Chechen refugees leaving Ingushetia

The tragic events in Ingushetia on the night of June 22 have resulted in a new wave of actions against refugees from Chechnya living there. After the action of law enforcement / security agencies in the temporary accommodation point in Altievo, Nazran district, Ingushetia, this camp where more than one thousand people lived has practically become completely deserted. Not more than fifty out of the one hundred and fifty families that lived in the temporary accommodation point on the dairy farm in Nasyr-Kort (a Nazran suburb) still stay there. A similar situation can be found practically in all compact residence places of refugees from Chechnya throughout Ingushetia. Moreover, officers of migration services and representatives of local law enforcement agencies openly threaten people and demand that they should leave the republic without delay. Simultaneously, local heads of administration and the elders of a number of communities have become involved in the process of forcibly ousting internally displaced people from Ingushetia.

In spite that neither officers of law enforcement and security agencies nor local authorities have presently any information confirming that Chechens were involved in the June 22 events, the idea is constantly imposed on residents of the republic that refugees from Chechnya are to blame for everything. Practically every day, television shows items in which what happened is interpreted as an invasion from the outside and the idea about "evil brought to the republic from the outside" is especially emphasized. In the opinion of many internally displaced people, federal and local authorities are openly making use of the tragedy that occurred in Ingushetia to evict thousands of refugees back to Chechnya.