CHECHENS, Nokhchiy(self-name), people in the Russian Federation, the main population of Chechnya.

According to the 2002 Population Census, 1 million 361 thousand Chechens live in Russia. According to the 2010 Census, 1 million 431 thousand also live in Ingushetia, Dagestan, Stavropol Territory, Volgograd Region, Kalmykia, Astrakhan, Saratov, Tyumen Region, North Ossetia, Moscow, as well as in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, etc.

Ethnonym

In Armenian sources of the 7th century, Chechens are mentioned under the name "nakhcha matyan" ("speaking the Nokhchi language"). In documents of the 16th-17th centuries there are tribal names of Chechens ( Ichkerin residents, Okoks, Shubuts, etc..). The name Chechens was a Russian transliteration of Kabardian "sheshei" and came from the name of the village of Bolshoi Chechen.

Language

Chechens speak the Chechen language of the Nakh group of the Nakh-Dagestan branch of the North Caucasian language family. Dialects: flat, Akkinsky, Cheberloevsky, Melkhinsky, Itumkalinsky, Galanchozhsky, Kistinsky. The Russian language is also widespread. Writing after 1917 was first based on Arabic, then Latin script, and since 1938 - based on the Russian alphabet.

Religion

Believing Chechens are Sunni Muslims. There are two widespread Sufi teachings - Naqshbandi and Nadiri. The main deities of the pre-Muslim pantheon were the god of the sun and sky Del, the god of thunder and lightning Sel, the patron of cattle breeding Gal-Erdy, the patron of hunting - Elta, the goddess of fertility Tusholi, the god of the underworld Eshtr. Islam penetrates Chechnya in the 13th century through the Golden Horde and Dagestan. Fully Chechens converted to Islam in the 18th century. An important element of Chechen society are Sufi communities-virds along with clans (teips), although ordinary civil institutions currently play a priority social role.

Traditional activities

Agriculture and cattle breeding. The Chechens raised sheep, cattle, and thoroughbred horses for riding.. There was economic specialization between the mountainous and lowland regions of Chechnya: receiving grain from the plains, the mountain Chechens sold their surplus livestock in return. Jewelry and blacksmithing crafts, mining, silk production, and bone and horn processing were also developed.

Cloth

Traditional Chechen men's clothing - shirt, trousers, beshmet, cherkeska. Men's hats are tall, flaring hats made of valuable fur. The hat was considered the personification of masculine dignity; knocking it down would entail blood feud.

The main elements of Chechen women's clothing are a shirt and pants. The shirt had a tunic-like cut, sometimes below the knees, sometimes to the ground. The color of clothing was determined by the status of the woman and differed among married, unmarried and widowed women.

This question was asked to Ramzan Kadyrov during his interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel on March 29, 2017 by Ekaterina Grinchevskaya.

Ramzan Kadyrov announced the program, writing: “This morning, watch my interview with the Russia-24 TV channel. Starts at 10.00.” So he wrote in a comment to Ekaterina Grinchevskaya’s post on the Russian-language website “Grozny Information Agency”

• http://www.grozny-inform.ru/main.mhtml?Part=11&PubID=83333

Ramzan Kadyrov is a kind of politician. He knows how to perfectly navigate reality, clearly defining the correct direction of movement of force. In our opinion, the most striking manifestation of this property is that Ramzan Kadyrov was the first to stop calling himself “president”, and began to be called the head of Chechnya. Let us remember that he was the first to take this step after our publication in the President newspaper several years ago.

To understand the foresight of this step, let us compare for comparison the short-sightedness of the “president” of Tatarstan, Minnikhanov, who is now being demolished along with his entire incompetent almshouse. The newspaper "President" several times directly reminded Minnikhanov that it is impossible to get cocky like that...

So, what did millions of Russians ultimately hear on the central news channel? Here are phrases from an interview with the head of the Chechen Republic.

– How many Russians live in the Chechen Republic today?

