The Republic of Ingushetia in North Caucasus may be the smallest autonomous republic in Russia with its capital at Magas. Still it has grand and ambitious plans in store.
The republic with such a rich and ancient history as well as boundless and picturesque mountian landscapes hopes to attract tourists by developing its alpine skiing, extreme tourism and sports, scenic views from high in the mountains, as well as mountain railways for attracting tourists.
Ingushetia borders on Georgia to the south, meanwhile its neighbours within Russia are Chechnya and North Ossetia. The overwhelming majority of the population is Muslim. Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was severely wounded in a suicide bomb attack in June 2009. He spent two months recovering from his injuries at a resort near Moscow and then returned home promising to wage a "merciless" fight against terrorists.
The Ingush and Chechen peoples have close historical, cultural and linguistic ties. Part of the Russian empire since the early 19th century, Ingushetia was formally joined to Chechnya under Soviet rule in 1936 when it formed around one-fifth of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous
Republic within Russia. Nowadays the Ingush territory bodering with Chechnya is rarely visited by tourists because it is supposed to be insecure.
Anyway, little by little traditional peaceful rural life returns to these places.
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