Head of Ingushetia resigns

The head of Ingushetia, a republic in the North Caucasus of the Russian Federation, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept his resignation.

Yevkurov explained his decision by a split among the people of Ingushetia, the Caucasian Knot reports. 

“Let’s take the courage to say that all of us – the government that I represent, the public, religious organizations – are responsible for the fact that today we are divided. Each of us faces a choice – personal interests or interests of the republic […] I made my choice”,  Yevkurov said in a statement.

Yevkurov has been leading Ingushetia since 2008. His resignation has been demanded by opponents of an agreement to exchange lands with Chechnya since 2018.

Protests over territorial redistribution continue in Ingushetia since it became known that an agreement was signed between the leadership of the Ingush and Chechen republics on the administrative border between them. This happened without any public notice and against the background of suspicions that Chechnya would receive more territories than Ingushetia. 

Ingushetia protested for two weeks, but the Constitutional Court of Russia confirmed the legality of the agreement.

Then the protesters went home, but in mid-March, protests resumed. Russian security forces introduced additional units into Ingushetia, up to 40 activists were detained.