Russian Interior Ministry set to reinforce law-enforcers in Ingushetia
INGUSHETIA, 17 October, Caucasus Times: Out of all subjects of the Southern Federal District, Ingushetia at the moment is a matter of major concern for the leadership of the Russian Interior Ministry in terms of combating terrorism.
The head of the regional operational headquarters and Russian deputy interior minister, Col-Gen Arkadiy Yedelev, has said that they are concerned about Ingushetia not because of a powerful underground network, but because of inefficiency of the Ingush Interior Ministry.
He informed that a provisional operational group of the Russian Interior Ministry had been set up at the orders of the Ingush interior minister. “The main task of the group is to render assistance to the Ingush Interior Ministry in combating terrorism and organized crime,” Yedelev said.
The head of the regional operational headquarters said that the Ingush law-enforcement bodies had lost their staff in a number of events, including the attack on Nazran on 21-22 June 2004. Some 78 people were killed, including many employees of the Interior Ministry and the
prosecutor’s office, he noted.
At the same time Yedelev said that a dangerous group of bandits is still based on the territory of the republic, hiding as a result of counter-terrorist operations in the North Caucasus. They have been undergoing rehabilitation and treatment on the territory of Ingushetia
after raids on Chechnya.
Speaking about the situation in Kabarda-Balkaria, Yedelev, in particular, noted that a danger of manifestations of extremism and terrorism on the territory of the republic is still existing as the ringleaders of the underground gang of Kabarda-Balkaria, Astemirov and Mukozhev, are still at
large.
Mukozhev through internet sites has been addressing “Muslims by making obscure appeals and calling for jihad”, Yedelev said.
“People like Astemirov have relations with intelligence agencies of different countries cherishing an idea of a blitzkrieg on South Ossetia and Abkhazia, an idea of escalation of armed confrontation on our territory to achieve that part of militants, who are fighting today for liberation of Iraq, penetrate our territory,” Yedelev said.