Residents of Dagestan threaten to hold protests against changing border with Chechnya

The transfer to Chechnya of territories of Dagestan will cause discontent among the republic's residents, experts have suggested. Residents of Dagestan have confirmed that they are ready to protests, if the issue arises of changing the republic's border.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 6, the head of Dagestan, Vladimir Vasiliev, announced plans to discuss the republic's borders with the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. He promised to take into account the opinion of residents of Dagestan when considering the border issues.

Eduard Urazaev, a political analyst, did not rule out that the borders would be changed. If after the revision of borders, large areas of land are affected, this will affect the interests of many residents and may cause acute discontent, same as in Ingushetia, he believes.

Milrad Fatullaev, the editor-in-chief of the RIA "Derbent, has suggested that the Chechen authorities are considering a possibility of obtaining a part of the territory of Dagestan, for example, Lake Kezenoi-Am and some areas of the forest fund of the Botlikh District.

The transfer of part of the territory of Dagestan to Chechnya will provoke protests in the republic, said Shamil, a resident of Makhachkala. He named the events in Leninaul as a vivid example of what is the result of interethnic tensions.

In his turn, Ruslan Magomedov, another resident of Makhachkala, is sure that the transfer of territories of Dagestan to Chechnya will not trigger mass protests, like in Ingushetia, because the society in Dagestan is insufficiently consolidated.