The president of Ingushetia, a Russian republic in the North Caucasus, said there will be no ethnic clashes in the region after the Beslan tragedy.

Fears have been raised that Ossetians may mount reprisal raids on their Ingush neighbors and Chechens. Beslan, where over 300 people were killed in the bloody school siege, is situated in the republic of North Ossetia.

Ingush president Murat Zyazikov was quoted by Reuters as saying “there will be no such events because people are tired of seeing such events in the North Caucasus, people will not let themselves be used again.”

He said police had taken no special measures to halt bloodshed, saying there could be no repeat of Ingush-Ossetian clashes seen after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1992, although many fearful Ingush have already fled Ossetia. “The security organs of North Ossetia and Ingushetia are working in a normal way. All of this talk is media speculation,” said Zyazikov.

The gunmen who seized the school in Beslan wanted Zyazikov to come to negotiations but he did not arrive. Instead, former Ingush president Ruslan Aushev met the terrorists and helped secure the release of 26 hostages. Supported by the Kremlin, Zyazikov was elected president in 2002 after Aushev resigned.

Source: MosNews