At that time 9045 Ossetians fled away from their homes in Prigorodny Region, by the end of July, 6463 out of them returned to their places of residence.¹ The obstacle to solving the question of returning the others (2582 people) is the absence of means for reconstruction of ruined houses.

As we have been informed by the NOR official, it is only several dozens Ossetians, who are displaced persons from Ingushetia (just a few Ossetian families lived there).²

Almost all Ingush population of Vladikavkaz and Prigorodny Region (with an exception of a part of citizens from three villages, which are Kartsa, Mayskoye and Yezmi) fled away from North Ossetia into Ingushetia. Only after those people fled, their houses were purposedly destroyed. At present, according to different estimations from 46³ up to 64 thousand⁴ people have been registered as displaced persons from North Ossetia. Besides, the territorial Migration Service quotes different figures (from 3 up to 5 thousand people), who stay with their relatives in Grozny (Chechnya), which are not registered by the Federal service as displaced persons.

Political leaders of Ingushetia sometimes speak about 71 thousand displaced persons from North Ossetia. Taking into consideration the data on the number of houseownerships in the zone of the conflict (see table), the number of displaced persons should be recognized as overestimated.

According to the ASSR NOR CC Statistical Board as of 01.01.89, 32783 people of Ingush nationality, including 16529 people in Prigorodny Region, lived in North Ossetia. According to the ASSR NO passport service data, as to the status of 31.10.92, 34500 persons of Ingush nationality lived in the Republic.

A considerable discrepancy between the number of people, registered by propiska before the conflict and the number of displaced persons is explained by the Ingush side in such a way that, starting from 1957 a big number of Ingush permanently lived in Prigorodny Region without propiska registration due to the existing limitations (see Chapter 4.3).

Before the 1992 conflict the Ingush population lived in 17 villages of Prigorodny Region and settlements, which administratively are in the precincts of Vladikavkaz, just as well as in Vladikavkaz itself (see Table). Besides that 1 to 5 Ingush families lived in a number of other villages in this territory.

In some villages (Tarskoye, Chermen) Ingush and Ossetian communities lived mainly in a close «compact» way in different parts of the village; there were some villages with absolute quantitative predominance of Ingush over the citizens of other nationalities (Dachnoye, Chernorechenskoye); in some cases they lived in a mixed way, moreover, it was either Ossetians (Kambileevskoye), or Ingush (Terk), or people of other nationalities (Balta), who had a quantitative predominance over the others.

At present Ingush population still lives in Mozdok Region of North Ossetia (settlements Khurikau and Kusovo), in spite of the fact, that 249 Ingush have moved from Mozdok itself into Ingushetia.

As a result of the conflict the total number of 2,728 Ingush and 848 Ossetian houses⁵ were destroyed, as well as a great number of social and cultural services units (schools, shops, polyclinics). As to the status of 31.03.94, destroyed Ossetian houses were partially reconstructed and 243 destroyed and 138 half-destroyed Ossetian houses remained by that time⁶.

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Village Chmi (15 Ingush houses were destroyed), Popov Khutor (10 Ingush houses were destroyed) and settlement Sputnik (in 40 apartments of department-controlled multi-storied houses Ingush lived mostly without propiska registration), as well as at the Alpine village of Yezmi, where 300 Ingush are still living.

In Prigorodny Region there is the village of Majskoye, which has not been involved in the military conflict of Autumn 1992. The Ingush population never left it. 18 Ossetian families, which lived there, were forced to flee the village. Their houses were not destroyed and were illegally occupied by Ingush, displaced from villages in Prigorodny Region. North Ossetia officials did not provide us with any information about the number of houseownerships, about destructions, about the number of people registered by propiska in these villages, referring to the fact, that these figures continue to be checked (with an exception of administration in Chermen village, which provided us with the data on the village).

Some residential houses have been destroyed as a result of the armed conflict at the end October-beginning November 1992 (it mostly concerns the villages of Kartsa and Dachnoye). Although the majority of houses were destroyed after armed units established control of the given territory.

Citizens of the Ossetian part of Chermen village told us, that during the period October 31-November 4, 1992, when the village has been controlled by Ingush military units, numerous cases of setting houses on fire and destructions of Ossetian houses by fighting units took place.

On the other hand, it was only the mass purposeful activity on anihilation of Ingush population homes that can explain evident selectivity in destruction of Ingush houses. This conclusion can ve vividly illustrated by the example of Tarskoye village,where no military conflicts have taken place, but nevertheless one part of the village (Ingush) is completely destroyed, while all houses in the Ossetian part are intact.

Most of destructions have been done in the days of November immediately after the establishment of control by Ossetian military units over the territory. According to the information of eye-witnesses, it has been common practice to shoot tracer bullets at the houses, where gas stove or gas cylinder valves have been preliminarily open, after which the houses exploded.

The HRC «Memorial» has at its disposal a videotape of a Russian citizen from Dachnoye village, telling the story, which testifies to the fact, that it had been members of detachments, which arrived from South Ossetia, who destroyed houses in the village.

Although long after the large-scale military conflict stopped, terrorists on both sides continued to destroy and set the intact empty houses on fire. 88 Ossetian houses were ruined (10.4% from total destructions) and 143 Ingush houses (5.3% from total destructions) in such a way in the first half of 1992⁹. Such destructions continued further on, but on a smaller scale.

It should be noted that the Russian leadership and officials, who exercised the emergency status regime in autumn 1992, who were obliged to protect the peaceful population from violence and necessity to flee to save their lives.

In responce to the Russian Presidential Decree on returning refugeees and displaced people in December 1993 — beginning 1994, the number of destroyed Ingush houses has increased. In spring and summer 1994 such acts of sabotage continued. For example, in January, February and March, 1994, abandoned houses¹⁰ in Kartsa settlement have been destroyed, in May this year the community club was destroyed and there was an attempt to set fire to the house, where an Ingush family lives; in July a half-destroyed house was exploded¹¹.

Even the destroyed houses are continuously pulled down. The HRC «Memorial» representatives witnessed, how bricks and other construction materials were taken away from the ruins of Ingush houses in the villages of Tarskoye and Dachnoye by private persons.

While most of the individual houses were ruined, the apartments in multi-apartment buildings, abandoned by Ingush, are occupied. For example, 3 multi-apartment buildings in Dachnoye are occupied by refugee Ossetians from Georgia.In relation to these buildings, the Chairman of the RNO Council of Ministers Nationalities Committee T.E.Kusov told HRC «Memorial» observers the following: departmental buildings, which belong to the poultry farm, were damaged during 1992 events, but they have been repaired at the expense of the state and handed over to the new farm workers. Although this explanation does not correspond to reality, as during the conversations with present-day inhabitants of these buildings the HRC «Memorial» found out that the absolute majority among them are unemployed.

In Vladikavkaz, about 800 apartments, abandoned by Ingush owners, are occupied by the Ministry of Foregn Affairs workers. Naturally, the RNO authorities can not provide any reasonable explanation to this fact.

The houses, which have been abandoned by Ossetian displaced persons from Ingushetia, are also illegally occupied, mainly by displaced persons from North Ossetia.