Daudov’s trip to border with Ingushetia becomes his PR campaign

By his trip to the border with Ingushetia to meet representatives of the Ingush teips, Magomed Daudov tried to strengthen his image in the eyes of his fellow countrymen, suggest Caucasian experts interviewed by the “Caucasian Knot”.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that Magomed Daudov, the speaker of the Chechen parliament, reproached the Ingush Council of Teips for not coming to a meeting with the Chechen delegation on the banks of the Fortanga River on November 21 to resolve the issue of the belonging of the border lands in accordance with Sharia.

To appoint the time and place of the meeting without taking into account the opinion of the invited side does not correspond to the traditions of the Vainakhs, believes Akhmet Yarlykapov, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Caucasus Studies and Regional Security.

According to him, the behaviour of the speaker of the Chechen parliament “looks more like a PR action” organized by the Chechen authorities. “They act as defenders of the interests of all Chechens, and these actions fit into their logic of protecting the interests of their people ... Such actions may result in new tension, rather than in a solution to the problem,” Akhmet Yarlykapov said.

Ethnologist Sergey Arutyunov, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), also doubts the effectiveness of the methods chosen by Magomed Daudov for resolving the border issue. “It is impossible to convince the Ingush people that the border issue has been resolved in a fair way, especially when they are spoken to from a position of strength. The way of solving problems chosen by Magomed Daudov, or rather an attempt to solve problems is doomed to failure. This may result in a new round of tension between the Chechen and Ingush people, who already react with indignation to everything related to the issue of borders,” the ethnologist said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 23, 2021 at 03:41 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.