Moscow and Magas Now Targeting All Independent NGOs in Ingushetia, Activists Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 15 – The banning of the Council of Teips in March and the Ingush Committee of National Unity this week are only the tip of the iceberg of an effort by Moscow and Magas to harass all independent NGOs in Ingushetia into quiescence, a testament to the power of civil society there and the fears it has generated among officials. 

            What made and makes Ingushetia different from other North Caucasus republics is that it has articulated a remarkably vibrant civil society consisting of a wide variety of non-governmental organizations, many of which have played a key role in the protests that have roiled the republic since the September 2018 land giveaway to Chechnya.

            But activists tells MBC journalist Mariya Zaprometova that in recent months, the powers that be in Magas backed by those in Moscow have worked tirelessly to destroy this island of civil society, declaring many to be foreign agents, banning some, and harassing all of them in a variety of ways (mbk-news.appspot.com/region/stali-zhertvami/).

            The activists say that the authorities have made life for the NGOs almost unbearable, but they also say that the experience of civil society activities has led many of those in organizations the authorities are attacking to continue their work by changing their names, something that has happened with the Teips and the ICNU.

            That has limited the ability of the powers to close things down and is a testament to the power of civil society experience to change people to the point that when the authorities do try to eliminate such organizations, they face a population far more agile and committed than it was before the NGOs were established. 

            A major reason that Windows on Eurasia has offered almost daily coverage of developments in Ingushetia since September 2018 is that the growth of civil society in that republic represents a triumph for civil society, however much the powers that be ban the groups, arrest their leaders, or slander their operations.

            The Ingush people are not the same as they were nearly two years ago when the protests began and the NGOs became even more active.  That is not something that the authorities appear to have recognized yet and the powers that be may succeed in suppressing the groups at least in the near term. 

            But it is very clear that those in Magas and Moscow who hope to suppress the spirit behind these groups face a far more difficult, even impossible challenge; and that gives hope at a time when there is all too little of that across the Russian Federation.