Azerbaijani community rules out interethnic background of conflict in Murmansk Region

A mass fight, which occurred in the town of Kovdor in the Murmansk Region and during which four persons were injured, has no interethnic background, members of the Azerbaijani community of the Murmansk Region say. The Ombudsperson for the Murmansk Region also believes that the conflict could be caused by a crime or property issues.

On the night of July 4, a mass fight broke out in Kovdor in the Murmansk Region, during which four persons were injured, the TASS reports with reference to the local police. “At 1:20 a.m. Moscow time (on July 4, – note of the “Caucasian Knot”), the duty unit of the Kovdor police department received a message about a conflict between two groups of young people. Police squads immediately arrived at the scene. Eight citizens were brought to the police department for investigation. Four persons were injured during the conflict,” the TASS reported on July 4 with reference to a source.

The Murmansk regional public organization “Cultural Centre Azerbaijan” (CC “Azerbaijan”) notes that the cause of the incident in Kovdor was not of interethnic nature. “According to our information, there was a provocation. In fact, this is a continuation of the events of two years ago, when groups of local guys burned cars of our fellow countrymen and extorted money from them. Our people refuse to pay,” the “Interfax” quoted Afil Guseinov, the chair of the “Cultural Centre Azerbaijan”, as saying.

Mikhail Shilov, Ombudsperson for the Murmansk Region, also believes there are no interethnic conflicts in Kovdor. “I don’t think that the ethnic theme should be covered in any way here, because it’s one thing when people live together for quite a long time, and they don’t have any conflicts, and then someone comes, someone stirs up and takes advantage of the situation. It can occur. However, there are no interethnic conflicts in Kovdor. Perhaps there was is a crime, perhaps people fought for some property or real estate in question. But no ethnic problems arise here, I don’t see anything like that,” the Ombudsperson for the Murmansk Region said as quoted by the “Nord-News” today.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 5, 2022 at 02:41 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.