IS A CHECHEN-INGUSH REPUBLIC IN THE (RE)MAKING?

Is there a plan afoot to recombine Chechnya and Ingushetia into a single republic? The former president of Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, who is now a member of the Russian Federation Council, “expressed himself categorically against the idea of the deputy of the State Duma Aslambek Aslakhanov, who proposed that a single Chechen-Ingush republic be reestablished” (Interfax, January 29). On February 1, an influential pro-Putin website, Strana.ru, reported that Nikolai Britvin, who is an ethnic Russian, had been removed as deputy Russian plenipotentiary presidential representative in the Southern Federal District and had been replaced by FSB Major General Murat Zyazikov, an ethnic Ingush, who “the day before declared his wish to stand for the elected post of president of Ingushetia” (Strana.ru, February 1). Perhaps Zyazikov and his backers also have their eyes on Chechnya?