Daghestan is to resettle almost 2,700 people, in a move to restore a historical Chechen district in the republic. The resettlement of residents from Novolaksky District and the restoration of the Aukh District are scheduled to be completed by 2025.

Daghestan’s Novolaksky District was formed in 1944 after Russia’s entire Chechen population, who made up the majority of what was then Aukh District, were deported to Central Asia along with the Ingush people.

Laks (a Daghestani ethnic group) from Daghestan’s Kuli and Lak districts were then resettled to the newly formed Novolaksky District.

There are now three main ethnic groups living in Novolaksky District: Laks, Chechens, and Avars. It is still unclear which groups will be resettled or where they will be moved.

Тhe authorities plan to resettle 664 families, 2,656 people, to other parts of Daghestan.

[Read OC Media interview: ‘Chechens in Daghestan. ‘We must help people overcome the mistrust’ [Interview]'

The resettlement is projected to cost ₽12.4 billion ($214 million) over eight years, 80% of which will come from federal funds. Daghestan’s total budget for 2018 is projected to be ₽82.7 billion ($1.4 billion).

Additional financial support was announced on 5 October during the introduction of the new acting head of the republic, Vladimir Vasilyev, to the Daghestani parliament.

‘Meeting with the president, the chairman of the Russian government, and the ministers, I received assurances of support. I would say that I have not come to you on my own, the whole of Russia has also come. We agreed that Daghestan will receive serious support in 2018’, Vasilyev said during the meeting with parliament.

Daghestan is also to use the additional funds to support resettled Lezgis, who in 2013 left the villages of Khrakh-Uba and Uryan-Uba in Khachmaz District in north-eastern Azerbaijan.

They resettled throughout Daghestan, with some leaving for other regions of Russia, and numbered more than 400, according to online Russian newspaper Lenta.ru.

Until 2013, the villages of Khrakh-Uba (now Palidli) and Uryan-Uba (now Uryanoba) were Russian exclaves inside Azerbaijan. Administratively they belonged to the Magaramkent District of Daghestan, which was compactly populated by Lezgis.

Daghestani authorities started resettling the Lezgis from these villages after their transfer to Azerbaijan in 2013.