Ingush authorities distance themselves from creating national park on border with Chechnya

After the statement by the Russian Minister of Natural Resources about receiving documents from the Ingush side concerning creation of the Daimokkh Park, Magomed Evloev, Deputy Prime Minister of Ingushetia, has explained the republic’s authorities still do not support the idea of creating a park on the border with Chechnya and has only signed a roadmap for its creation.

In 2018, a third of the Erzi State Nature Reserve ended up on the territory of Chechnya as a result of the demarcation of the border between the two republics, which ran along the Fortanga River. The Chechen side plans to create its own Daimokkh Nature Reserve on the territory. This idea is opposed by Magomed Evloev, Minister of Natural Resources of Ingushetia.

Changing the territory of the Erzi State Nature Reserve in Ingushetia in favour of the Daimokkh Nature Reserve being created in Chechnya is not possible, Magomed Evloev has announced. According to the Ingush Minister of Natural Resources, there is no extra land in Ingushetia to compensate for the loss.

In November 2021, Magomed Evloev opposed plans to transfer part of the Erzi State Nature Reserve to Chechnya. The Ingush Minister pointed to the “extremely high level of protest moods of citizens in matters of the land fund,” the publication “Fortanga.org” reported.

The Kremlin will not allow the conflict between Ingushetia and Chechnya to escalate over works on the Fortanga River, but such incidents can wake up a “dormant protest” in Ingushetia. This opinion has been expressed by Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, human rights defender Timur Akiev, and political analyst Alexei Malashenko.