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Ingushetia, officially the Republic of Ingushetia, is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. The republic is part of the North Caucasian Federal District, and shares land borders with the country of Georgia to its south; and borders the Russian republics of North Ossetia–Alania and Chechnya to its east and west; while having a border with Stavropol Krai to its north. Its capital is the town of Magas, while the largest city is Nazran. At 3,628 square km, in terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's federal subjects. It was established on June 4, 1992, after the Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was split in two. The republic is home to the indigenous Ingush, a people of Nakh ancestry. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 412,529. According to an alternative estimate there were no more than 330,000 people in Ingushetia in 2021. Largely due to the insurgency in the North Caucasus, Ingushetia remains one of the poorest and most unstable regions of Russia. Although the violence has died down in recent years, the insurgency in neighboring Chechnya has occasionally spilled into Ingushetia. According to Human Rights Watch in 2008, the republic has been destabilized by corruption, a number of high-profile crimes (including kidnapping and murder of civilians by government security forces), anti-government protests, attacks on soldiers and officers, Russian military excesses and a deteriorating human rights situation.[1] According to Russian media, Ingushetia has the lowest alcohol consumption in Russia. [edit] Military history of Ingushetia
[edit] History
[edit] Prehistory
[edit] Ingushetia in Caucasian War and part of Terek Cossacks OkrugIn XVIII century Ingush were mostly pagan and Christian with some Muslim minority. Beginning 1588 some Chechen societies joined Russia. In 1785 Chechen leader Sheikh Mansur starts the rebellion against Russia. He gathers his Chechen and Dagestani forces and because of the fear of looting of his own villages from his standing army he orders the attack against Ingush Karabulak settlements. However, the Ingush defeated Mansur and he is forced to retreat. Russian historians claim that the Ingush volunteered to become a part of Russia. This conclusion is based mostly on the document signed on 13 June 1810, by General-Major Delpotso and representatives of 2 Ingush clans. Other clans resisted the Russian conquest. In 1811 Russian envoy of a German origin Moritz von Engelhardt at czar's request visited mountainous Ingushetia and offered Ingush people to join Russia promising many benefits from czar. The representative of the Ingush people rejected the proposal with the reply: "Above my hat I see only sky". This encounter later will be used by Goethe in his "Freisinn" On June 29, 1832, Russian baron Rozen reported in letter No.42 to count Chernishev that "on the 23rd of this month I exterminated eight Ghalghai (Ingush) villages. On the 24th I exterminated nine more villages near Targim." By November 12, 1836 (letter no.560, he was claiming that highlanders of Dzheirkah, Kist, and Ghalghai had been temporarily conquered. In 1829 Imam Shamil starts the rebellion against Russia. He conquers Dagestan, Chechnya and then attacks Ingushetia hoping to convert Ingush people into Islam thus gaining strategic ally. Ingush defeated Imam Shamil forces then and later in 1858 when he tried again two more times to capture Ingushetia. Locked in warfare with two strong opponents and their allies, Ingush forces were decimated. According to Russian officer Fedor Tornau who fought the Ingush with the aid of Ossetian allies, at most Ingush had only six hundred warriors. However, the Russian conquest in Ingushetia was extremely difficult and the Russian forces began to rely on the method of colonization: extermination of the local population and repopulation of the area with Cossack and Ossetian loyalists. Colonization of Ingush land by Russians and Ossetians started in the middle of the 19th century. Russian General Evdokimov and Ossetian colonel Kundukhov in 'Opis no. 436' "gladly reported" that "the result of colonization of Ingush land was successful":
After multiple losses of Imam Shamil at the end of Caucasian War, Russians and Chechens unify their forces. Former Chechen rebels and their men join Russian ranks. 3 November 1858 General Evdokimov ordered (order N1896) a former rebel commander naib Saib-Dulla Gekhinski (Saadulla Ospanov) of Chechnya to attack and destroy Ingush settlements near Assa and Fortanga rivers: Dattikh, Meredzhi, Aseri, Shagot-Koch and others. After the losses, the remaining Ingush clans resorted mostly to underground resistance.