Chechnya is an island of islamic fanaticism in the middle of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Yup.
You heard that right.
In a country that congratulates itself on being the Spiritual Shelter of the West, the
last bulwark of Christianity… that is the country where the Republic of Chechnya is.
A part of Russia where vodka is impossible to buy...
And yes, I know what you are gonna say…
‘Oh, Simon, did you just say the REPUBLIC of CHECHNYA?
Didn’t you say it was part of Russia?’
The truth is, the Russian Federation is, territory wise, the biggest country in the World.
And that means their political distribution is really complicated…
The biggest part of the country is divided into the so-called OBLASTs, which are similar
to the states of the United States of America.
They have their own governor, their own parliament, but they must respect the Russian constitution
and the Kremlin.
However, there are other regions in Russia, the so-called, REPUBLICS, that have way more
autonomy.
They have their own constitution, their own language, and even their own official religion.
One of those republics is the Crimean Republic.
And despite not being recognized by America, or by Europe, it is controlled by Russia.
You see, ‘in theory’
(fingers) Russian law guarantees a lot of autonomy.
But I say ‘in theory’ because as you know, Vladimir Putin loves to keep his country under
tight control.
In fact, almost all of the presidents of the republics belong to Putin’s political party:
UNITED RUSSIA.
Anytime one of those governments challenges Putin even a little, things like this happen:
Tatarstan, the Last Region to Lose Its Special Status Under Putin Nonetheless, there is a
republic Putin doesn’t dare bully.
Yep, you heard that right.
Vladimir Putin, the Chuck Norris of politics, is afraid sometimes, too.
Specifically when it comes to CHECHNYA.
‘It is often unclear who rules whom.
Russian observers of the region complain that Russian law and authority stops at the Chechen
border’ For example in Chechnya, the hijab is promoted by the government.
Things like polygamy or even marriages involving minors are tolerated…
And no restaurant dares to open at daytime during the Ramadan season.
Nonetheless, all of these things are nothing compared to what some newspapers showed in
April, 2017.
‘Chechnya opens world's first concentration camp for homosexuals’
Yes, yes, I know…
Putin is no big fan of LGBT rights… but opening a gay concentration camp sounds a
bit too much, even for him.
So the question to be made here is…
Why doesn’t Putin dare to put some order in Chechnya?
What is the Chechnyan president, RAMZAN KADYROV’s secret to getting Putin to let him do as he
pleases?
Today, we are going to answer all of those questions but before we do, let’s take a
look back at the history...
THE SICILY OF THE CAUCASUS
For centuries, Chechnya was ruled by big clans that had power over specific areas.
Those clans, named TUKKHUM in the Chechen language, were composed of hundreds of smaller
families, the so called TEIP.
For a better understanding, this was pretty similar to the Sicilian mafia system: everything
stayed in the families.
And everything was done according to the principles of religion, in this case, SUNNI ISLAM.
And, the same way the Sicilian mafia resisted all kinds of invasions, the Chechen TUKKHUM
system survived the Tzars and even the Soviet Union.
‘We must be Soviets in public and Muslims in private’ Chechen proverb.
In other words, during the Soviet era, there were two parallel systems running at the same
time.
On the surface, there was communism.
Underground, there was this hierarchy of Muslim clans and families.
This is why, when, in the year 1991, the Soviet Union disappeared, Chechens seized the opportunity
and declared the CHECHEN REPUBLIC OF ICHKERIA.
This name might ring a bell because it appeared in one of the CALL OF DUTY video games by
the way!
Back then, the President of the brand new Russian Federation, BORIS YELTSIN, replied
to those rebels with military power.
Yeltsin declares emergency, curfew in Chechen region Nevertheless, this state of emergency
failed entirely.
The Russian army was incapable of stopping the Chechen rebels and had to run back home.
But not only that!
During their retreat, the separatist rebels seized Russian weapons.
So for three long years, the Kremlin had to put up with Chechnya.
But, in the year 1994, things changed.
“You can build a throne with bayonets, but it's difficult to sit on it” –Boris Yeltsin
Do you remember what I told you about the political system of Chechnya, based on the
TUKKHUM clan system?
Well… the truth is, those different clams didn’t really get on well with each other.
And this is how a civil war started.
A civil war that, to Russian eyes, was the perfect opportunity to take back control of
the republic.
However, a year later, after the Russian army had lost almost 6,000 soldiers, poor Boris
Yeltsin had to sign a peace treaty with the separatist and pretty weak government of Chechnya.
Meanwhile, many Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan fled to Grozny, the
Chechen capital, to recruit new members.
