Car horns, people on the streets, shooting into the air - this is how the Ingush public celebrated the departure of the republic’s third leader in the past 25 years.
In recent months, the Ingushetian public had begun awaiting this decision with baited breath. The reason? Evkurov’s decision to sign a border agreement with neighbouring Chechnya in September 2018. Given this document rewrote the borders between the two republics in favour of Chechnya, it provoked a series of protests in Ingushetia, and landing over 30 people in jail on serious charges.
Initially, these protests were directed against the new border arrangements, but when Yunus-bek Evkurov and Moscow both failed to account for Ingush public opinion, there were calls for the republic’s leader to resign - at protests, open letters and resolutions, signed by more than 50,000 residents.
