Magas/Agency Caucasus – Ingush President Murat Zyazikov raised an objection at a press conference on Sunday, which was far louder than ever, to the idea of Ingushetiya rejoining Chechnya.
"The Ingush people aren’t thinking of separating from Russia. The Ingush people have separated [from Chechnya] for good, so have the Chechen people. After all, the peoples of both countries now feel tired of all the experiments," Zyazikov said of proposals from Chechnya to get the two republics join together.
The idea of a joint republic is now a thing in the past, the Ingush leader argued. "But, the peoples of Ingushetiya and Chechnya have always been brothers and sisters, and so will they remain," he added anyway.
"The fact is that anybody who has kept raising this issue over and over again, whether willingly or not, and whether consciously or not, could do so because they lack experience in politics and suffer from philistinism," Zyazikov said. He accused anonymous forces who have neglected the interests of the peoples of Ingushetiya and Chechnya of spreading rumours about the two countries being likely to join together again. "In fact, they are far away from the Caucasus, too."
Zyazikov also opposed the argument that the Ingush people sought separation from Russia because its federal forces messed up the public peace in Ingushetiya. "The Ingush people have already made their choice in favour of the Russian Federation. The choice was actually made by our wise ancestors 220 years ago. The Ingush people have always allied with Russia. We have not had any other allies, and we will not have," he said.
ÖZ/FT
