21:59, 1 May 2019

Dagestani villagers tell about mass passport checks

Military vehicles arrived in the village of Terechny in Dagestan. Photo: screenshot of the post on the "Sprosite u Rasula" ("Ask Rasul") account on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ask.rasul/?hl=en

On April 30, Dagestani law enforcers were massively examining passports of the residents of the village of Terechny. The participation in the action of a large number of law enforcers caused discontent among the villagers, who compared the checks with a special operation, a local resident has stated.

"Police vehicles arrived; they surrounded the village, saying that they were checking passports. They visit all the houses, check passports, find out how many people live there, and take phone numbers," said a resident of Terechny, adding that "a week ago" similar checks were held in the neighbouring village of Aksai.

For several days, law enforcers used to conduct rounds of houses in the village of Khuchni, Tabasaran District, an Instagram user has reported in the page of the "Caucasian Knot" on this social network. "For several days already, they have been going around the houses of those who, in their opinion, are Salafis ... or God knows under what other pretext," he said, adding that "prior to the special operation, a column of about 50 special vehicles" arrived in the village.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 1, 2019 at 02:01 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.