A group of Ingush who support Yevkurov and the border agreement organized a column of 15 automobiles which travelled between Magas and Chechnya. Not surprisingly, it was heavily covered by Moscow outlets (tass.ru/proisshestviya/5728954).

·         The Ingush central government launched a criminal case against the head of Malgobek  nominally for exceeding his authority but likely because he has not been able to keep protesters from breaking up pro-Yevkurov meetings there (vestikavkaza.ru/material/246149).

·         Chechnya’s Kadyrov said that he and Yevkurov will meet in the next few days to discuss joint  development of the border regions of their respective republics (grozny-inform.ru/main.mhtml?Part=8&PubID=101764).

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