[4] The Russians built the fortress Vladikavkaz ("ruler of the Caucasus") on the place of Ingush village of Zaur. Russian General Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov wrote in a letter to the Tsar of Russia, "It would be a grave mistake for Russia to alienate such a militaristic nation as the Ingush." He suggested the separation of the Ingush and Chechens in order for Russia to win the war in the Caucasus. In another letter from General Ermolov to Lanski (dated 12 January 1827) on the impossibility of forceful Christianization of the Ingush, Yermolov wrote: "This nation, the most courageous and militaristic among all the highlanders, cannot be allowed to be alienated..." The last organized rebellion (the so-called "Nazran insurrection") in Ingushetia occurred in 1858 when 5,000 Ingush started a fight but lost to superior Russian forces. The rebellion signaled the end of the First Russo-Caucasian War. In the same year, the Russian Tsar encouraged the emigration of Ingush and Chechens to Turkey and the Middle East by claiming that "Muslims need to live under Muslim rulers". It seems that he wanted to liberate the land for Ossetians and Cossacks. Some Ingush became exiled to deserted territory in the Middle East where many of them died. The remainder were assimilated. It was estimated that 80% of the Ingush left Ingushetia for the Middle East in 1865. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Soviets promised the Ingush that the villages and towns annexed during the colonization would be returned to the Ingush. Ingushetia becomes a major battleground between the old archenemies: general Denikin and Ingush resistance fighters. In his memoirs, general Denikin writes: "Ingush people are the least numerous, most welded, and strongly martial organization. They were, in essence, the supreme arbiter of the North Caucasus. The moral of the appearance was defined long ago in Russian text-books of geography, "the chief occupation – animal husbandry and robbery ..." The last one of the two reached special art in the society. Political aspirations came from the same trend. The Ingush are mercenaries of the Soviet regime, they support it but don’t let the spread of it in their province. At the same time, they tried to strike up relations with Turkey and sought the assistance from the Turks from Elisavetpol, and Germany – from Tiflis. In August, when the Cossacks and Ossetians captured Vladikavkaz, the Ingush intervened and saved the Soviet Board of Commissioners of Terek, but sacked the city and captured the state bank and mint. They robbed all the neighbors: the Cossacks and Ossetians in the name of “correcting historical errors” for a shortage of land, the Bolsheviks – in return for their services, Vladikavkaz citizens – for their helplessness, and the Kabardins – just out of habit. They were hated by everyone, and they did their “craft” in unison, well organized, in a big way, becoming the richest tribe in the Caucasus.” [edit] Ingushetia at part of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern CaucasusOn December 21, 1917 Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan declared independence from Russia and formed a single state called the "United Mountain Dwellers of the North Caucasus" (also known as Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus), which was recognized by Central Powers (Germany, Austro-Hungary and Turkey), Georgia, and Azerbaijan (which declared their independence from Russia in 1918) as an independent state. For example, Anna Zelkina writes that in May 1918 the first country to recognize independence was Turkey: Later Germany and others followed the recognition. According to P. Kosok:
The capital of the new state was moved to Temir-Khan-Shura (Dagestan). The first prime minister of the state was elected Tapa Chermoyev, a Chechen prominent statesman; the second prime minister was Ingush statesman Vassan-Girey Dzhabagiev who also was the author of the Constitution of the land in 1917. In 1920 he was reelected for a third term. In 1921 Russians attacked and occupied the country and forcefully merged it with the Soviet state. The Caucasian war for independence continued and the government went into exile. [edit] Ingushetia as Part of Chechen-Ingush ASSRCossack General Andrei Shkuro in his book writes: The Soviets confiscated the remaining Ingush properties by collectivization and dekulakization and unified Chechnya and Ingushetia into Chechen-Ingush ASSR. During World War II Ingush youth were drafted into the Russian army. In August 1942 Nazi German forces captured half of the North Caucasus within thirty-three days moving from Rostov-On-Don to Mozdok 560 km or almost 17 km per day (see Battle of the Caucasus). From Mozdok to Malgobek same thirty three days, 20 km the German forces moved roughly 600 meters per day and were stopped only at Ordzhonikidze (modern-day Vladikavkaz) and Malgobek which were mostly populated by Ingush before the genocide of 23 February 1944. The fighting for the Malgobek was so intense that the small town was captured and recaptured four times until the Germans finally retreated. According to the Soviet military newspaper Red Star, after receiving the news about German brutality toward civilians in Kabardino-Balkaria, Ingush people declare Jihad(Gazavat) against Germans. Stalin planned the expansion of the USSR in the south through Turkey. Muslim Chechens and Ingush could become a threat to the expansion. In February 1944 near the end of World War II, Russian Army and NKVD units flooded the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. The maneuvers were disguised as military exercises of the southern district. [edit] Genocide of 1944During World War II, in 1942 German forces entered the North Caucasus. For three weeks Germans captured over half of the North Caucasus. They were only stopped at two Chechen-Ingush cities: Malgobek and Ordzhonikidze (a.k.a. "Vladikavkaz") by heroic resistance of natives of Chechen-Ingush ASSR. Soviet propaganda portrayed Chechens and Ingush as "traitors". On 23 February 1944, Ingush and Chechens were falsely accused of collaborating with the Nazis, and the entire Ingush and Chechen populations were deported to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Siberia in Operation Lentil, on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, while the majority of their men were fighting on the front. The initial phase of the deportation was carried out on American-supplied Studebaker trucks specifically modified with three submachine gun-nest compartments above the deported to prevent escapes. American historian Norman Naimark writes: The deportees were gathered on the railroad stations and during the second phase transferred to the cattle railroad carts. Up to 30% of the population perished during the journey or in the first year of the exile. The Prague Watchdog claims that "in the early years of their exile about half of the Chechens and Ingush died from hunger, cold and disease". The deportation was classified by the European Parliament in 2004 as genocide. After the deportation Ingush resistance against Soviets rises again. Those who escaped the deportation, shepherds who were high in the mountains during the deportation combine forces and form rebel groups which constantly attack Russian forces in Ingushetia. Major rebel groups were led by Akhmed Khuchbarov, Tsitskiev brothers, and Ingush woman-sniper Laisat Baisarova. The last one of the male Ingush rebels was killed in 1977 by the KGB officers, while the female sniper Laisat Baisarova was never captured or killed. American professor Johanna Nichols, who specializes in Chechen and Ingush philology, provided the theory behind the deportation: [edit] After the return from Central AsiaAfter 13 years of exile, the Ingush were allowed to return to Chechen-Ingushetia (but not to Ordzhonikidze a.k.a. "Vladikavkaz" or the Prigorodny District). Most of Ingushetia's territory had been settled by Ossetians and part of the region had been transferred to North Ossetia. The returning Ingush faced considerable animosity from the Ossetians. The Ingush were forced to buy their homes back from the Ossetians and Russians. These hardships and injustices led to a peaceful Ingush protest in Grozny on 16 January 1973, which was crushed by the Soviet troops In 1989, the Ingush were officially rehabilitated along with other peoples that had been subjected to repressions. [edit] Ingushetia as Part of the Russian Federation, post-Soviet periodIn 1991, when the Chechens declared independence from the Soviet Union to form the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, the Ingush chose to secede from the Chechen-Ingush Republic. Thus, in 1992 the Ingush joined the newly created Russian Federation to try to resolve the conflict with Ossetia peacefully, also in the hope that the Russians would return their land as a token of their loyalty. [edit] Ethnic cleansing of 1992However, ethnic tensions in North Ossetia which were orchestrated by Ossetian nationalists (per Helsinki Human Right Watch), led to an outbreak of violence in the Ossetian–Ingush conflict in October–November 1992, when another ethnic cleansing of the Ingush population started. According to media reports, Ingush hostages were held in 1992 in Beslan high school gymnasium. The hostages were all kept in the same gymnasium, and deprived of food and water; at least one newborn, and several dozen male Ingush hostages were executed. In a possible retaliation in 2004, Chechen and Ingush militants took over 500 Osset hostages in Beslan high-school. It was the same building where Ossetian militants had held hundreds of Ingush hostages in 1992). Over 60,000 Ingush civilians were forced from their homes in the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia.[4] As a result of the conflict, pro-Russian general Ruslan Aushev, a decorated war hero from the War in Afghanistan, was appointed by the Russian government as the first president of Ingushetia to stop the spread of the conflict. Partial stability returned under his rule. [edit] First and Second Chechen WarsIn 1994, when the First Chechen War started, the number of refugees in Ingushetia from both conflicts doubled. According to the UN, for every citizen of Ingushetia, one refugee arrived from Ossetia or Chechnya. This influx was very problematic for the economy, which collapsed after Aushev's success. The second Russo-Chechen war which started in 1999 brought more refugees (at some point there was one refugee for every Ingush citizen: 240,000 from Chechnya plus 60,000 from North Ossetia at the peak in 2000) and misery to Ingushetia. In 2001, Aushev was forced to leave his presidency and was succeeded by Murat Zyazikov, a former KGB general. The situation worsened under his rule. Many young Ingush men were abducted by Russian and Ossetian death squads. according to Human rights watchdogs Memorial and Mashr. The Ingush mountains are closed for Ingush nationals. The number of rebel attacks in Ingushetia rose, especially after the number of Russian security forces was tripled. For example, according to a Russian news agency a murder of an ethnic-Russian school teacher in Ingushetia was committed by two ethnic-Russian and