Russian Forces Now Keeping Chechens and Daghestanis Apart at Contested Border Region

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 4 – Since the June 10 incident when Chechens put up a sign declaring lands near Kizlyar to be Chechen and Daghestanis tore it down, the tense border region has been guarded not only by Chechen and Ingush police but also by Russian Federation forces which both keep their distance from the others and keep the two sides apart, Anton Starkov reports.

            None of the sides has talked much about the Russian presence because it highlights just how tense and potentially explosive the situation remains, but now Anton Starkov, a Moscow journalist, has visited the region and reported both in text and pictures the armed camp that the Chechen-Daghestani border remains (dailystorm.ru/vlast/chechnya-perehodit-granicy).

            Many Daghestanis say they did not know that the border segment involved had been recognized by Makhachkala as Chechen, something the Daghestani government has been at pains to say; but even those who did say that they were less angry about the claim itself than about the way the Chechens shameless through their weight around in taking control of it. 

            The Chechens, both those living near the border and those officials from Grozny who arrived after the June 10 incident, in contrast were outraged by the boldness the Daghestanis displayed in talking back to Chechen officials. No one in Ramzan Kadyrov’s republic would dare speak to any official like that.

            As Starkov notes, “among all the Caucasus republics, Daghestan looks like Las Vegas in the midst of North Korea – in the good sense of the word. Here is a little island of democracy, freedom and pluralism of opinions,” something not true elsewhere and yet another reason for the gulf between Grozny and Makhachkala.

            The situation on June 10 was much worse than many thought at the time. Only the intervention of elders prevented a group of 1500 Daghestanis from marching against the Chechens near Kizlyar.  Had they gone forward there might very well have been the kind of bloodbath that casts an enormous stain on the entire region.

            At the time, most commentators gave credit for calming the situation to republic head Vladimir Vasiliyev who intervened and said that the Chechens had done no more than mark land that was in fact theirs. But Starkov’s report suggest others had to work even harder despite Vasiliyev’s comments.

            Kizlyar is not the only place on the border where there have been and remain disputes, Starkov says. He was taken to Ansalt where there are major disagreements. His drive spoke Russian poorly but had the nickname of Putin because he looks like the Kremlin leader and was born on the same day.

            As the driver and others said, the problem at Ansalt is that the Chechens had built a tower, an architectural feature that means more in the Caucasus than just a tall building. Things risked getting out of hand there as well until the jamaat on the Daghestani side agreed to rent the tower to the Chechens.

            People in Ansalt are furious not only at the Chechens but at their own officials who, they say, don’t listen to their complaints. Because that is so, many of them are praying to Allah for the defense of their borders.  “People in Ansalt have no doubts that Allah is listening.”  If that is so, they may be even more ready to act on that belief than anyone imagines.