“There have been a lot of soldiers from these settlements already. Many Kumyks have been to the war. And some have been killed, and there were a lot of men who refused to fight. Some of them only just returned from the war and now they are being mobilized again. They understand it will be very hard for them if they are sent back. Their mothers, wives, and sisters know perfectly well how that could end. So a conflict is inevitable. The alarm surrounding the mobilization has exacerbated underlying tensions between the Kumyks and the ethnic Avars who also inhabit the area. The Avars and Kumyks in the Babayurt and Khasavyurt districts are almost equal in number. But there are many Avars in the administrations and among the law enforcement and security agencies. Everything is superimposed on an old territorial conflict that has already become a political one. Mobilization is sending people off to war, everyone understands that," Sokolov added. "If the military commission comprises Avars, and the mobilized soldiers are Kumyks, that just raises the tensions.”
02 Oct 2022
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