The violence in Ingushetia - III

Prague Watchdog's Umalt Chadayev has some background - including interviews with residents - on the continuing violence in Ingushetia, where in the past two weeks alone there have been no fewer than ten attacks on policemen, military convoys, checkpoints and Russian federal bases. Excerpt [my tr.]:

"I think our republic has been chosen as the next ‘hot spot’ in the North Caucasus,” says Bekkhan, a 40-year-old Ingushetian resident. “Chechnya had its turn, then there was Dagestan in 1999, and now it’s us. There’s a lot of talk and argument about who is doing all this and who benefits, but I think it’s wrong to put all the blame for the worsening situation on semi-mythical guerrillas. There are other forces that want to launch a bloodbath here,“ he thinks. "I’m more inclined to believe that what’s going on is related to the upcoming elections in Russia. Someone is very eager to have a stable source of tension here in the Caucasus."