Ingush Independence Committee Forms Ingush Liberation Army, Says Its Getting Volunteers

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Apr. 26 – The Committee for Ingush Independence, formed earlier this year (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/03/creation-of-ingushetia-independence.html) says that it has formed an Ingush Liberation Army (ĞALĞAY KORTAMUQ̇ALEN ESKAR) and that volunteers are now signing up.

            The announcement, which appeared on the group’s telegram channel (t.me/komitet_ing/128), has been picked up by other Ingush outlets but cannot be independently confirmed (fortanga.org/2023/04/komitet-ingushskoj-nezavisimosti-obyavil-o-sozdanii-osvoboditelnoj-armii/ and fortanga.org/2023/04/iz-ingushetii-obrashhayutsya-pochti-kazhdyj-den-v-kin-rasskazali-podrobnosti-sozdaniya-armii/).

            The Committee says it has taken this step to be prepared for “the coming disintegration of the Russian Federation which will inevitably lead to conflicts within Russian elites and the formation of all kinds of PMCs and ban formations that have been and will be created by the powers in the Kremlin.”

            Its specific goal, the Committee says, will be “the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ingushetia (GIalgIaiche) and the defense of its borders from possible aggressive actions by Russian satellites,” a clear reference in the Ingush case to Chechnya, which has taken part of Ingushetia, and North Ossetia, which occupied another part.

            According to the declaration, the new force will oppose efforts by Moscow to deceive the Ingush people and draw them into conflicts with all others. “We cannot allow that since Russia has frequently demonstrated its inability to keep to anything it agrees … The Ingush people is capable of defending its interest and rights … and the creation of the Ingush army is one of the means to achieve that goal.”

            The new force has announced its table of ranks and also created a flag which “consists of five equal horizontal stripes: two green, top and bottom and three white in between. The ratio o fthe height of the banner to its width is 3 to 5, and it carries an inscription in Arabic which reads “none is worthy of worship except Allah; and Muhammed is his messenger.”

            What is most striking about all this is the increasing role of Islam in Ingush thinking as tensions there rise, a pattern that may extend to other regions as well and that Moscow can be counted on to exploit against these republics in their hopes to gain support from governments in the West.