Chechen authorities politicize blood feud to Timurziev's relatives

Chechen authorities have used the story of declaring a blood feud to relatives of Timurziev brothers and the subsequent reconciliation for their own political purposes, including for criticizing their opponents.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 28, in Grozny, an attack was committed on policemen; and one of them was killed. Relatives of the perished policeman declared a blood feud to the attackers' family; and relatives of the wounded policeman declared enmity to the teips (family clans) of Timurziev and Sultygov. On January 7, 2021, members of the Timurziev-Sultygov teip arrived in Chechnya and made peace with relatives of the killed and wounded policemen.

Ruslan Kutaev, an expert on the Caucasus, has noted that the blood feud procedure cannot be "artificially constructed."

Experts have pointed out that during the reconciliation, Kadyrov's associate Magomed Daudov called on members of the delegation from the Timurziev-Sultygov teip to stop criticizing the head of Chechnya because of the two republics' border agreement. This, in their opinion, evidences that the border issue with Chechnya remains acute in Ingushetia.

Mikhail Roschin, an Orientalist, has also noted that there is still massive discontent in Ingushetia over changes in the border with Chechnya. He has added that the passivity of the Ingush authorities is caused by their unwillingness to conflict with Kadyrov.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 12, 2021 at 04:30 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.