Ingushetia Surrounded by ‘an Iron Curtain’ since 1992 Despite Being Part of Russia, Tamantsev Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November  1 – For all 27 years of its existence, Ingushetia has been surrounded by “an iron curtain” even though it is ostensibly part of the Russian Federation, the result of ethnic cleansing, violence and land grabs by its neighbors, according to Ingush writer Semyon Tamantsev (6portal.ru/posts/железный-занавес-внутри-одного-госуд/#more-650).

            Meanwhile, commemorations of the 1992 war with North Ossetia over the Prigorodny district continued. Almost all state institutions held meetings (inggu.ru/about_the_university/news/617/), Ingush diaspora communities in Europe announced plans for demonstrations (zamanho.com/?p=14457),  and social groups collected aid for the IDPs still without a homeland (zamanho.com/?p=14513).

            There also a move on the legal front: The Russian Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal by prosecutors asking that all trials of Ingush protesters be held outside of Ingushetia (zamanho.com/?p=14539  and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/341900/). Lawyers for the protesters have filed objections (fortanga.org/2019/11/advokat-aktivistam-nado-nabratsya-terpeniya-zhdat-suda-eshhe-dolgo/).

            And in an intriguing echo from the past, a group of writers acting anonymously have demanded that former republic head Yunus-Bek Yevkurov swear he wasn’t involved in the death of Ingush during the Ossetian-Ingush conflict. If he won’t, they say, they will begin a blood feud against his teip (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/341895/).