A failed state with a tribal system where Islam is the official religion sounds like
a great market for terrorist recruiting, now doesn’t it?
In other words…
it was just a matter of time before another war started.
This actually happened in 1999, when a group if Islamic rebels invaded a neighbouring Russian
republic: the republic of DAGESTAN.
So, if making trouble in their own territory wasn’t enough, Chechens wanted to attack
other parts of Russia.
As you can imagine, the Kremlin had to send their troops immediately.
But this time it was different…
Why?
Well… despite Boris Yeltsin being the president,
this time, the Prime Minister was… the one, the only, the hero of VisualPolitik…
VLADIMIR PUTIN!
Putin went there and found one of the separatist chiefs, Mr. AKHMAD KADYROV.
So he went to him and said…
‘Kadyrov, dude.
Look, I’m gonna shower you in gold, and give you as many weapons and as much power
as you need… you can do whatever you want there in Chechnya but there is only one condition:
No wars and no terrorism anymore, alright?’
And… as we say here at VisualPolitik… as it was said, so it was done!
The war was over.
And Kadyrov used all that help from the Kremlin to destroy the other warlords in the republic.
And now you might wonder…
Well, did it work?
Well… the answer is yes, and… no.
Of course there were no more wars.
But many of those other warlords started organizing terrorist attacks in other areas of Russia,
including Moscow.
In the Moscow case, a terrorist group kidnapped over 300 hostages in a theatre.
Of those 300 civilians, 170 died.
In other words…
Putin’s plan was far from perfect.
And Kadyrov’s authority was not taken for granted.
In fact, some years later he would die in another terrorist attack in Grozny.
And that was the moment when the main character of this story come into the picture…
AN INSTAGRAM STAR RAMZAN KADYROV succeeded his father in power.
And he learnt a valuable lesson: if you wanna start a dictatorship, make it big.
We are talking about a country full of warlords fighting each other, where Al Qaeda or Daesh
were recruiting people who might challenge Kadyrov’s power.
In other words… he was not willing to let those weird Western fashions, you know, like
democracy or Human Rights make him look weak.
Besides, he had Putin’s support, he had wealth and he had weapons…
What else coukd you ask for?
“I owe my life to Putin.
If I ever forget this, I am not a man.
When I went through a terribly hard time in my life, he helped.
He is the most saintly man to me”—Ramzan Kadyrov
The truth is… since Kadyrov came to power, Chechen terrorist attacks in other parts of
Russia have disappeared.
But not only that!
Al Qaeda and Daesh militants are disappearing too.
Kadyrov’s police chases them, expels them from the country with their families, and
then burns their houses!
If this was not enough, Kadyrov’s soldiers offered themselves as volunteers for the most
dangerous missions in Ukraine.
In fact, in order to show his love for Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov organized a military parade
at Grozny football stadium.
Thousands of soldiers waved at the Chechen president.
They were ready to die for him...
“If Putin tells me to get my army together, I´m ready”- Ramzan Kadyrov But things are
not as sweet as they might seem.
Actually, with that military parade, Kadyrov was giving two messages: One was ‘Hey Putin,
I’m your buddy’, the other was ‘Hey Putin, if you ever stop being my buddy, come
and get me… if you dare’.
Yes, friends, if Vladimir Putin ever wanted to confront his Chechen bestie, it would be
complicated, to say the least...
And there are many signs that this could happen.
In fact, all of Kadyrov’s political foes have been murdered, regardless of where they
were.
From journalists living in Moscow to political opponents hiding in Saint Petersburg…
So, what does this mean?
Well, it means the Government of Grozny has its own KGB situated all across the country.
And they are happy to use it anytime someone, Chechen or not, gets a little bothersome.
To put it more poetically, Putin created Ramzan Kadyrov, and now his creation has become big
enough to look him in the eye.
This explains why, unlike other presidents of Russian republics, Kadyrov dares to give
his opinion on international affairs.
And the Kremlin pretends they don’t see those horrific gay concentration camps...
Russia backs Chechen government's denials over killing and torture of gay men Meanwhile,
Chechnya is getting wealthier and wealthier thanks to Russia.
90% of their wealth comes, directly, from money transfers from the Kremlin.
Kadyrov has built a republic where the cult of his personality is almost like a second
religion, just surpassed by Islam.
His instagram account has over 3 million followers, twice as much as the Chechen population.
And on this account you can see the lifestyle of one of the craziest dictators around…
and, at the same time, the only one that makes Putin afraid.
So now the question is…
Will Vladimir Putin and Ramzan Kadyrov end up clashing?
Should the Kremlin try to stop the Human Rights violations in Chechnya?
Please, leave your answer on the comment section below.
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