- Nowadays they don’t live long. There used to be more. This is due to military events and their departure from the republic. In addition, a program was invented for the departure of the Russian-speaking population from Chechnya. Many are returning. We have no difficulties in interethnic or interfaith issues. We recently opened a new Orthodox church in the Naursky district, the most beautiful in the North Caucasus. In the Shelkovsky district they are starting to build another temple. An Orthodox church was one of the first to be opened in Grozny. In this direction, our republic can be called an illustrative example. What happened was invented by our common enemies with the aim of using the Chechen people against the Russian state. It was they who killed Russian, Chechen, and Jewish families in order to make the Chechen people guilty. This is not our fault. We were simply set up. The entire republic was given to Dudayev. Where did he come from? He is a military man, like Maskhadov. Where did Basayev, an intelligence officer, come from? This war was invented against the sovereignty of Russia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was then necessary to destroy Russia. Entire Western European institutions have developed and continue to develop such a strategy, increasing pressure on our country.

Of course, this is an interesting interpretation of the Russian genocide in Chechnya, even justifying their mass flight from their homes and the land developed by their ancestors. And one could agree with Kadyrov, but there are too many “buts”. For example, both Dudayev and Maskhadov, even if they were sent from another planet to frame the Chechens, the Chechens themselves supplied militants, weapons, and food. Or is this also a setup? Auto setup?

One more “but”. It concerns Moscow, where the revelry of the Chechens was prohibitive. He calmed down somewhat only because the Russians completely ran out of money, and the Chechens had to return to the mountains.

I will never forget how Chechens cut the throat of an eighteen-year-old Russian guy on live television. He died without understanding what these animals were doing to him.

And again this was not done by Basayev and Maskhadov, but by ordinary Chechens - who sensed impunity and were then amnestied en masse by their Jewish patrons in the Kremlin...

“The usual Caucasian cowardly excuses,” is how judges, prosecutors, and investigators who handled the cases of all dodgy offenders and criminals from this region characterize the behavior of the majority of residents of this region. The whole country, thanks to the media, now knows how the sons and daughters of the Caucasus behave when caught red-handed. This is no secret to anyone.

“Racing driver” Mara Bogdasaryan still teaches lessons to the Russian public on resourcefulness, lies and forgery. But he does not admit guilt. Even despite the fact that the lawyers overdid it in providing certificates purchased from doctors about serious illnesses and she was deprived of the right to drive a car for life for medical reasons. It seems that this is the norm of behavior of Caucasians when they speak Russian, and not among their own?

– Do you still take this criticism to heart when they say that Moscow feeds Chechnya? – the correspondent continues.

– This is said by those people who have nothing to do with Russia. It offends me when sensible people support such statements. This is just a talker who goes to a rally when he tortures young boys through social networks, trying to impose this false opinion on them. I don’t listen to such talkers at all. I listen to those people who should be understanding about everything. When they quote and comment on all this, then it becomes offensive.

– How is the budget of the Chechen Republic formed today?

– The republic’s budget is formed by local and federal revenues, as usual for all other subjects of the Russian Federation.

However, Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the subsidized republic, is not entirely right. More precisely, completely wrong. Chechnya's budget is 90% handouts from the Russians. And in his interview, Kadyrov complained that government officials still have not given him money to build an oil refinery. Although he identified and allocated the site, his deputy prime ministers deceived him, delayed the matter, and the republic has still not received a tranche for the construction.

Father Luka from Belarus, who, buying oil in Russia at a brotherly price, resold it and redistribution products at market prices to the same brothers in the Russian Federation, do not give their neighbors laurels. An ordinary gamble, this is how the blogosphere characterized these commercial qualities of neighbors and pseudo-brothers.

Now let’s remind the head of Chechnya about the figures that the author published a year after Chechen mercenaries shot the American Paul Klebnikov in 2004.

How much does Chechnya cost Russia?

This material is a “thing with a story.” The issue of Journalist magazine with this material was published just as it marks a year since the murder of American journalist Paul Klebnikov near the office of Forbes magazine, which he managed for several months.

Mastering new markets for information, I came to Paul Klebnikov at his new Forbes magazine. Back then in Russia we assumed that this was a serious analytical magazine. And I suggested that Khlebnikov take up the topic of financing the Chechen Republic from federal sources.

Khlebnikov immediately became interested in the topic I proposed. At the same time, he said that his magazine wants to know the true and legal sources of the information received. All data must be documented, with tape recordings provided if this is an interview. Well, yes, yes, that's what I did. Since I worked in the State Duma for many years, it was not particularly difficult for me to obtain information from informed sources.

