Ingushetia President Expected to Recover, As Violence Continues

"The president is steadily on the mend. He can already stand and walk around. The president has taken control of the situation in Ingushetia and is up to date with everything happening there," a source in the presidential administration told RIA Novosti on Saturday.

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said on Saturday that he and Yevkurov had discussed the security situation in the border area between Chechnya and Ingushetia.

"I had a telephone conversation with Yunus-Bek Yevkorov, who is undergoing medical treatment, and we agreed to continue joint efforts to eliminate militants," Kadyrov told RIA Novosti.

He added that Yevkurov was feeling good and said that he expected the Ingush leader to fully recover soon and return his duties.

"We agreed to keep up continuous communication and to inform each other about the situation in a timely fashion," Kadyrov said. "Yevkurov's health allows this."

Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus regions have seen a rise in violence in recent months. Attacks on police, officials and troops have been reported almost daily in Ingushetia and Dagestan.

A senior Ingush police officer, forensics chief Col. Magomed Gadaborshev, died on July 10 after a shooting, while Ingush Supreme Court judge Aza Gazgireyeva and Dagestan's interior minister, Adilgerei Magomedtagirov, were assassinated in June. In Chechnya on Wednesday, respected human rights activist Natalya Estemirova was abducted and killed.

GROZNY, July 9 (RIA Novosti) - Chechen warlord Magomed Yevloyev masterminded a recent attack on Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, the Chechen interior minister said on Thursday.

"He [Yevloyev] personally planned this assassination and supervised the preparations, using the wife of a dead militant as a suicide bomber," Ruslan Alkhanov said.

On October 30, 2008 Zyazikov was dismissed from his office (he himself claimed he resigned voluntarily) andYunus-Bek Yevkurov was nominated by Dmitri Medvedev and approved as a President by the People's Assembly of Ingushetia on the next day. This move was endorsed by major Russian political parties and by Ingush opposition.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said on Wednesday that the president was "outraged" at the killing (journalist Natalya Estemirova) and had instructed investigators to "take all the necessary measures" to bring the killers to justice.

After the attempt on Yevkurov's life, Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, ordered Chechen security forces to assist Ingushetia in batting fighters there.

Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader, said he had given orders to be personally informed of all aspects of the investigation and characterised the ambush as a desperate act by anti-government fighters.

There are some natural resources in Ingushetia: mineral water in Achaluki, oil and natural gas  in Malgobek, forests  in Dzheirakh, metals in Galashki. The local government is considering the development of tourism however this is problematic due to the uneasy situation in the republic itself and the proximity of some conflict zones.