Chechen refugees: Between Scylla and CharybdisRuslan Isayev, North Caucasus - The deterioration of the situation in Chechnya immediately affects the life in Ingushetia as local authorities immediately tighten border regime between the two republics. Today Ingush force structures were put in more intensive operation as well after rumours recently intensified that Chechen guerilla fighters plan to celebrate August 6 (*) by attacking Grozny. These rumours provoked fears among the local population.
As of yesterday, the number of Chechen refugees who fled from Chechnya has grown. In spite of the allegations by representatives of the command of the Russian forces deployed in the territory of the Chechen Republic that the rumours are groundless, they do not satisfy the locals. People know from their own experience that if the situation deteriorates, no one can guarantee their safety. Therefore many of them are in advance leaving the town for Chechen villages or the neighbouring Ingushetia.
Adam Basnukayev, a resident of Grozny, has for the second time since the start of the war been forced to leave Chechnya. Today he and his family arrived in Ingushetia in one of the tent camps to their relatives. Just two months have passed since he decided to return to Chechnya but the life in constant danger, the boom of criminality and nightly raids by Russian soldiers made him leave his country for an indefinite period. In his opinion, the Chechen capital will become apparently emptier on August 6.
The situation in temporary accomodation facilities where Chechen refugees stay is not better, however. Provocations have become more frequent, especially after the plan for the repatriation of refugees was announced, and worsen the already bad situation. On July 20, a big fight among locals and Chechen refugees took place in Nazran. According to the refugees, the locals called for the deportation of all Chechens from Ingushetia. Only thanks to a quick arrival and intervention of the local police there were not victims of the fight.
In recent days, the staff of Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration started a census of refugees in the tent refugee camp in Sleptsovskaya. Without the necessary authorisation, the staff excluded from the lists some 700 persons, although relevant services of the Russian Interior Ministry recently carried out a re-registration. In the group of the excluded persons there appeared people who at the moment of the census were not present in the territory of the camp, children who did not have a stamp with Russian state symbols in their passport, and people who did not have a second photograph in their passport.
(*) The sixth anniversary of a surprising attack and short-lived recapture of Grozny by Chechen fighters (in 1996). However, over the nearly three years of the current conflict Chechen fighters have never "celebrated" national holidays or anniversaries by a large-scale attack. Prague Watchdog.
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