After a month of painstakingly collecting disparate and contradictory data, I sent the material to Paul Klebnikov by e-mail.

At the meeting, Khlebnikov made it clear to me that he expected more stunning data and figures. I asked him with offense: “Does your publication need sensations or true facts?” Khlebnikov, perked up, replied: “No, no, of course, these are true facts.”

But I didn’t want to print facts and figures about the Chechen war. And I asked, citing the knowledge of the sources of the Stringer newspaper, where I worked, to write essays and business biographies of some of the leaders of the Sibneft oil company. At the same time, from memory, Khlebnikov gave me five or six names that I had never heard of before. I didn’t show it and didn’t refuse the “tempting offer,” but I thought to myself: “Yes, how easy it is for such American guys to collect intelligence in Russia. You, a Russian journalist, will find out terrible secrets, bring collected piles of documents, and after reading them they will say to you: “Well, everyone has known this for a long time.” Khlebnikov said that he was leaving for the USA for several weeks. We agreed to call and meet closer to August.

And a few weeks later, sitting on a beach in Crimea, I heard a message from the radio that the editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, Paul Klebnikov, had been shot dead not far from the editorial building.

Later, our investigative authorities named certain Chechens as the main suspects in the murder of the journalist and even detained someone, but nothing more...

Exact numbers? Do such things exist?

According to experts, government officials have never given exact figures on spending on Chechnya. But they also say that President Putin, as a manager, and a good manager, should know about the expenses and losses of the company he runs called the Russian Federation.

During the two Chechen wars, according to government sources, all law enforcement agencies lost more than 4,300 people killed (as of the date when this material was first published - ed.). Of these, as was said at the celebrations on the occasion of the anniversary of the GRU, in November 2003, 471 employees of this department died in Chechnya. But the GRU employs super-professionals.

Human rights organizations, both ours and foreign, give their assessment of the combat losses of all departments participating in the Chechen campaign: 10,000 - 12,000 killed. According to their estimates, Russian losses are comparable to the losses of the USSR in Afghanistan, which were about 14,000 people, but the population of the USSR was 110 million more than the population of today's Russia.

At Parliamentary hearings organized by the Defense Committee of the State Duma in the fall of 2003, the head of the medical service of the Ministry of Defense claimed that in total his department had treated 39 thousand wounded and sick during the years of the Chechen campaign; 2% of this figure did not survive, and the rest, about 80%, returned to duty. The general proudly noted that our military medicine surpassed in rehabilitation the indicators of our medicine during the Great Patriotic War, which were considered the best in the world. The figures of the wounded and maimed who passed through the military department can easily be doubled, because 60% of the security forces in Chechnya belong to other services.

That is, at least 80,000 - 90,000 people passed through hospitals for the maimed and wounded.

According to the 2002 census, there are no Russians in Chechnya...

According to the 1989 census, approximately 280,000 Russians lived in Chechnya.

And according to the 2002 census, there is no Russian population in Chechnya at all. With the exception of some old people living out their lives. The First State Duma even organized “ Commission of Stanislav Govorukhin » to investigate crimes of Chechens against the Russian population. A State Duma resolution was being prepared to create a Tribunal for the genocide of the Russian population in Chechnya. According to the documents of the Govorukhin Commission, in Chechnya, 21,000 Russians and several hundred people of other nationalities were exterminated in Chechnya during the first years of independence (“Govorukhin Commission” publishing house “Loventa” M., 1995).

Foreign and our human rights activists claim that as a result of the war, the Chechen population allegedly lost 60,000 - 80,000 thousand killed and wounded. Although these figures are clearly overestimated several times. These losses include killed terrorists and militants, the number of which was given in various ways: from 1 thousand to 10 thousand. Moreover, according to the results of the latest census, the population growth rate in Chechnya is the highest in the Russian Federation and amounts to 2.4% per year.

It is also worth considering that the population of Chechnya bears all the hardships of the war and huge losses, guided by the national idea, having a clear goal - the creation of an independent and sovereign state - Free Chechnya. Freedom and Independence are and have always been very expensive. But how much Chechnya costs the Russian people, and why its soldiers are dying in the Caucasus, has never been discussed. Although national patriots claim that soldiers die for the Empire and this, they say, is good.

