Printing house in Ingushetia refuses to print Chechen newspaper

Poligrafkombinat Company in Nazran refused to print a regular number of the Chechen Society newspaper.

The director of the printing house, Suleiman Kostoev, motivated his refusal by saying that the newspaper raised the topic of possible unification of Chechnya and Ingushetia. According to him, the regular column "Chechnya + Ingushetia =..." has already caused discontent in the Government of Ingushetia, and the director himself has been rebuked for it.

Mr Kostoev announced he would not print the number until the material was taken away from it. Only after the editors had replaced the problem article, the number was printed.

According to the editor of the newspaper, Tamerlan Aliyev, the column is a regular one. When it first appeared on 4 December 2003, there was the announcement, "...from this number, opinions of experts and specialists: historians, political scientists and politicians will be published under the title "Chechnya + Ingushetia =...". And they will be from both the Ingush and Chechen sides."

"The paradox is that the article was absolutely neutral. Its author, Doctor of Economic Sciences Mukhtar Magomadov, did nothing but express his private opinion, saying it was time to bring up the question of unification of two neighboring republics, which should be done through the holding of a national referendum. The poverty of intellect of government officials seems to have come up to the point when they are afraid of even a mention of the problem, let alone going into the heart of the matter," said Mr Aliyev.