Political analysts warn of threat of conflicts around the Chechen borders

It is unlikely that the process of fixing Chechnya's borders with the Stavropol Territory and North Ossetia will pass without disputes, and could create grounds for acute interethnic conflicts, the political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" assert.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Rosreestr (Russian Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography) demanded to clarify all the 25 borders between the regions of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) and enter the data into the Unified State Register of Real Estate until 2021.

The process of fixing the Chechen-Stavropol Territory border will not go without disputes, even in the absence of interethnic conflicts and territorial claims, Yuri Efimov, a conflict expert and a Professor at the Stavropol State University, believes.

Professor Efimov links the regional border issue with the fact that the resonant Ingush-Chechen territorial dispute has remained unresolved. He believes that the land issue in the Caucasus is a knowingly conflict-prone topic.

It is impossible to define the border by non-public cadastral registration, since the Ingushes-Chechens border dispute has already attracted public attention, the professor believes. He is confident that the process of fixing the Chechen-Stavropol Territory border will be accompanied by discontent.

The issues of fixing borders of North-Caucasian regions is a serious problem; no simple and unambiguous solutions for it exist, says Yulia Usova, a Doctor of Political Sciences, a Professor at the Pyatigorsk State University, and an expert on North Ossetia and Kabardino-Balkaria.

"The problem should be approached in cold blood and carefully, based on historical facts and with account of the modern realities. It is important to avoid excessive politicization, as it happens in relation to the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia. In this case, any non-public, bureaucratic cadastral registration is impossible," the Professor told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Raising the regional border issues threatens with the aggravation of frozen interethnic conflicts; and this threat is particularly high in Northern Caucasus, said Arthur Biazrov, a Candidate of Political Sciences.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 1, 2019 at 02:49 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.