Kudrin deftly avoided answering

When discussing the 2004 budget, State Duma deputies asked Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin how much was being spent on Chechnya? Kudrin cleverly avoided answering, citing the fact that expenses for the rebellious province are allocated to different budget items. But Sergei Stepashin said the same thing five years ago: “I will come up with a proposal that all expenses for military operations in Chechnya should be included in the budget as a separate line,” said the head of the Accounts Chamber.

“Society must know how much war costs.” But society never learned from the former prime minister what it cost. The Accounts Chamber has repeatedly conducted audits of the targeted use of funds by federal departments in Chechnya, but, apart from overspending on child benefit payments, inflated prices for construction contracts and losses from terrorist attacks, it did not find anything criminal. When discussing the 2005 budget, people’s deputies, impressed by the tragedy in Beslan, no longer asked awkward questions...

According to expert estimates made three years ago by Novaya Gazeta, the war cost Russia 330 billion rubles a year, or almost $11.5 billion a year. And this is more than 12% of Russia’s annual budget. Neither the military nor economists believe in such spending. The newspaper's experts proceeded from calculation methods in which each shot from a tank was estimated at $200, and the sortie of a front-line fighter at 5-7 thousand "green".

The war in Chechnya was clearly calculated according to American methods of waging wars for the “victory of democracy” in Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq. More reliable, based on figures taken from domestic financial documents, figures of 1.3-1.5 billion dollars per year can be considered. These calculations are based on the addition of spending on Chechnya under open and closed items of the Russian budget. These figures are confirmed by all sources and experts.

But no one can give an accurate assessment of the harmful impact of the war in Chechnya on the country's economy. This topic is not discussed in society. As you know, after the death of President Kadyrov, President Putin and German Gref visited Chechnya. This was exactly a year ago. We looked from the helicopter at the devastated region and were horrified. Then together we decided that it was necessary to increase cash flows for the restoration of Chechnya. Fortunately, due to rising oil prices, the government has a large surplus of funds, which will again flow to Chechnya. Already after the first military campaign, according to various sources, from 6 to 10 billion dollars of budget funds were spent on the “restoration of Chechnya”. We are unlikely to know how much more money the black hole of an undeclared war in the Caucasus will absorb under this government.

Deputy Alexey Mitrofanov on the “cost” of Chechnya for the Russian budget

“This is one of the meanings of the Chechen war: you can steal indefinitely.”

For all budget lines, not counting the military part of expenses in Chechnya, Russia will spend $700 million in a year. This figure is taken from the budget, but it is not actively discussed. These expenses include all federal programs for Chechnya, direct subsidies, education, culture, healthcare, benefits and pensions, and everything else.

Expenditures on the lines of law enforcement agencies, and these are: the army, aviation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the FSB and other special services go separately. You can estimate based on the fact that our Ministry of Defense budget is about 10 billion dollars, about 300 million dollars goes to Chechnya through its line. And also for other departments. Therefore, Chechnya costs the budget about a billion dollars a year as a federal subject. This is one of the reasons for the continuation of the endless war; huge budget money is being boiled there.

But there are also huge unaccounted cash flows circulating there. These are the so-called “samovars” - private oil factories. Hundreds of fuel tankers and freight trains run regularly, like children going to school exactly on schedule. Nobody stops them. The entire south of Russia, especially the Rostov region, runs on “scorched” Chechen gasoline. This is a good business, the income from which flows into different pockets, including the military, for the creation of the roof. Trade in these petroleum products brings in 200 - 300 million dollars a year.

The internal business of Chechnya and, especially, the arms trade also brings in considerable income, including drugs. At the same time, at least 50% of the funds are embezzled, that is, they are not used for specific needs. This is one of the meanings of the Chechen war: you can steal indefinitely. The war will write everything off. This money goes straight into the pockets of the military and officials. In the world there are complex and dangerous financial theft schemes. During war, money is stolen very quickly. The same thing, only with the correction of the amounts multiplied by one hundred, is now happening in Iraq.

