An altercation in the Ingush village of Ekazhevo has resulted in a shooting that left two 42-year-old men injured.
According to the independent local media outlet Fortanga, the conflict on Sunday evening stemmed from a religious disagreement between supporters of prominent Imam Khamzat Chumakov and civic activist Zyaudin Yevloev.
Fortanga reported that days before the incident, audio messages insulting Chumakov — allegedly recorded by Zyaudin Yevloev — began circulating on WhatsApp.
In response, Chumakov’s bodyguard, Khamzat Yevloev, and several of the imam’s followers arranged a face-to-face meeting with the opposing side near the Magas market on the outskirts of Ekazhevo. A fight reportedly broke out during the meeting, and one of the opponents opened fire, hitting the imam’s bodyguard in the abdomen and thigh. The bodyguard reportedly used a non-lethal traumatic weapon during the clash.
The Investigative Committee of Ingushetia confirmed that the fight had occurred and that it had resulted in the gunshot injury of one 42-year-old man. The Ministry of Internal Affairs had earlier reported two wounded individuals. A criminal case has been opened for attempted murder and attempted crime. The Investigative Committee has not disclosed if anyone has been detained or any further details about the cause of the conflict.
According to the Interfax news agency, ‘both injured men belong to the Ingush teip (clan) of the Yevloevs’. Both were hospitalised following the incident. The regional police said that the head of Ingushetia’s Interior Ministry, Mikhail Korobkin, had taken the investigation under his personal supervision.
Zyaudin Yevloev has been involved in previous high-profile incidents. In 2021, he attacked a group of young people staging a street performance involving an Orthodox icon. In 2015, a person sharing his full name offered a $40,000 reward to anyone who could ‘bring’ him well-known Russian opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
This was also not the first violent incident in Ekazhevo in recent months. In April, 35-year-old Mustafa Katsiev was shot dead near a local kindergarten.
In 2010, unknown individuals detonated a bomb near Ekazhevo that targeted a vehicle carrying Imam Chumakov. The imam was seriously injured and transported to the Sklifosovsky Institute in Moscow, where doctors amputated his leg. Minutes before the explosion, he had dropped off his wife and children.
In 2016, a car bomb exploded outside a mosque in the Nasyr-Kort district of Nazran, moments after Chumakov’s car drove past. Prior to that, Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov had publicly criticised Chumakov, accusing him of delivering ‘radical’ sermons and calling him a ‘shaitan’ (devil in Islam).
In 2019, a jury acquitted the defendants of the attempted assassination of Chumakov but found them guilty of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. One defendant received a prison sentence of seven years, another four-and-a-half years. A third defendant was released in the courtroom.
Elizaveta Chukharova
