Contradictory data on CTO in Ingushetia raises doubts in law enforcers' version

Members of the Ingush sports community would not believe in the involvement of Muslim Evloev, a freestyle wrestler, in the armed underground, a source from the republic's Ministry of Sports said. Law enforcers' official versions of the counterterrorist operation (CTO) inspire no confidence, Izabella Evloeva, a journalist, has noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that starting from the evening on August 6, a counterterrorist operation (CTO) was underway in Nazran and the village of Sagopshi in the Malgobek District of Ingushetia. A source from the law enforcement bodies mentioned two killed militants and one detained person. Meanwhile, sources from the sports circles of Ingushetia reported that one of the killed suspects was identified as Muslim Yevloev, an Asian freestyle wrestling champion. Later, law enforcement sources informed that the information about Evloev's murder was untrue; and he fled from law enforcers.

The Ingush sports community describes Muslim Evloev as a calm and decent person. "I haven't met a person who could say anything bad about him. He is a very modest and decent guy. I don't believe that he could have been involved in anything illegal," a source from the Ingush Ministry of Sports told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on condition of anonymity.

There may be some members of the armed underground in Ingushetia, but the repeated law enforcers' version that the militants refused to surrender is not credible, said Izabella Evloeva, the editor-in-chief of the "Fortanga" edition.

"If militants are hiding in some building; and law enforcers know from their experience that they won't surrender; however, again and again they try to detain them in the house and not on the way to the store, for example, or in the same gym, it looks at least strange or even stupid. It means that there is no aim to take them alive, to investigate the case and to disclose the entire network, but the aim is just to liquidate them," Ms Evloeva told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 8, 2020 at 01:06 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.