The East Prigorodny conflict, also referred to as the Ossetian–Ingush conflict, was an inter-ethnic conflict within the Russian Federation, in the eastern part of the Prigorodny District in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, which started in 1989 and developed, in 1992, into a brief ethnic war between local Ingush and Ossetian paramilitary forces.
Background
Ethnic processes of the past After the Mongol invasion of Alania and Timur's invasion of Alania in the 13th and 14th centuries, the Ossetians were forced to leave the plains and flee to the mountain gorges, and their former territories were occupied by the Circassians and other peoples.
The oldest Ingush settlements founded in the Prigorodny district (Tarskaya valley) in the 18th century are Angusht (now the village of Tarskoye), from whose name the ethnonym "Ingush" is derived, and Akhki-Yurt.
With the arrival of Russia in the Caucasus, a number of territories inhabited by the Ingush were transferred to the Terek Cossacks. The lands that had previously belonged to the Ingush were given to the Terek Cossacks and a line of Cossack stanitsas was created, dividing plain and mountainous Ingushetia. The Ingush, however, did not accept this state of affairs. Confrontation with the Cossacks continued constantly, even though the tsarist authorities supported the Cossacks.
In 1909, the Nazran okrug was formed for the Ingush people, the capital of which was to be Nazran. However, there was a lack of suitable administrative buildings in the city. Instead, by decree of the State Council and State Duma of February 1913, Vladikavkaz was appointed as the location of the administration until January 1917.
During the Russian Civil War, many Ossetian villages in the Mozdoksky District, the Prigorodny region, near Vladikavkaz were destroyed by the Bolsheviks and the Ingush, which affected Ossetian-Ingush relations.
After the end of the civil war, the Ingush demanded that the Soviet authorities fulfill their promise to return the lands settled by the Cossacks to the Ingush. In connection with the latter, during the formation of the Gorskaya ASSR, a considerable amount of land was returned to the Ingush, while the Terek Cossacks were evicted. Until 1924 the territory of North Ossetia and Ingushetia was part of the Gorskaya ASSR.
On July 7, 1924 the Gorskaya ASSR was abolished and divided into the North Ossetian and Ingush Autonomous Regions and the Sunzhensky District. The city of Vladikavkaz became an independent administrative unit directly subordinated to the Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR, but was the administrative center of both oblasts.
The first territorial dispute between North Ossetian ASSR and Ingush Autonomous Oblast occurred in 1926. Some villages south of Vladikavkaz were transferred to Ingushetia, and the Ossetian population was evicted.
In October 1928, the leadership of the North Caucasus Krai failed to transfer the city of Vladikavkaz into North Ossetian ASSR because of strong objections from the Ingush Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks led by . The transfer would have brought the Ingush irreparable losses as the main industrial enterprises, a hospital, technical schools, educational institutions and many cultural institutions of Ingush Autonomous Oblast were located in Vladikavkaz. On 1 July 1933, after the removal of Zyazikov from the political scene and reprisals against other most stubborn opponents and the Ingush Regional Committee being forced to withdraw its previous objections under pressure, the leadership of the North Caucasusian Krai transferred the city of Vladikavkaz (called from 1931 Ordzhonikidze) into North Ossetian ASSR.
Two historical circumstances are of particular relevance to the prehistory of the conflict. One of them is connected with the Bolshevik experiment of territorialization of ethnicity, the creation of internal administrative formations on an ethnic basis. Having been deprived of Vladikavkaz, the Ingush did not find their capital in Grozny either, which gave rise to a powerful complex of disadvantaged people, especially among the intelligentsia and economic elite of Ingush origin. During the period of industrialization no new city emerged on the territory of Ingushetia that could take on the role of a national center, and the subsequent tragic history of the Ingush did not give them such a chance. That is why the issue of transferring part of Vladikavkaz to house the capital administration of the newly formed republic became one of the most important demands of the radical wing of the Ingush national movement. The second important factor in the modern history of the Ingush, which had a huge impact on the mentality and behavior of this group, was the 1944 deportation. By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 7, 1944, the Chechen-Ingush Republic was liquidated, and all Chechens and Ingush were deported, mainly to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
1944 The Prigorodny District was part of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. Prior to the deportation of the Chechens and Ingush, the population was mostly made up of Ingush (28132 out of 33753). In 1944, with the deportation of the Chechens and Ingush and the abolishment of their ASSR, the district was transferred to North Ossetian ASSR. Soon, on 8 May 1944, the North Ossetian Regional Committee, headed by , replaced the toponymy in the former Chechen and Ingush raions of Chechen-Ingush ASSR. At the same time, the destruction of Chechen and Ingush cemeteries began, the tombstones from which were used for building material, and 25-35 thousand Ossetians from Georgian SSR were resettled to the Prigorodny District.
