Translated material
"The person is above all for me"
Ramzan Kadyrov received certificates
A magnificent inauguration of the new president of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, took place in Chechnya. The second largest city of the republic, Gudermes, in the vicinity of which is the country residence of the president, was chosen as the venue for the celebrations. Despite obvious successes in the restoration of Grozny, the capital still lies in ruins, which greatly spoil the feeling of the holiday. In Gudermes, the republican program “City without traces of war” was carried out for a year - as a result, traces of the war, which were not particularly numerous, became almost invisible to the untrained eye.In addition to the more peaceful surroundings, Gudermes has a symbolic meaning. At the beginning of the second Chechen war , the bloodless surrender of Gudermes to Russian troops marked the beginning of the political career of the Kadyrov family. Grozny, destroyed and depopulated as a result of assault operations using front-line aviation, heavy artillery and armored vehicles in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1999-2000, after the last assault almost lost its capital status to Gudermes. The war was still going on in the mountains, and the two main cities were already vying for primacy. A confrontation arose between the mayor of Grozny, Bislan Gantamirov, who took part in the assault at the head of the Chechen militia, and the head of the provisional administration of Chechnya, Akhmat Kadyrov. The “Grozny” managed to defend the status of the capital, but the “Gudermes” ultimately prevailed in the struggle for political dominance.
But Gudermes remained closer to the Kadyrov family. Although by 2003 Grozny already had a heavily guarded fortress - a complex of government buildings surrounded by fences and checkpoints - Akhmat Kadyrov's inauguration was held in the modest building of the Gudermes administration. The next president, Alu Alkhanov, took office in Grozny - the holiday was painted in the colors of mourning for Akhmat Kadyrov, who died as a result of a terrorist attack, and therefore was held modestly and in Spartan conditions. Ramzan Kadyrov also preferred to return to basics. Only this time the celebration took place not in the modest administration building, but in a gigantic temporary pavilion for one and a half thousand guests, specially built for this special occasion on the well-groomed grounds of the country residence of the President of Chechnya - a two-story elegant chalet in the middle of a recently planted park.
The Russian tricolor and the green, red, gold and white flag of Chechnya were brought into the pavilion. By the way, this is already the third version of the republic’s flag. The separatists chose as their symbol a green cloth, at the bottom of which there were two white and one red horizontal stripes. Under Akhmat Kadyrov, the flag was changed to separate the “correct” Chechens from the separatists. The “correct” flag remained green, but the stripes were swapped - there were two red ones and one white one. Alu Alkhanov, who came up with the idea to improve the image of the republic through a complete rebranding, failed to rename the region, but came up with the current version of the flag: now there is a vertical white stripe with a gold national ornament along the flagpole, the lower third of the flag is painted red, and the remaining two thirds - dark green. Although the current flag resembles both the banners of Belarus and Tatarstan, there is hope that the new president of Chechnya will avoid the temptation to take up heraldry again.
The ceremony symbolized reconciliation and abundance. The honor guard along the aisle and stage consisted of young Chechens in hats and Circassian hats with silver gazyrs, musical accompaniment was provided by a Russian military orchestra, and Chechen girls in national dresses simply decorated the holiday. The weapons familiar to Chechnya were not noticeable - the armed guards were lost among the fifteen hundred respectable guests, among whom were noticed the heads of the neighboring North Caucasian republics and even the President of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh.
Around noon, the speaker of the People's Assembly of Chechnya, Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, opened the ceremony. The hero of the occasion in a nice blue suit, on the lapel of which two main orders were visible - the Star of the Hero and the Order named after Akhmat Kadyrov, ascended the stage and pronounced the words of the presidential oath in Russian, swearing to uphold the constitution of the republic and protect the interests of the multinational Chechen people. After this, Ramzan Kadyrov received the presidential standard of the republican colors, and the presidential envoy in the Southern Federal District Dmitry Kozak presented him with two certificates - the President of Chechnya and the member of the State Council of Russia.
Mr. Kadyrov's predecessors were presented with presidential certificates by the chairman of the republican election commission: the constitution, in which the new president has just taken the oath, states that the head of the region is elected by vote. But three days after the election of Alu Alkhanov, terrorists attacked a Beslan school, gubernatorial elections in Russia were soon canceled, and now presidential officials are responsible for voters. “The people of the Chechen Republic have great hopes with the accession of Ramzan Kadyrov to the presidency,” Mr. Kozak assured. “Everything must be done to make these hopes come true.”
Ramzan Kadyrov's inaugural speech was written impeccably. “We are fully aware that the well-being of the republic is unthinkable without a strong and stable Russia, therefore we advocate a consistent centralization of power, in which the region would not feel like a state within a state, but would feel like an integral part of a single whole,” - - said the president. He once again recalled that Chechnya, unlike Tatarstan, does not intend to sign an agreement on the division of powers with the federal center. And he quoted his father’s words that Chechens “do not want to be first or last among the peoples of the Russian Federation, but want to be equal among equals.” Having thus touched upon the urgent problem for Russia of creating a community of citizens not divided by ethnicity, Ramzan Kadyrov assured that he was coming to power not for the sake of power, but for the sake of the prosperity of his homeland and is fully aware of the extent of his responsibility.
Thus, Ramzan Kadyrov received final official confirmation of his powers, which he already actually possessed over the past few months. He has almost complete carte blanche in his hands to govern Chechnya. The territory of the republic is controlled not so much by the Russian military as by republican security forces loyal to the new president. He clearly enjoys the favor of Vladimir Putin. His compatriots have mixed feelings towards him, among which respect for the national leader is becoming more and more clear.
Many, however, are irritated by Mr. Kadyrov’s outright authoritarianism and the human rights violations attributed to his security forces. Some experts believe that the Chechen socio-political tradition does not imply individual governance at all, and the armed opposition that existed even among the most popular leaders of modern Chechnya is clear evidence of this. In Chechnya itself they talk about such things only in a low voice - they have never been so afraid to talk about power there as they are now. But Mr. Kadyrov himself promised yesterday to take care of the rights and freedoms of his fellow citizens: “For me, a person is above all.”
It should be noted that Mr. Kadyrov’s harsh methods find their apologists, including outside the republic. Among supporters of the “hard hand” in other regions of Russia, half-joking forecasts of the future career of the young Chechen president and rhymes like “If you want a life without the Maidan, call Ramzan here” are already circulating.
But Mr. Kadyrov still has enough to do at home. Having received, without any agreement on the delimitation of powers, unprecedented freedom of action in terms of managing the territory entrusted to him, he is, in fact, deprived of access to its main economic resource - the 2 million tons of excellent oil produced there annually, the proceeds from the sale of which would more than cover a huge part of Chechen budget, subsidized by Moscow. The topic of oil was not mentioned at yesterday's celebration, but it will inevitably arise in the near future. In the meantime, Ramzan Kadyrov promised to form a new government as quickly as possible so as not to slow down the pace of restoration; the current cabinet resigned yesterday.
The gifts for the inauguration turned out to be a whole exhibition, which included eight paintings, three sabers and a silver Mercedes. For obvious reasons, 17 musical offerings in honor of Ramzan Kadyrov were not included in the exhibition, as was the sports complex that friends from Dagestan promised to build in Grozny for the occasion. And the main symbol of the new president’s peaceful intentions was the grain harvester he received as a gift from the Rostselmash company. During the inauguration, the combine stood next to the pavilion, after which it was transferred to the local agricultural school.
The official part was followed by a banquet with a concert by Russian pop stars. Of course, it would not have happened without joyful shooting in the air, with an intensity reminiscent of the worst days of the battles for Grozny.