Sore spot

PR on blood: why Doku Umarov outplayed Yunus-Bek Yevkurov

The official website of the Republic of Ingushetia informs about the visit of Yunus-Bek Yevkurov to South Ossetia to Eduard Kokoity. The visit was timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the independence of this autonomy, which was part of the Georgian SSR. Both leaders said what is supposed to be said in such cases. Kokoity spoke about the search for bridges for building good neighborly relations. Yevkurov said that with the recognition of South Ossetian independence by Russia, stability has come, and the republic can develop calmly.

On the unofficial Ingush website, which, by the way, is controlled by supporters of President Yevkurov and which differs from the official one only by the ending .org instead of .ru, the news about Yevkurov’s visit to Tskhinvali is supplemented by a comment from the editors: “On the night of August 8, 2008, Ossetian formations provoked the Georgian authorities on the introduction of military equipment, which led to the invasion of Russian troops into the territory of the so-called South Ossetia, and then into another part of Georgia. In exactly the same scenario, the bloody genocide of the Ingush in 1992 was staged, as a result of which more than 800 Ingush were killed, more than 180 people went missing. That's all good neighborly relations for you.

If qualitative measurements of public sentiment were carried out in Ingushetia, Yevkurov, upon returning home, would most likely find that his popularity in the republic had fallen. This happened for the first time a year ago, when he made some kind of agreement with his North Ossetian colleague Teimuraz Mamsurov. Nobody saw the text of the agreement, but its essence was that the disputed Prigorodny district remains under the administrative control of Vladikavkaz, and Ingushetia no longer claims to return it. In exchange, Vladikavkaz agreed to the unimpeded return of the Ingush expelled from the region in 1992 to their homes. It also coincided with a report that the center is allocating 29 billion rubles in subsidies to Ingushetia. From the outside, it all looked as if the authorities of the republic had sold the disputed area. In Ingushetia then they said: let the Ossetians return our land, and take this money for themselves.

Just a year ago, I was sitting with friends in Karabulak, and an elderly Ingush told me that even ex-president Murat Zyazikov did not dare to agree to such an agreement, and Yevkurov, whom the Ingush believed so much, went. I tried to object: what difference does it make, in whose composition the district, if people can live peacefully in their homes? I said that it was not the Ossetians and Ingush who were to blame for the events of 1992, but those who promised to return the lands taken away once, did nothing for this and only pitted people. The interlocutor could hardly restrain himself from shouting at me, but I was a guest, and his son explained to me: “We are refugees from Prigorodny, so you will not understand us, and we will not understand you.”

A piece of Ingushetia, given to Ossetia in the middle of the 20th century and not returned contrary to promises in the early 1990s, has become a stumbling block that cannot be bypassed or jumped over. Now, after the recent terrible terrorist act in Vladikavkaz, responsibility for which was claimed by the militants of Ingushetia, hatred between the Ossetian and Ingush peoples has flared up with renewed vigor.

For example, these days the village of Kartsa in the Prigorodny district is surrounded by troops and police. The Ingush live in this village and are now protected from Ossetian pogroms - one such attempt was made immediately after the terrorist attack in Vladikavkaz. The Public Chamber was going to hold a round table, at which, according to the plan of the organizers, representatives of the Ingush and Ossetian public were to sign a memorandum. The event, apparently, will not take place due to the boycott of the Ossetian participants. Any step of the Ingush towards the Ossetians and the Ossetians towards the Ingush is regarded by their fellow tribesmen as a betrayal.

There was no friendship between the peoples between the Ingush and Ossetians, there is not and will not be, at least until they finally decide what to do with the ill-fated law "On the rehabilitation of repressed peoples", which contains a "territorial" clause stating that that the Prigorodny district should eventually go to the Ingush. The Constitutional Court spoke about this law in the style of prudent cowardice: the law remains in force, but the redrawing of borders is possible only with the consent of those in whose composition the contested territories are located. That is, the law can be executed only with the consent of the Ossetians.

Moscow did not have the courage to say: "Dear Ingush, go to hell with your long-term expectations of justice, we declare the law invalid and stop rolling your lips." Moscow did not say otherwise: “Dear Ossetians, you are, of course, a stronghold of Russia in the Caucasus, but the region belongs to Ingushetia according to the law, and if you cannot put up with this, then go to hell, we will declare the Ingush a Russian stronghold.”

Probably, after that there would be a crisis, the patient would either survive or die, but there would be at least some clarity. In the meantime, only the forest brings clarity to this issue. The leaders of the Ingush underground call the Vladikavkaz terrorist attack an operation that is a continuation of the jihad against "Ossetian infidels" in the "occupied" Ingush territories. Those who understand the urgency of the issue with the Prigorodny district will not ask after that who is more popular in Ingushetia - Medvedev's viceroy, President Yevkurov, or Doku Umarov's deputy, Amir Adam.