Ingush Head Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov has visited Chechnya for the first time since his appointment in 2019, after the relations between the regions became strained after a border agreement was signed in 2018, meeting with Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov. The visit took place during the Eid al-Fitr holiday (known in Ingush as Markhash), which marks the end of Ramadan.
In Grozny, Kalimatov was received by Kadyrov, the chair of the Chechen government Magomed Daudov, as well as Kadyrov’s eldest son and Deputy Prime Minister Akhmat Kadyrov, who was appointed in January. According to official sources, the sides exchanged greetings and then spent time together at a festive table.
After meeting the Chechen Head, Kalimatov also visited Kadryov’s mother, Aymani Kadyrova, president of the regional public foundation named after Akhmat-Hadzhi Kadyrov. According to video footage, Kalimatov presented her with a necklace and congratulated her on the holiday.
In his Telegram channel, Kalimatov said that ‘an open conversation took place with Ramzan Kadyrov — we discussed many issues that are truly important’.
Kadyrov, in turn, said that he was ‘sincerely glad to see’ Kalimatov, describing him as ‘a decent, God-fearing, and sincere person with a high moral compass’.
This is the first official visit by Kalimatov to Chechnya since his appointment as Ingush Head in 2019. During this period, Kadyrov visited Ingushetia twice. In July 2024, Kadyrov stopped in the republic on his way back from events marking the 100th anniversary of North Ossetia. In December that year, Kadyrov attended the funeral of Kalimatov’s mother.
Relations between Chechnya and Ingushetia became strained after a border agreement was signed in autumn 2018, under which a part of Ingushetia’s territory was transferred to Chechnya. The agreement triggered mass protests in Ingushetia that lasted for several weeks.
Volodymyr Soboliev
Participants in the protests demanded the cancellation of the agreement and a referendum. Subsequently, dozens of activists were prosecuted.
The border agreement was approved by the parliaments of both republics and recognised as lawful by the Constitutional Court of Russia.
Before Kalimatov, Ingushetia was led by Major General Yunus-Bek Еvkurov. He was elected in 2008, re-elected in 2013, and in September 2018 — shortly before the protests — was appointed for another five-year term. On 24 June 2019, Еvkurov unexpectedly announced his resignation.