The Americans have surpassed us here. About $500 million per year is allocated from the American budget alone to organize fast food on the roads for military personnel. It can be assumed that 400 of them were stolen. An American truck driver earns up to $50,000 a month. This is the cost of his package of all payments for all positions. The Americans, like Russia, have created a big budget hole through which a lot of things are disappearing. Like ours, their commissions cannot get to inspection sites because everything explodes and disappears. Everything is done very technically.

The investigation was led by Andrey Arkhipov, taken from the site http://abosru.net/?p=52528

From the editor:

The murders of 21,000 Russian citizens of all ages and statuses and several hundred people of other nationalities are WAR CRIMES against humanity, and they have no statute of limitations under any standards - neither in the law of the Russian Federation, nor in International law.

These numbers should always hang in the reception hall in a frame by the leader who feeds from Russian hands. And everyone, young and old, “in the quietest territory of Russia” should know these terrible data.

Otherwise, why feed and support such forgetful and ungrateful people? And it’s time to resume the case of the Russian genocide in the Caucasus, to look for and find the hidden fanatics who live in Russian houses and villages on lands where their former Russian masters were brutally executed: men, women, old people, children! The volumes and investigations of the State Duma Commission are awaiting investigators and prosecutors.

And perhaps it would be desirable to improve their well-being, it is required that the head of the republic himself, like the Germans of Germany after the war, realize their collective responsibility for the crimes of the Nazis, who were ordinary fellow citizens and reconsider their attitude towards those terrible pages of Russian-Chechen relations.

And he did not assure Russia in good faith that this “was invented by our common enemies with the aim of using the Chechen people against the Russian state. It was they who killed Russian, Chechen, and Jewish families in order to make the Chechen people guilty. This is not our fault. We were simply set up. The entire republic was given to Dudayev. Where did he come from? He is a military man, like Maskhadov. Where did Basayev, a secret service worker, come from?

The mountaineers, as always, do not want to take on any responsibility? Are they looking for the culprits from the outside who were sent to them, although they were Chechens?

Likewise, the Germans can claim that the Jews in the leadership of Nazi Germany, and this is a sad fact, incited them to the bloodiest massacre on the planet, and they are just a victim!

Full version of the interview of the Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov to the Rossiya 24 TV channel

Ramzan Akhmatovich, before our interview, my colleagues showed me your video with Mikhail Galustyan, where you seem to give an answer to the NATO research center, which criticizes our Russian television regarding propaganda. The video is really funny. We all laughed together. Tell me how you tend to treat a sense of humor about everything that happens in international and domestic politics?

In fact, NATO's statement was ridiculous. It would seem, what does comedians have to do with it? They give us the opportunity to laugh and feel like real people. But NATO began accusing them of being involved in some international issues. I understand that NATO is accustomed to regarding everything connected with Russia as a danger to the West and to itself. They are afraid of what is not in reality, and present Russia as an aggressor. Although Russia is the most friendly state in the entire world community. Russia always protects those in need. In general, I think that this was a bad statement. As a result, we decided to answer them in their own language. It is impossible to live without humor. Wherever we are, no matter what we do, we are people and must remain so, and humor is additional energy. I myself have a good attitude towards both humor and criticism addressed to me, if they do not hurt my honor and dignity.

The Chechen military police recently returned from Syria. In the history of the Armed Forces, this was the first such experience when a military police battalion was sent abroad. The business trip was successful. Does this mean that we will repeat the experiment?

This is the prerogative of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. But the fact that the battalion, which is stationed in Chechnya and is formed mainly from Chechen guys, was honored is a big plus and great trust for the entire Chechen people. They completed an important mission. And of course, we are also pleased that the guys completed the tasks assigned to them 100 percent. If our religion, mentality and customs help and assist in solving the most difficult problems, then I believe that we need to involve them more. The guys found a common language with the local population. There were no problems at all. And this is taking into account that there was not only the task of protecting civilians from terrorists, but also a number of other important tasks. And we are very grateful and glad that we can participate in resolving such issues necessary for the security of our state.

- After the attack by militants on the military academy, did security measures in the republic somehow change?

