Ramzan Kadyrov’s birthday to be celebrated in Chechnya under tightened security
By Umalt Chadayev
CHECHNYA – On October 5 the 30th birthday of Chechen Premier Ramzan Kadyrov will be celebrated. Various mass events and a festive concert, which will be held in Gudermes, the republic’s second largest city, are planned for the occasion.
An officer in the Chechen law enforcement agencies says that the Chechen Interior Ministry police have been placed on high alert in preparation for the day. According to him there is a high probability that guerrillas may attempt to carry out a number of attacks during the events.
"The plans for October 5 include the opening of Grozny’s ‘Severnyy’ airport, the inauguration of the House of the Press, the holding of a large concert in the city of Gudermes and other special events in honour of Ramzan Kadyrov’s 30th birthday. It’s highly probable that the leaders of bandit formations will try to carry out some attacks and acts of terrorism and sabotage in order to destabilize the situation," he says.
"So the police have been placed on high alert. Additional security is being provided at locations of strategic importance. Tomorrow there will be restrictions on the movement of motor traffic in Grozny, and other measures aimed at protecting the safety of the public have also been taken," the police officer said.
According to the Chechen constitution adopted in 2003 during the presidency of Ramzan’s father, Akhmat Kadyrov (who was killed in an explosion at Grozny’s Dinamo Stadium on May 9 2004), on reaching the age of 30 a citizen of the republic becomes eligible to be chosen president of Chechnya.
Today there are few in Chechnya who doubt that sooner or later Ramzan Kadyrov will assume the republic’s presidency – if not in the immediate, then in the foreseeable future. But for the time being it is his 30th birthday that is about to be celebrated on a lavish scale.
Translated by David McDuff.(MD/T) RELATED ARTICLES:
· Ramzan Kadyrov's more popular than his father, but self-censorship affects people's responses (PW, 14.6. 2006)
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