Until May of this year, Gutseriev hoped to compete for the seat of the head of Ingushetia himself. But the Kremlin relied on Mahmud-Ali Kalimatov, so the businessman, apparently, decided to integrate his personnel into the future configuration of power in the region. 
Thus, through the Minister of Culture of Ingushetia, Zalina Lyanova, the entrepreneur was given a meeting with the leaders of the Batalkhadzhin people. At the meeting, Gutseriev allegedly assured the Belkharoevs that he had nothing to do with the contract killing of a direct descendant of their sheikh, Ibragim Belkharoev, in Nazran in 2018. The clan leaders, in turn, demanded Gutseriev’s help in return: they are lobbying for his business interests in the region, and he is helping to whitewash the reputation of the Batalkhadzhin people. Of course, with all the ensuing financial and economic benefits – government contracts and positions.
Now that Kalimatov, Gutseriev, the Chechen proteges and the Batalkhadzhinites are ready to come to such an amicable agreement, there remains one big elephant in the room – the people of Ingushetia. How people will react to such personnel changes in a small region, where everyone knows each other and nothing can be hidden from anyone, is unknown. As if the protests would not resume.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
