Russian politician: Chechnya and Ingushetia on brink of war
The conflict between the Russian republics of Ingushetia and Chechnya, which arose due to the establishment of administrative borders between the regions, could escalate into a war, but the Russian government is turning a blind eye to the situation, said Leonid Gozman, president of the Union of Right Forces political movement, in a blog on the Echo of Moscow radio station.
According to Gozman, thousands of people have amassed in Magas, the capital of Ingushetia, to protest against the handing over of territory to Chechnya. The protesters are also supported by the local police, who have given the brush-off to the Kremlin’s appointee, General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov.
The politician drew attention to the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not cut short his visit to India in order to resolve the conflict in Ingushetia: “Can you imagine a US president taking part in negotiations somewhere while the governor of Louisiana was threatening to go to war with Texas?”
Gozman says that the Russian government is ignoring a conflict which could turn into a war at any moment. There is no information on it even on the federal TV channels – which he says focus only on Poroshenko, Russophobia, and England’s age-old agenda against Moscow.
At the end of September, the leaders of Chechnya and Ingushetia signed an agreement which established a clear border between the two Russian subjects, something which has not existed since the collapse of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991.
The signing of the agreement has sparked mass protests in Ingushetia.