Daytime snipers

A rock festival finally took place in Chechnya

On the day that would previously have been called the day of the 88th anniversary of the October Revolution, the rock festival “Phoenix” finally took place in Gudermes, Chechnya. Revival of life." “Phoenix” was postponed three times: first it was scheduled for July 5, then for September 27. Following the visits of Ksenia Sobchak, Mike Tyson and a group of Russian bikers, the festival was supposed to witness the final establishment of peaceful life in Chechnya and demonstrate that the territory of the republic is accessible to everyone living outside its borders. And that citizens living within the borders are not alien to ordinary human joys.

Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov said that the idea to bring rock musicians to Chechnya came from his father, the first post-war president of the republic, Akhmat Kadyrov, who was killed during a parade at the Dynamo stadium in Grozny on May 9, 2004. Mourning for Akhmat Kadyrov, of course, required postponing the implementation of this idea. But on July 5, 2005, almost everything was ready for the concert, which was organized by Russian rockers Sergei Galanin: trailers with equipment for the stage even arrived at the Chechen administrative border. They were not allowed further: the federal command considered that sufficient security could not be ensured for the musicians and spectators. Ramzan Kadyrov’s ill-wishers even saw this as a deliberate attempt by the feds to disrupt such an important event for him and to discredit him.

The second, September version of the concert also did not take place. Before our eyes, the rock festival was turning into a chimera, living only thanks to the caustic questions journalists asked at Moscow press conferences of the Chechen leadership. One of the recent press conferences of Chechen President Alu Alkhanov was no exception, who promised that the festival would definitely take place, but it is not known exactly on what day - November 4 or 7. In Chechnya, it often happens that the place and time of important events are not disclosed until the very last minute, so that enemies do not find out about them. As a result, of the two dates, not a holiday, but a working day, November 7, was chosen. The festival began at noon and lasted six hours - from the point of view of the organizers, this did not interfere with fans of Russian rock. Which, however, is not surprising if we take into account the total Chechen unemployment.

Ramzan Kadyrov categorically denied rumors that the artists were paid fees taking into account the hot spot: “And in general, the costs of the rock festival are not borne by us, the government of Chechnya, but by the sponsors, including the Akhmat Kadyrov Regional Charitable Foundation.” The fund, by the way, is headed by the widow of the late president. But besides him, RAO UES of Russia, Russian Railways and OAO Grozneftegaz paid for the festival.

“Agatha Christie”, “Bi-2”, “Night Snipers”, “Utah”, “Nuance”, “SerGa” and several other teams decided to “bomb” Gudermes. Chechen rock was represented by “Dead Dolphins” and “President” - in the latter, soldiers of the republican riot police play in their leisure time. The Phoenix festival caused a split in the ranks of the Time Machine group: Andrei Makarevich did not go to Chechnya and said that such events look provocative, since a crowd of people could be an ideal place for a terrorist attack. But his bandmate Alexander Kutikov finally made up his mind.

According to the Chechen police, up to 15 thousand people came to the concert, and half of them were apparently given tickets for free. According to other sources, the number of spectators did not exceed 7 thousand people. At the same time, the Gudermes Lokomotiv stadium was guarded by 3 thousand policemen - thus, for every two spectators there was one law enforcement officer. Against this background, reports that the festival “was held in a calm atmosphere” seemed quite natural for such a noisy public event.

Ivan SUKHOV