A column of horsemen from Chechnya was stopped in Dagestan while they were going to the grave of a Chechen commander. The police considered it an uncoordinated action

On April 3, in the Novolaksky District of Dagestan, police stopped 29 Chechen residents on horseback who were heading to the grave of the 19th-century Chechen commander Baysangur Benoevsky in the village of Yaryk-Su. This was reported to Interfax by the press service of the Novolaksky District administration.

Earlier, a video of a group of horsemen with Chechen flags was spread on social networks. One of them, riding up to a group of men, asks what position one of them holds. Upon hearing the answer, he loudly says: "Chief of the criminal investigation department, deal with illegal actions, acts committed against the law! The head of the administration of this district will coordinate! If you were the head of the district administration, I would understand you."

In a conversation with RIA Novosti, a representative of the Novolaksky District administration said that the horseback riding trip had not been coordinated with either the district administration or the police. "Law enforcement officers conveyed this information to the participants of the trip, after which they dispersed," the RIA Novosti source said. He added that there were no conflicts between the riders and the police.

An Interfax source explained that residents of Chechnya visit Benoyevsky's grave every year 10 days before the start of the holy month of Ramadan. "This time, residents of Chechnya were not refused the opportunity to visit their fellow countryman's grave either. They were only asked to do so in groups of several people, rather than in a huge crowd," the source explained.

• The "Caucasian Knot" notes that the incident took place on the lands of the former Aukhovsky District, where the Chechens of Aukh lived. In 1944, they were evicted, and the district was renamed, reduced in size, and settled there by representatives of other peoples. Since the late 1980s, the Chechens of Dagestan have been seeking the restoration of the Aukhovsky District in its former borders and the resettlement of the Laks and Avars from it.
• A source for the Pod'em publication in the Dagestan Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that the horseback riding expedition was not connected with territorial disputes.