In fact, we take security issues very seriously. But what happened in the village of Naurskaya was our failure, the failure of the special services. You could say we relaxed. The Naur region has always been a peaceful area. There was never any military action there. And we did not expect that such a situation could arise. This won't happen again. The National Guard, the police, and the intelligence services will show great vigilance and will not allow such tragedies to happen again.

- So it’s still too early to relax?

In general, as Vladimir Putin said, there can be terrorist attacks everywhere - in London and other European cities. No one is immune from this! And Chechnya is no exception.

In fact, we have done a lot of work from December 2016 to today to neutralize any terrorist threats in the bud. And there is no such calm situation as we have in our region. These are not big words that have no basis, but a statement of fact!

I know very well the mood that reigns in our society. People treat these devils with contempt and hatred. And terrorists in Chechnya today have absolutely no social base.

We are staunch opponents of the Wahhabis. Their actions contradict our religion, our national values. They seek to harm Islam, the Muslim Ummah. And we must destroy them, wherever they are, and block any routes for the spread of extremist ideology. This is our sacred duty!

In March, the Chechen Republic celebrated Constitution Day. And you recalled the referendum that took place fourteen years ago, and in your congratulatory speech you said that the Chechen Republic is thriving today. Why is the republic thriving today? On what, perhaps, three pillars does its stability and development rest?

In fact, the referendum became a historical, turning point event for our republic and even for Russia as a whole. The Chechen people have never been given the opportunity to determine their own future. And after we held a referendum and adopted the Constitution, all branches of government were formed, and work began on the revival and development of Chechnya with the help of the federal center. We set out to revive the economy, which was in complete decline. There seemed to be no light. Those people who were seconded did not have an understanding of what and how to do to bring the region out of the crisis.

It is thanks to the strong-willed decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin that we have stability; today we are talking about prosperity and the economy. We are developing the economy, especially in industry and agriculture, plus tourism. If in the 90s we were talking about dozens of tourists who visited the republic, now we are talking about hundreds of thousands of tourists. And in the future, we want to make the city of Grozny a Caucasian youth center. We are creating all the conditions for the development of tourism, trying to attract more people to the republic. Oil and gas are all a thing of the past.

- People associate the Chechen Republic with oil production, but in reality this is not the case.

Yes, in fact, everything we have is taken by Rosneft. And plus they don’t want to take an open look at the Chechen Republic. Yes, Sechin is a great politician and statesman. He came to business from senior government positions. Therefore, he had to look at the Chechen Republic as a post-war region just beginning to build its economy.

Thanks to those strong-willed decisions and the assistance provided by the President of Russia, we are developing strongly today. Today, the Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation, Anton Siluanov, and I discussed issues that are necessary for the President of the Russian Federation to make decisions that will subsequently allow the stable development of the republic’s economy. We have very good relations with the Arab world, and there is mutual understanding with Europe. I think the prospects for our region are good and the opportunities are colossal. We are simply treated as a post-war region in the bad sense of the phrase. But we have very promising young people, we are developing management very much. Our students, hundreds of them, return after studying in Europe, London and other cities, graduating from prestigious universities, get a job with us, and together we are building a strong, reliable republic.

You need to invite people to visit you more often, then they will see everything with their own eyes. Since you mentioned Rosneft, is it true that Rosneft is ready to sell its assets?

Of course, Rosneft will sell because it has an interest in this business.

- Now there is almost no production, Ramzan Akhmatovich?

We produce almost 500 thousand tons per year. What they are offering us for 12.5 billion is ridiculous.

- Overpriced...

Of course it's funny. They talk about this based on the fact that there were oil thefts, something else. I don't even know how their management thinks. If I voice such questions today, then tomorrow it will begin: “Kadyrov against Rosneft... I defend the interests of the region and the people and therefore I believe that their attitude towards us is unfair. The President of the Russian Federation twice stated in his election program that an oil refinery would be built in Chechnya. They didn't build it. There is not even a hint of construction. We have allocated a site for the refinery and created the infrastructure. But the new head of Rosneft came and froze the whole topic. This attitude towards us is unfair. We will seek justice.

The Chechen Republic is not about oil, but about agriculture, industry and tourism. Agriculture is private entrepreneurs?