Between 1944 and 1957, the Prigorodny district was inhabited by Ossetians. The resettlement of Ossetians to the former Ingush lands was also carried out by the authorities against their will and desire. In 1957, when the Ingush were returning from the deportation and their ASSR was restored, they were denied the return to Prigorodny District which remained part of the North Ossetian ASSR. Those who tried to return to their villages faced considerable hostility. Nevertheless, during the Soviet period some Ingush managed to unofficially purchase and occupy their own houses back but they were never recognized as official residents.
The deterioration of relations happened back in 1981. The reason for the deterioration of relations was another murder of an Ossetian taxi driver, 28-year-old resident of Kambileevsky Kazbek Gagloev. He was killed in the Ingush village of Plievo. His funeral actually became an anti-Ingush rally, which caused rallies in Ordzhonikidze in 1981.
During the Soviet period, programs in support of Ingush language and culture in North Ossetian ASSR were totally lacking. The policies of the ASSR limited Ingush residency in the district and hindered their access to plots of land. The internal police and local courts where Ossetians dominated treated the Ingush with prejudice, especially during the state of emergency imposed in Prigorodny in April 1992.
The constant discrimination of the Ingush forced them to organize the where they demanded that the Soviet authorities solve the problem of the Prigorodny District, provide the Ingush with social equality with the Ossetians. Despite the rally being peaceful, held under the slogans of "friendship of peoples", "restoration of Leninist norms" with the order being maintained by the Ingush themselves, they received no response from the authorities and the rally ended in clashes with the police and the condemnation of its most active participants. According to Idris Bazorkin, after the protest, conditions of Ingush in the Prigorodny District improved somewhat. Ingush language appeared in schools, literature in the Ingush language arrived in the region, broadcasts in the Ingush language began on radio and television, for the first time Ingush deputies appeared in the Ordzhonikidze City Executive Committee and the Prigorodny District Executive Committee. However, much remained the same: authorities continued to limit the registration of Ingush in the district, Ingush children couldn't receive a normal education, discrimination in employment continued and Ingush were negatively portrayed in historical and fiction literature.
On November 19, a car from Grozny was detained in North Ossetia for spying on Ministry of Internal Affairs facilities in North Ossetia. Following this, North Ossetian authorities posted several posts on the border with Chechen-Ingushetia to guard against possible militant infiltration into the republic. The tensions increased in early 1991, during the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the Ingush openly declared their rights to the Prigorodny District according to the Soviet law adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on 26 April 1991; in particular, the third and the sixth article on "territorial rehabilitation". The law gave the Ingush legal grounds for their demands, which caused serious turbulence in the region. As the tensions grew throughout 1991, Ossetians harassed the Ingush and a slow exodus of refugees began into Ingushetia.
On 20 October 1992, an Ingush girl was crushed by an Ossetian armored personnel carrier and two days later Ossetian traffic police officers shot and killed two Ingush. After the series of murders of Ingush citizens in the district, Ingush deputies requested on 23–24 October the Supreme Soviet of Russia and its government to send a special commission to the Ossetian-Ingush border zone in order to prevent the impending conflict, but no action was taken. On 24 October the leaders of the Prigorodny District gathered in the village of Yuzhny where they called on all local village councils to declare secession from North Ossetia and entry into Ingushetia in accordance with the law of Russia. In addition, an attempt was made to create Ingush self-defense units. At the end of October, things came to an armed confrontation, with the Ossetian side relying on the support of the Russian army.
Movement of Ingush for the return of Prigorodny district The ideas of "return of lands" and "restoration of historical justice" have been popular among the Ingush since their return from deportation. For the first time, demands to return the Prigorodny district were voiced on January 16–19, 1973, during open speeches by Ingush intellectuals in Grozny.
In the early 1980s, the ethno-political situation in the region sharply escalated. There were riots among the Ossetian population of a number of villages in the Prigorodny district (Oktyabrskoye, Kambileevskoye, Chermen). At crowded meetings there were demands for forced eviction of Ingush from the North Ossetian ASSR; leaflets with threats against Ingush appeared.
Ensuring the rights and cultural needs of the Ingush in North Ossetia, not only in the Prigorodny district but also at the level of the republican center, was poor. The North Ossetian leadership, including members of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, was dominated by the view that no preferences for the Ingush minority in the cultural and linguistic sphere were possible if even the Ossetians themselves did not have them. The Committee on Interethnic Relations under the government also lacked any programs to support the Ingush language and culture in the republic. The Russian language has in fact completely replaced Ossetian and other languages in all the most important spheres of use: from state institutions and the media to education and services. Language Russification in the republic was a much more unpleasant challenge for the Ingush than for the Ossetians.