Ingush man shot in social media clan feud

On 2 May, a group of unknown assailants shot 29-year-old boxer Iles Yandiyev in Ingushetia, following a feud between two famous clans which began with an argument on social media. He was shot in the spine and remains in hospital; according to doctors, he is in a serious but stable condition.

Prior to the shooting, a quarrel between the influential Yandiyev and Belkharoyev families had been considered to be over. Now that blood has been spilled, many believe that Yandiyev’s relatives will seek retribution according to the Ingush tradition.

The feud began last year, when Iles’s paternal cousin, MMA fighter Adam ‘Boroda (Beard)’ Yandiyev, began to publish pictures with his wife on social media. Such a public display of affection, according to Isa Belkharoyev from the Batal-Khadzhi clan, shamed the entire Ingush people. He demanded that Yandiyev change his behaviour. The MMA fighter responded that no-one had the right to order him how to behave, and the quarrel escalated into mutual insults and curse words.

Elders from both families managed to settle the conflict with mediation and negotiations through a third party. However, on 1 May, it escalated with a new force after Adam Yandiyev and Belkharoyev met in a restaurant, where a verbal skirmish escalated into a fight.

On the following day, Iles Yandiyev contacted Isa Belkharoyev and asked him to return to the same restaurant. As Iles entered the building, a group of young people fired at him with a pistol.

He was taken to a Vladikavkaz hospital in the neighbouring republic of North Ossetia, with a bullet in his spine. According to Ingush observers, the development of this conflict will now depend on Iles Yandiyev’s recovery.