Kalimatov Seeking to Change Basis of Ingush System from Teips to Russian Corporations

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 19 – In order to break the dominance of the teips in Ingush life, new republic head Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov has been appointing outsiders with few if any connections to the republic, an approach that he has never seen fit to justify and that is infuriating Ingush just as a similar approach by Batu Khasikov has outraged Kalmyks, Anton Chablin says.

            But Ingush have an additional reason for being upset, the North Caucasus specialist says. Kalimatov is not only appointing outsiders but he is naming people with close ties to major corporate groups rather than those with political experience elsewhere.  As a result, they have shown themselves less than impressive in their new positions (6portal.ru/posts/2019/11/19/).

            Indeed, Chablin continues, aides to Kalimatov have admitted as much and suggested that his changes have not yet been able to transform the republic administration or put the republic back on a path toward economic growth. He is choosing outsiders both territorially and politically because he has no significant cadres reserve locally.

            The analyst does not say but his words imply that in a republic as small as Ingushetia, which has only about 400,000 residents, it is extremely hard to make changes by shifting from Ingush incumbents to another group of Ingush. That explains why he is going outside, but it also highlights the fundamental weaknesses of his position.

            Meanwhile, according to associates of Zarifa Sautiyeva, the archivist and activist has prepared a detailed description of the way she and two other opposition figures were treated when they were sent for psychiatric examination about their “leadership qualities” to a facility in Stavropol (fortanga.org/2019/11/zarifa-sautieva-nazvala-fizicheskoj-pytkoj-i-psihologicheskim-nasiliem-otnoshenie-k-lideram-protesta/).

            The activist, who with the others remains in detention, says in her statement addressed to the Russian investigation committee that official actions both in the course of taking them to and from Nalchik to Stavropol and at the medical facility threatened their physical and psychological well-being and in fact rose to the level of torture. 

            But in a more positive development, defense lawyers for Rashid Masysigov have convinced an appellate court to release the Fortanga journalist from detention and allow him to await trial under house arrest (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/342543/ and  doshdu.com/podvergnuvshegosja-pytkam-ingushskogo-zhurnalista-pereveli-iz-sizo-pod-domashnij-arest/).
            Maysigov has been accused of being in possession of drugs and has reported through his lawyers that he has been tortured while in detention. It was the Ingush Supreme Court that released him to home detention. His new status is slated to last until January 12, after which it will be reviewed and a trial date perhaps set.