Authorities ignore needs of Dagestani villagers when fixing border with Chechnya

The village of Novomonastyrskoye, Kizlyar District of Dagestan, the disputed area next to which Chechnya registered as its own, was not visited by the commission on border demarcation between the republics; and no meetings on this issue were held, local residents have reported. They complained about the acute shortage of pastures; therefore, they have to pay Chechens for grazing cows in their territory.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 16, 2019, Chechnya unilaterally registered a disputed piece of land on the border with the Kizlyar District of Dagestan as its own territory.

On April 12, Shakhban Saidov, the head of the rural council of "Novokokhanovsky", which includes Novomonastyrskoye village, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that no lands near the village were transferred to Chechnya. "Nobody has transferred any lands; and nobody signed any documents," Mr Saidov has stated.

He has added that the land issue is a key conflict factor. According to his version, the Novomonastyrskoye villagers have about 1600 head of cattle, and the total pasture area is 300-400 hectares. "There's a catastrophic shortage of pastures. Villagers collect 500 roubles per cow and pay Chechens for the pastures in their territory ... and graze cattle there," Mr Saidov has explained.

On April 12, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent himself visited the village, where local residents also spoke about the lack of pastures and the need to pay Chechens for grazing cattle.

Every year, local residents are forced to graze their cattle in Chechen territories, by paying 500 roubles for each head of cattle, a local resident, Shakhban, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Regarding the accession of border lands to the territory of Chechnya, he explained that there were no meetings with the discussion of the issue in the village.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 13, 2019 at 05:23 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.