When a symbol gains weight

Sometimes symbols are quite significant as a memory of the past or a designation of existence, and sometimes... they foreshadow the future. After all, it happens that something invented suddenly materializes and becomes more real than reality itself.

For example, for as long as I can remember, on Victory Day - May 9 - something bad is expected in Chechnya. Just the other day, on May 1, the European Commission for the Prevention of Torture was not allowed into Tsentoroy, into Kadyrov’s “nest,” under the pretext that terrorist attacks were expected on May 9. It was on May 9 - on this day two years ago that Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov was killed. And in other republics of the North Caucasus they are reporting the liquidation of groups that were preparing attacks on May 9.

But people in uniform and in civilian clothes have been talking about this - about the plans of the insurgents to attack on a day that is holy for all our people - since the spring of 1995. Then, however, it was just propaganda: there was no evidence of real plans of the separatists to break into Grozny.

In the same way, from year to year it was reported that the militants intended to “mark” other dates. Then attacks were expected on February 23 - and this is not only an army holiday, but also the date of deportation of Chechens. And the militants have never staged anything on February 23, but every year intelligence analysts predict this. Or they are waiting for attacks on September 6 and August 6 - the anniversary of the “Chechen revolution” of 1991 and the storming of Grozny by militants in 1996. And the militants also never “celebrated” these dates.

But what to do with the explosion on May 9 at the Dynamo stadium, with the death of Kadyrov Sr.? The date here mattered, rather, not directly, but indirectly. In the dank, slushy Grozny winter, no one organizes outdoor events. But in the spring, when it’s not too hot, every year. With speeches from high authorities. Which, in fact, is what the “demolitionists” aim at. If the people they especially didn’t love were on this podium for honored guests on a different day and time, they would have blown up without looking at the date and time. But it was May 9 that was celebrated in Grozny. By the way, in addition to the landmine embedded in the concrete structures, there were then at least two more powerful explosive devices in the stadium and nearby, installed by groups of demolitionists, completely independent of each other and of the first group.

Only after the assassination of Kadyrov Sr. did the date of May 9 acquire symbolic significance for militant leaders. This year, on May 9, the experience of 2004 was supposed to be repeated by Mairbek Eshiev, whose strange relationship with the authorities became known only recently.

First, many print and non-print media reported that a large group of “Kadyrovites” in the Vedeno region had gone to the “green camp”, to join the militants. However, when

everything turned out to be even more interesting. It turns out that Mairbek Eshiev, who since January 2005 headed the Vedeno “anti-terrorist center”, has been on the federal wanted list since September 2005. Last summer, already the commander of Kadyrov’s men, he descended from the mountains to Grozny and killed a man. Policeman. Eshiev explained to Ramzan Kadyrov that he “resolved” this issue with the relatives of the murdered man, after which he returned to the leadership of the Vedeno ATC. A criminal case was opened against him and suspended “due to the impossibility of detection.” And then in the spring, Ramzan removed Eshiev from his post. He and his closest “associates” were disarmed and began to “get a massage.” Beating, that is. They began to “point” at each other and confess. But not in the murder of a policeman - however, they were not asked about this.

It turns out that Eshiev, a native of the village of Kharachoy, a former field commander nicknamed Mulla, went over with his people to Kadyrov’s side and joined the ranks of the “anti-terrorist center”, did this “on instructions from the leadership.” His sister was married to the Dagestani field commander Khairulla, who was allegedly involved in the murder of Akhmat Kadyrov. Eshiev’s people did not fight the militants at all, but covered them. Not only Khairulla, but also Shamil Basayev and Dokka Umarov allegedly lived in the Eshievs’ house in Kharachoy under the protection of the Attets. It turns out that we overwintered the most difficult time and went back to the “green”. Some members of the secret police and some “Kadyrovites” also left with them.

But luck did not accompany the militants in everything. With the current assassination attempt, the purpose of which was to eliminate Kadyrov Ramzan and his inner circle, they did not succeed... Eshiev seemed to “show” about this when they began to “process” him.

Here you won’t even understand whether to congratulate Ramzan Kadyrov or vice versa. He thwarted the insurgents' operation. But he warmed almost the murderers of his own father on his chest. It’s complicated and confusing for them, for underground terrorists and fighters against the terrorist underground.

However, it is unclear whether this new attempt was actually being prepared. After all, during a “massage” interrogation, you don’t even say what you know, but what they want to hear from you. And if they asked about May 9, they received an answer about May 9.

But there is a consideration that helps us believe: an assassination attempt was being prepared. After all, for Basayev today Ramzan Kadyrov is a goal that is perhaps more important than Russian schools, hospitals and cultural centers. Symbolically important. Because, despite the internationalism of the Caucasian Wahhabi terrorist underground, Basayev is nobody without support in his “small homeland”. And in Chechnya he is rapidly losing popularity. Just as rapidly as Ramzan Kadyrov’s authority is growing.

At the end of last year, one could laugh at the facades of Grozny’s Pobeda Avenue, at the plastic windows behind which there was emptiness and devastation. But in recent months, the scale of restoration work in the city has been astonishing. A temporary worker steals. But the one who came “seriously and for a long time”, as a “strong master,” behaves differently. And it's noticeable. Even many of those who treated the Kadyrovs, to put it mildly, without sympathy, admit: over the past fifteen years no one has “invested” in the republic like this. What's missing, perhaps, is a complete re-laying of underground communications, but what the hell isn't it funny - what if it comes to that?

Now you can’t say with certainty whether those facades were meant to rub points at the authorities or to “set the bar” for yourself and the entire republic? The symbol suddenly takes on meaning and weight, and the attitude towards it changes.

Even the system of exactions from state employees and entrepreneurs is now perceived with understanding: after all, they take less from the poor than from the rich. “The government may not be entirely correct, but we accept it,” is the new consensus that seems to be emerging in Chechnya.

Ramzan Kadyrov is now successful, and this arouses the sympathy of the population. And Shamil Basayev, hiding in the mountains, is, on the contrary, a loser and an outsider. And for him there is no task more important than to prove himself here in Chechnya.

After all, in the spring of 2004 in Grozny there were similar sentiments, hopes for stability with Akhmat Kadyrov. Until May 9th. So the hysteria of vigilance in today's Chechnya is quite understandable.

Although it’s unlikely that anyone will say with certainty where people are here and where they are strangers. Where is reality and where is appearance. And where are the sprouts of the future, not yet noticed and understood.