Two Arrested for Stealing Stones from Ancient Ingush Towers to Sell to Chechens

Paul Goble

            Staunton, January 5 – Two men who vandalized ancient towers in the Ingush village of Beyni and then carried off the stones for sale in Chechnya have been detained by Ingush police after expressions of outrage by Ingush bloggers, Murad Daskiyev, the head of the Union of Teips of Ingushetia says.

            While details are not yet unavailable, three aspects of this case mean that it will exacerbate already tense relations between Ingush and Chechens and could even trigger violence between the two Vainakh nations, something they have avoided up to now (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/344319/,  amanho.com/?p=16247 and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/344320/).

            First, these ancient towers are almost sacred to the Ingush people. Desecrating them in this way for profit is the functional equivalent of despoiling a cemetery. Second, if the reports so far are true, the Chechens are to blame either directly or because they offered to pay for the stones to use in their own construction.

            And third – and this may prove to be the most important aspect of the situation – while republic police arrested the two, it is clear that they took action not because the republic leadership, including Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov, was focused on the desecration but rather because the Council of Teips has done do and is now speaking on behalf of the Ingush people.

            Given how explosive this incident could become, some Ingush bloggers have suggested that it could be a provocation organized either by the authorities or the Chechens in the hopes of triggering a violent reaction by the Ingush that Magas and Grozny might then exploit to crack down on the Ingush opposition even more severely than up to now.