Rumours about Umarov's stay in Djeirakh District of Ingushetia are directed against resort project, experts say

The information that the leader of North-Caucasian armed underground Dokku Umarov is hiding somewhere in the Djeirakh District of Ingushetia may be directed at disrupting the resort projects to be implemented in the area, said Ruslan Khautiev, a local political analyst.

"The recent information of media that the rebel leader could get from Ingushetia to Georgia was customized and false data aimed at creating a negative image of the Republic of Ingushetia and at hampering the resort projects to be implemented in the district," said Ruslan Khautiev.

Beslan Tsechoev, a journalist and a member of the Working Group of the Public Chamber of Russia for development of social dialogue and civil society institutions in the Caucasus, sticks to the same opinion.

"Having overcome various obstacles, the head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov managed to reach arrangements about making the Djeirakh District a resort area. After that, the information about the presence of the leader of illegal armed formations (IAFs) in the area appeared," said Tsechoev.

Djeirakh is the only alpine region of Ingushetia. According to Tsechoev, it is the cradle of the Ingush nation. "All the Ingushes originated from there; they have their kin towers in the area. It is an open-air museum, a unique historical and architectural monument, having no prototypes any where in the world," he said.

The Djeirakh District is located in the mountainous part of Ingushetia and occupies the central part of the Main Caucasus Ridge. In the north the district borders on the Ingushetia's Sunzha District; in the north-west – on the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia; in the south – on Georgia, and in the east – on the Chechen Republic. The district has about two hundred architectural monuments and hundreds of revealed monuments of history and archaeology.

The warm, soft and clean climate creates perfect conditions for recreation and tourism.