The Media Mirror – Today's Russian press review

Recent terrorist attacks in Ingushetia, a Caucasus republic bordering Chechnya and Northern Ossetia, are discussed in the pages of the Russian press.

Vremya Novostei, says that if the reports of peaceful reconstruction in Chechnya are mostly true, the assurances of the unshakeable stability in Ingushetia cause serious doubts. Ingushetia can no more be called peaceful in the true sense.

The situation causes many experts to start thinking along the lines of re-uniting Chechnya and Ingushetia in one republic, writes the paper. In that case the firm but fair rule of Ramzan Kadyrov would spread into Ingushetia and solve the problems.

In Soviet times, says the paper, the two closely related ethnic groups shared an autonomous republic. In the post-Soviet period the Ingush people, unlike the Chechens, maintained loyalty to the central government.

Izvestia writes on Wednesday that Ingushetia has never had a separatist movement of its own. Likewise, fundamental Islam of the militant kind failed to develop there to a level comparable with Chechnya. Some Ingush militants did fight in the first Chechen war. But they fought for another man’s cause.

Anti-government actions in Ingushetia, continues the article, are mainly caused by the frustration of the populace with the lack of effectiveness of the republic’s government. The administration, says the paper, has failed to provide fair governance and the rule of law.

Meanwhile the President of Ingushetia and well-known author Murat Ziazikov says in the same issue of Izvestia that the situation in the republic is stable and there is nothing to worry about.

Vremya Novostei reports that three representatives of Al Qaeda are rumored to have entered the republic with vast funds. They are paying young militants up to $US 5000 for one raid.

Izvestia says only firm governance, maybe even direct rule from Moscow, can save the situation.

Monday’s Komsomolskaya Pravda has an interview with Ramzan Kadyrov, the President of Chechnya. He says:

“In Ingushetia, like here, they should take the masks off the faces of special forces’ soldiers. Let the militants fear us. We don’t fear them. Come the order from the Commander-in-Chief, we’ll clean Ingushetia up in no time. But there’s been no order so far. Murat (the Ingush President) is my brother. I’ll help him when he needs it.”

This statement is illustrated with the photo of Ramzan Kadyrov and Murat Ziazikov dancing the Lezginka, the ancient dance of Caucasus warriors.