Magomed Evloev was a purely secular and modernly thinking young man, who waged probably the most effective kind of war, informational one, against the local authority (Ingush President Murat Zyazikov). His site “Ingushetia.ru” infuriated the enemy and saved the doomed for death people, and called people to coming out to the street to make protest. This has been the only example of high-precision counter-propaganda in the cotemporary Russia.     

Magomed Evloev was killed on Sunday 31August. At 1:30 p.m. a plane landed at the airport of the city of Magas. Both men arrived in it – President Zyazikov and his personal enemy. The President was the first to leave the plane. He was met by the Ingush interior minister Musa Medov. What did they talk about? Murat Zyazikov told me later that the minister gave a report of the current situation in the republic. Nonetheless, the President’s motorcade had not even left the airport’s territory when the Medov’s guards drove Magomed Evloev out of the plane. He was put on armoured car of UAZ model and driven away along an abandoned road leading to the old airport. They tried to escape from Magomed’s relatives and friends crowding at the building of the new airport, made from glass.    

About 15 cars rushed to pursuit the minister Medov’s procession. Usually, the road from airport to Nazran takes about 40 minutes. But this time it was a speedy race. 15 minutes after, having thrown the pursuers off with difficulty, the armoured UAZ entered the territory of the Nazran republican hospital and braked abruptly. The car door opened, and immediately the UAZ made off at a clip. Magomed Evloev with his head shot was left lying in front of the hospital.      

<…> One should say that murder of Magomed Evloev happened at the wrong geopolitical moment, if the expression may be tolerated. Ingush people have been discussing hotly the last developments in Georgia and those possessing the satellite dish even watch the Tbilisi TV stations. I should say that their sympathies are not on the Russia’s side. And this applies not only to Ingushetia. At the meeting of protest, dedicated to Magomed Evloev’s murder, I talked to people from Adygea, Kabarda and Chechnya. Today’s situation is dramatically different from that of the early ‘90s. Those people don’t want anymore to fight for Russia’s interests in Transcaucasia. In the center of Nazran, on Chechenskaya Street, there is a sign on a long white wall encircling some warehouse. The sign says “Wasn’t that genocide about the Ingush in 1992?” That means the Ossetia-Ingushetia conflict after which Ingushetia cannot forgive

Moscow for her refugees.        

In the first person

Comment by Ingush President Murat Zyazikov:  

Q: Murat Magometovich, was there any conflict between you and Magomed Evloev on the plane?

A: I always go by common flights with common people. I have no private aircraft, as I consider that to be indecent. But I always go in a separate compartment on the plane. That is, if I take a business class, I am alone there. During the flight, one or two persons may enter my compartment. This time was so too. But Evloev did not come to me. I did not know him in person and we have never had any contacts. Of course, there could not have been any quarrel of fighting onboard. That’s all a lie. I have never seen that man.    

Q: But you personally were indignant about what he did. You told me about that. The republican authorities attempted – and that attempt was successful- to close Evloev’s site down…

A: That’s beyond my competence to close down the site. That’s up to the prosecutor’s office. 

Q: Well, how can you comment the fact that right after your meeting in the Magas airport the minister Medov and his guards detained exactly Magomed Evloev. It seems they knew perfectly how he looked. 

A: When I arrive, I am always met and given a report about the situation in the republic. Medov reported everything to me. I got in a car and left. What happened next is to be investigated by the prosecutor’s office with Medov. You’d better call there for a comment.  

Q: What can you say about Magomed Evloev’s murder?

A: That’s a tragedy, of course. Even when at the world’s end a car accident happens and people get killed, that’s a tragedy. The death of a man, that’s always bad.

(published with abridgements)