ethnic-Ossetian soldiers; Issa Merzhoev the Ingush Police detective who solved the crime was shot at and killed by "unknown" assailants shortly after he had identified the murderer. At least four people were injured when a vehicle exploded on 24 March 2008. An upsurge in violence in these months targeted local police officers and security forces. In January 2008, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation launched a "counter-terrorism" operation in Ingushetia after receiving information that insurgents had been preparing a series of attacks. In the beginning of August 2008, the war between Georgia and South Ossetia broke out, in which the Russian Federation subsequently became involved. After the outbreak of the war, there were virtually no more attacks or abductions of Ingush civilians by "unknown" forces. Most of the Russian forces were transferred to North and South Ossetia 31 August 2008 Magomed Yevloyev, the head of Ingush opposition and the owner of the website ingushetiya.ru, was killed by Russian security forces Shortly before the unrecognised opposition group People's Parliament of Ingushetia Mekhk-Kkhel called for the recognition of the Russian semi-autonomous republic's independence, opposition activist Magomed Khazbiyev proclaimed, "We must ask Europe or America to separate us from Russia." On October 18, 2008, a Russian military convoy came under grenade attack and machine gun fire near Nazran. Official Russian reports of the ambush, which has been blamed on local Muslim separatists, said two soldiers were killed and at least seven injured. Reports from Ingush opposition sources suggested as many as forty to fifty Russian soldiers were killed. On October 30, 2008, Zyazikov was dismissed from his office (he himself claimed he resigned voluntarily). On the next day, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was nominated by Dmitry Medvedev and approved as President by the People's Assembly of Ingushetia (later the title President was renamed to Head). This move was endorsed by major Russian political parties and by the Ingush opposition. Under the current rule of Yevkurov, Ingushetia seems much calmer, showing some semblance of the Russian government. Attacks on policemen have fallen by 40% and abductions by 80%. [edit] Military historyAccording to professor Johanna Nichols, in all the recorded history and reconstructable prehistory, the Ingush people have never undertaken battle except in defense.[4] In the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC Pharnavaz, his son Saurmag the Iberian kings, and the relatives of Ingush people per Leonti Mroveli, received military assistance from Ingush people in defense of Iberia against the Kartli occupation. During World War I, 500 cavalrymen from an Ingush regiment of the Wild Division attacked the German Iron Division. The Russian Emperor Nicholas II, assessing the performance of the Ingush and Chechen regiments during the Brusilov breakthrough on the Russian-German front in 1915 wrote in a telegram to the Governor-General of the Tersky region Fleisher:
In 1941, when Germans attacked the USSR, the whole Russian front was retreating 40 km a day. Out of 6,500 defenders of Brest Fortress, 6,000 Soviet troops capitulated. 500 troops were fresh conscripts of Ingush and Chechen origin. Defenders held the fortress for over a month against the Germans and even managed to stage several attacks from the Fortress. The last defender's name has been unknown for a long time; his documents identified him as a man called Barkhanoyev. Decades later, official records revealed it was Umatgirei Barkhanoyev from the Ingush village of Yandare. Recently, the memoirs of Stankus Antanas, a Lithuanian national and former Waffen SS officer, were published in Ingushetia. He recalls that in July 1941, his regiment was ordered to "finish off" the remaining Soviet soldiers in the fortress. When the Nazis decided that no defenders had been left alive, an SS general lined up his soldiers on the parade ground to award them with decorations for capturing the fortress. Then, a Red Army officer came out from the fortress's underground bunker:
In 1994–96 Ingush volunteers fought alongside Chechens in the First Chechen War. Aside from a few incidents (including the killings of Ingush civilians by Russian soldiers), Ingushetia was largely kept out of the war by a determined policy of non-violence pursued by President Ruslan Aushev.[4] This changed after the beginning of the Second Chechen War, and especially since Murat Zyazikov became the second Russian appointed president of Ingushetia in 2002. The first major rebel attack of the conflict, in which a military convoy was destroyed occurred in May 2000 and caused the deaths of 19 soldiers. In the June 2004 Nazran raid, Chechen and Ingush rebels attacked government buildings and military bases across Ingushetia, resulting in the deaths of at least 90 Ingush people and an unknown number of Russian troops. Among them the Republic's acting interior minister Abukar Kostoyev, his deputy Zyaudin Kotiyev. In response to a sharp escalation in attacks by insurgents since the summer of 2007, Moscow sent in an additional 25,000 MVD and FSB troops, tripling the number of special forces in Ingushetia. [edit] Civil disorder
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