Kadyrov: living history By Lyoma Gudayev, special to Prague Watchdog
Grozny, Chechen Republic
NOTE: We are publishing an article by President Ramzan Kadyrov’s former press secretary, in the belief that all the arguments, both for and against, should be included in the discussion of the situation in Chechnya. The author's views do not coincide with our own.
The editors
The Chechen people have retained in their memory the full bitterness of Imam Shamil’s assertion that the Chechens do not know how to honour their leaders. That statement is entirely applicable to the man whom fate, I believe, has appointed to lead our republic today. It is obviously that the meaning and scope of the changes which have shown to the world a completely new profile of Chechnya have not yet been properly assessed (at least in certain circles of our society). Yet the realization that Ramzan Kadyrov has changed our epoch and made it a historic one will come, and this is happening now.
So who is he, Ramzan Kadyrov? What does he seek? And why? And what is the place assigned to him on the list of Chechens who have been able to restore to the people their role as a player in the historical process? What is he – a villain or a hero?
Let me begin with an incontrovertible fact. Within the space of just over two years Kadyrov has managed to rebuild the ruined republic. We are not simply talking about the capital city: there is today not a single village, a single settlement that has not had its appearance radically transformed.
The term "restoration" is insufficient to describe the reality that Ramzan Kadyrov has created from ground zero. He has managed to give the republic a whole new look, and has consigned to oblivion the squalid architecture of the Soviet provinces. And according to a recent official announcement, the process is now complete.
When Kadyrov Junior assumed the post of prime minister, Chechnya’s economy was in ruins, there was no manufacturing industry, there were roadblocks and checkpoints, impassable mud, shattered housing, refugees in camps, pitch darkness at night, chaos, a people deprived of a future. Today, in the estimation of those who visit it, Grozny is a European city.
Let us not forget that government funding existed before Kadyrov. Still fresh in one’s memory is the talk about the "black hole" into which billions vanished, as into water. Money, like any other instrument of human activity, means nothing unless it is channelled through the strong will of a creator. Even Kadyrov’s successful lobbying for the republic’s interests at the federal level is not just a skill, but a great political talent.
It is no secret that much of the restoration work has been paid for by investment, the local budget, and the Akhmat Kadyrov Public Foundation.
The Kadyrov Foundation is often described as a pump for injecting funds into the Chechen leader’s pockets. But almost everyone in Chechnya is aware that the Foundation’s cash resources have provided most of the funding for the construction work and other projects in the republic. Those resources are invested in a number of commercial enterprises (not only in Chechnya), and the profits go to serve the needs of the republic. The accumulating capital belongs to the investors – the entrepreneurs and businessmen who care about the future of their homeland. One important detail here is that Kadyrov's personal relationship with business people and their respect for the President and faith in his personal guarantees have become the main stimulus to investment in the republic’s restoration.
The Foundation has made possible the large-scale construction of housing, bridges and roads, and the provision of assistance for citizens in financial and material distress. The help for pensioners, the various social programs in the fields of education, professional work, employment, housing, welfare, and the restoration of social facilities – all these are not merely promises, but actual programs implemented by the Foundation. And so all the gossip about the luxurious life Kadyrov is said to lead on funds from the republic’s budget is simply foolish, when one assesses the scale of the Foundation’s charitable activities. The hundreds and thousands of people who have already received its assistance could argue with the detractors, but no one asks them to.
But the main thing is not what Kadyrov has restored. More important are the changes which, thanks to him, have taken place in people’s minds. He has stopped the bloody war that lasted for many years. He has saved many hundreds (if not thousands) of lives. As a result of amnesty (again, with Ramzan Kadyrov’s active assistance) since 2001 alone some 8,000 former members of the illegal armed formations have been returned to civilian life. The majority of them (since 2004) laid down their arms under Ramzan’s personal guarantee. Today these men are living with their families, working and building up their lives. Is that not a good thing?
The tedious arguments of Kadyrov’s opponents are familiar from A to Z: the President’s inordinate ambition, the tyranny, the rigid vertical of power. Let us recall our recent history. Did not the dissension among our leaders, from Dudayev to Maskhadov, play a fatal rtole in their political careers? For all Maskhadov’s positive qualities as a person, his lack of a firm hand, his failure to take firm and deliberate decisions, to exert political will, initiative and mastery, led Chechen society to the tragedy of August 1999. Imagine what would have happened in the republic after the end of the second Chechen war if the man in power had been a weak-kneed waverer with some obscure plan of action.
It is often said that Chechen society is split into several camps: the supporters of the Caucasus Emirate, the Ichkerians and the Kadyrovites. Not true! There are no camps. There is the Chechen Republic, there are the people of the Chechen Republic, its organs of power, and a group of losers who do not want to accept the fact they have been marginalized. These people carp and criticize from every corner – some because they genuinely do not understand anything, others because they are guilty of serious crimes, and yet others because they cannot find a place for their political ambitions in the new reality. This group is not as significant as it would like to think. .
At the time in question, the young President was simply the only figure who was able to respond to the tragic call of the epoch. It was his charisma, his sometimes harsh decisions, his political will, his energy and orientation towards " the future" that made possible the realization of a program, unprecedented in scope, for the rehabilitation of an entire people. It was very difficult to have faith in what was happening, because even the most optimistic projections forecast that the republic’s rebirth would take twenty years to achieve.
He is often found wanting because of his age, but let us remember the young Peter the Great, Alexander, Tamerlane (and how many of them there are in history!). It was that youthfulness, that energy, that innovative thinking and amazing courage for the task of rebuilding the universe that moved mountains. Kadyrov has far from exhausted his possibilities, and there is no doubt that he will produce many more surprises as he displays himself as a discoverer who spurs history on.
I know that after the publication of this text pale shadows will emerge from every crevice to cast stones at me with their powerless hands. I do not intend to engage in polemics, and have not set myself the goal of trying to persuade anyone that I am right – even those who are able to understand that “it is better to lose one’s way with one’s people than with its enemy." A man must come to an acknowledgement of his own errors by himself – it cannot be imposed on him. But it is still worth noting that "the clouds come and go, but the heavens remain". Kadyrov is not at the helm today because of inordinate ambition, or because thirst for power. The epoch itself has ordered it so.
The Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli wrote: "Everyone thinks he’s a strategist when he sees a battle from the sidelines!" It is easy to judge, but to act is difficult. Have you tried to put yourself in Ramzan Kadyrov’s shoes and consider, at least for a moment, how order may be ensured in the republic now that the war is over, how the republic itself may be reborn, how roads may be laid and houses built, how the disadvantaged may be helped to believe in the future again? If not, then try it, and think!
Photo: club-rf.ru. (Translation by DM) (P,DM)
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