Russian Identified as Troll Boss Now Says Ingushetia 'Out of Control'

Paul Goble

            Staunton, January 8 – Aleksandr Malkevich, a Russian political scientist who is a member of the Russian Social Chamber but has been identified as someone who runs trolling operations against the West, has now turned his attention to Ingushetia and says protesters there are rejecting Russian names and the Russian language.

            He says he considers these moves a matter of great concern and an indication that the situation in Ingushetia is moving “out of control,” the editors of the independent Portal Six report (6portal.ru/posts/недовольство-никуда-не-делось-оно-вып/). But what is really a matter of concern is that Malkevich is making charges for which there is no confirmation.

            That is because suggestions of this kind are likely to prompt Moscow to demand an even harsher crackdown on the Ingush opposition and Ingush population more generally. (On Malkevich’s involvement in trolling, see foreignpolicy.com/2019/07/10/the-evolution-of-a-russian-troll-russia-libya-detained-tripoli/.)  

            Meanwhile, despite the holidays,  there were two other significant “Ingushetia” developments. First of all and despite Ramzan Kadyrov’s earlier calls to dismantle border posts between the North Caucasus republics, Grozny is building more elaborate checkpoints on Chechnya’s borders with Ingushetia and Daghestan (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/344419/).

            Residents of both have complained to the Kavkaz-Uzel news agency that it is becoming ever more difficult for them to pass through these borders on business or to visit relatives. 

            And second, 32 children have sent in pictures they have drawn in support of Ingush political prisoners as part of an effort by the First Aid group in the republic to increase attention to the plight of those behind bars.  Activists say they hope the pictures will be posted online to ensure others know about what is happening in Ingushetia (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/344404/).

            A psychologist who has examined the pictures says that they show just how deeply traumatized many Ingush are by the events of the last 18 months.