— CAUCASUS:

Ingushetia, an ethnic republic which borders Chechnya, Dagestan and North Ossetia in the Russian Caucasus, is in a state of “incipient war.” Ingushetia’s President Ruslan Aushev used that phrase after fighting broke out at a checkpoint on the border with North Ossetia. Ossetians and Ingush have disputed the region since Stalin deported the Ingush population in 1946.