Council of Teips Approves Report on Border with Chechnya Despite Bomb Threat

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 6 – The Council of Teips of the Ingush Republic, acting on behalf of and with the support of the World Congress of Ingush, approved a report criticizing the 2018 land deal in which then republic head Yunus-Bek Yevkurov conceded 20 percent of the republic’s territory to Chechnya. It did so despite a bomb threat which compelled its members to change their meeting place.

            The fact that the authorities did not want the report approved given that it was intended to be sent to the powers that be in Magas and Moscow strongly suggests that the reported bomb threat was something government officials dreamed up rather than the work of anyone else (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/365765/, caucasustimes.com/ru/sorvano-zasedanie-soveta-tejpov-ingushetii-o-granice-s-chechnej/, and fortanga.org/2021/07/sovet-tejpov-ingushetii-napravit-kalimatovu-i-kadyrovu-doklad-o-nezakonnosti-ottorzheniya-zemel/).

            Meanwhile, at this week’s hearing of the case against the Ingush Seven, what has been the consistent pattern of this case continued: Neither video offered by the government nor people the prosecutors put on the stand to testify against the Seven confirmed the government’s case (fortanga.org/2021/07/videomaterialy-po-ingushskomu-delu-ne-podtverdili-vinu-podsudimyh/  and fortanga.org/2021/07/poterpevshij-po-ingushskomu-delu-ne-uznal-sredi-podsudimyh-uchastnikov-akczii-v-magase/).

            A survey of leading opposition commentators and activists found unanimous support for participation in the upcoming elections if only to allow the Ingush people to show their anger at those deputies in the republic legislature who voted for the 2018 land deal (fortanga.org/2021/07/respublika-protesta-byt-ili-ne-byt-na-vyborah-v-ingushetii/).

            But skepticism that any of the parties allowed to run candidates can provide real support for the Ingush nation remains high, with one commentator quoting Viktor Chernomyrdin’s classic obsesrvation that “whatever party we have in the country, it will turn out to be the CPSU” (6portal.ru/posts/единая-россия-не-мозг-ингушской-нац/#more-1388).

            Perhaps more important in terms of the long-term mobilization of the Ingush people are two films, one entitled “The Ingush Catharsis” about the protests which was shown today (fortanga.org/2021/07/film-o-klyuchevyh-sobytiyah-v-ingushetii-vyzval-interes-u-zhitelej-respubliki/) and a second called “The Border” which is being prepared with the participation of the Ingush Seven (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/365764/).