Political analysts treat motorcade with Kadyrov's portraits in Pankisi as provocation

The conflict that took place on June 15 in the village of Duisi, after the appearance of cars with portraits of Akhmat Kadyrov, was staged by residents of the Pankisi Gorge on both sides, residents of Georgia believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 15, a conflict broke out among Duisi villagers in the Akhmet Municipality, populated mainly by Kistian Chechens, and people who arrived in cars with Russian license plates. The conflict resulted in mobilization of special fighters and a large number of policemen. Fortunately, no one was hurt, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reported.

According to residents of the Pankisi Gorge, the conflict was provoked by the appearance of cars decorated with Akhmat Kadyrov's portraits, the father of Chechnya's current leader, Ramzan Kadyrov. People in the cars chanted: "Akhmat is strong!"; while Duisi residents demanded to remove the portraits; and triggered a conflict.

The participants of the motor rally with Kadyrov's portraits in the Pankisi Gorge were local residents, Sulkhan Bordzikashvili, an employee of the "Kakheti Information Centre", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"These were young people from Pankisi, who often travel to Russia and get under the influence of propaganda [by the authorities of Chechnya]," Mr Bordzikashvili has explained.

This information was confirmed to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Mamuka Areshidze, a political analyst and the head of the Caucasian Strategic Research Institute.

"Two groups have clashed – those, who were travelling with Kadyrov's portraits, and their opponents-supporters of the Salafi Islam. A dispute occurred: Salafis demanded to remove Kadyrov's portraits. As a result, elders and policemen arrived to calm down the dispute," the political analyst said.

Mamuka Areshidze referred to local residents, who had stopped the cars: "They took this motorcade as a provocation. On the day of Uraza[-Bayram], someone started driving cars with portraits of Akhmat Kadyrov, who is not very popular in Pankisi. A brawl could have started."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 22, 2018 at 10:00 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.