Ingush Teips Seek to Calm Relations with Chechnya but So Far Grozny Drags Its Feet

Paul Goble

            Staunton, January 2 – The Council of Teips of Ingushetia has continued its effort to prevent tensions between that republic and Chechnya from exploding by condemning the murder ofn a Chechen policeman by two ethnic Ingush men, but so far, Grozny has not reciprocated and so there is a danger that the situation could still get out of hand.

            Coundcil head Murad Doskiyev called on both Chechen and Ingush groups to show restraint and asked that the two Ingush teips involved, the Timurziyevs and the Saltygovs, avoid taking any action that could lead to an escalation in response to the declaration of a blood feud by a Chechen teip and the arrest of family members of the Ingush men involved (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/358248/ and echo.msk.ru/news/2768102-echo.html).

            The Ingush teips are especially angry about the decision of the Chechen authorities to denounce the attack as an act of terrorism and then to arrest the family members of the Ingush men involved. As of now, the family members are still being held, something Ingush teips see as illegal and offensive (capost.media/news/obshchestvo/v-ingushetii-obshchestvennik-sarazhdin-sultygov-otvetil-na-oskorbleniya-chechenskogo-deputata-magome/ and fortanga.org/2021/01/rodstvenniki-bratev-timurzievyh-po-prezhnemu-uderzhivayutsya-vlastyami-chechni/).

            The Ingush teips had been planning to send a delegation to Grozny to discuss all these things but decided against it in the hopes that the crisis may have passed and that going to the Chechen capital might in fact prove counter-productive. At the same time, the Ingush side says they are willing to come at some point (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/358248/).

            Leaders in other republics of the North Caucasus are worried that the situation could still head south, with Ruslan Kutayev, head of the Assembly of Peoples of the Caucasus, and prominent lawyer, Zaurbek Salakhanov even insisting that the deaths of the two attackers obviate any need for a blood feud (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/358242/).

            For many, the issues of blood feuds among traditional clans may seem of marginal interest. But it is important because conflicts among them are often beyond the capacity of the republic governments to control. And if one or another government tries to exploit them, the situation can easily get out of control.