Prime Minister Rashid Gaysanov has been named acting President, but controversy surrounded the appointment as former and highly popular Ingush president Ruslan Aushev and president of neighboring Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov traded barbs over the leadership position. After a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the day of the assassination attempt, Ramzan Kadyrov stated that he had been instructed by President Medvedev to “intensify actions…including in Ingushetia.”  Kadyrov said that he would, “personally control the operations… and I am sure in the near future there will be good results.” Following this statement and Kadyrov’s surprise visit to Ingushetia to meet with acting president Gaysanov, the Ingush republic and Russian media sources were rife with speculation that the Kremlin planned to give Kadyrov control of the republic which would have a destabilizing effect, according to experts familiar with the subject.

Meanwhile, former President Ruslan Aushev condemned any decision by the Kremlin to put Kadyrov in charge stating that Chechnya had “millions” of it’s own problems and that Kadyrov has no legal authority in Ingushetia and therefore “no one will want to submit to him.” Aushev offered to return to the presidential post while Yevkurov undergoes rehabilitation, which was welcomed by the Ingush opposition, but Kremlin’s muted reaction signaled ambivalence toward the proposal.

The terrorist group responsible for the 2004 Beslan attack, thought to have been disbanded after authorities killed its Chechen leader Shamil Basayev, claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt raising concern that the militants are a lot more organized than previously thought. The Yevkurov attack along with a spate of other high-profile murders in the region and the professional nature of their executions seem to contradict authorities’ claims that the armed underground resistance has been nearly completely destroyed.