Basically, yes. It is very difficult to develop state farms in today's system. The arrival of private investment in the republic is a very promising business for our region. Most of the investors come to us from abroad. There are also local ones, but they are insignificant. Foreign investors did not want to invest money in a region where the banking system had not yet been fully developed. We have been waiting for many years for banks to start operating in Chechnya. We have been waiting for years for our projects to be financed, despite bilateral and trilateral agreements. After establishing close partnerships between Sberbank and VTB, the attitude towards the republic changed.

- Why do you think there was no trust in the republic?

Banks, first of all, are looking for benefits for themselves with a quick return on investment. In the existing banking system, especially with government support provided, there must be a government approach. They should look not at interest benefits, but at the development of the region’s economy in order to subsequently become partners in business. They want everything today. We eat seeds without waiting for the future harvest. We must do so in order to preserve both the seeds and the harvest.

Nevertheless, you manage to attract investments. As I understand it, about 80 percent of the products in stores, in particular vegetables and fruits, are grown in the Czech Republic. I also know about the ambitious project of an international university. We also know about fantastic building construction projects where the best architects from America are involved. So what is the secret to attracting such large-scale foreign investment?

We have developed friendly, brotherly relations with major investors.

- They trust you personally...

They trust the Chechen people more, investing billions of dollars. Not a single project has been stopped, funding has not stopped, despite the situation around Russia. We know how they are trying to put pressure on us with sanctions. I myself am on all sanctions lists. I am proud of this, because I believe that I defend the interests of our state. It would be bad if I ended up there for treason against my state.

What an interesting view you have on sanctions. We can learn from your experience. 90 thousand tourists in 2016. You asked the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation for help in order to further develop the Chechen Republic as a tourist region. What else do you need?

Tomorrow I will go to Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev. We have a meeting planned with him. If the Almighty gives, then we want, in general, to clarify the situation, how we want to further develop the republic, and not just maintain it. Large amounts of money are always allocated to the Chechen Republic.

- Yes, this is often criticized.

I answer to the society of the Russian Federation. Chechnya is a post-war region. There was a federal target program that was defended by everyone, the region, the Russian Government, and various directorates. It was 130 billion rubles. Then, based on the situation, they reduced it to 75 billion rubles. Our industry, destroyed by the war, was only able to restore the frames. Equipment has not been purchased, raw materials have not been purchased, the airport has not even been restored, and not all social facilities have been restored. We still have three shifts in schools. People don't look at it. They only see the amount that is currently allocated from the budget for the needs of the republic, as well as for other other subjects of the country. Tatarstan is a region with developed industry. They also receive and participate in all programs and projects. It’s just that Chechnya is on everyone’s lips. We say, give us the opportunity to live and earn money ourselves. You don’t give us this opportunity, you haven’t restored our destroyed republic. Agriculture was given to us completely destroyed, as well as industry. We had plants, factories, literally everything, but nothing was restored.

People must understand that even the program that is being implemented in all regions of the Russian Federation, in the Chechen Republic - the only post-war region, was not implemented by the federal center; half of it was sequestered. They gave the words, then there was Minister Alexei Kudrin, Dmitry Kozak was the plenipotentiary. They told me that next year they would do everything and open financing, they assured me that I would agree. Based on the situation, I agreed. What did you get? I lost everything for Russia. We defend our great country, being in the very front row. We are citizens of Russia. On March 23, fourteen years ago, we determined our destiny. We were given the opportunity, we said that we are citizens of Russia.

Do you still take this criticism to heart when they say that Moscow feeds Chechnya?

This is said by those people who have nothing to do with Russia. It offends me when sensible people support such statements. This is just a talker who goes to a rally when he tortures young boys through social networks, trying to impose this false opinion on them. I don’t listen to such talkers at all. I listen to those people who should be understanding about everything. When they quote and comment on all this, then it becomes offensive.

- How is the budget of the Chechen Republic formed today?

The budget of the republic is formed by local and federal revenues, as usual for all other subjects of the Russian Federation.

And those investments that are given to you personally on your word?

Yes, based on this, we have a consolidated budget.

And yet, let's return to tourism. What is the Chechen Republic ready to offer tourists? When I come, what should I see and where should I stay?

As Yunus-Bek Bamatgerievich said: healthy fresh air and completely free. We have various tourist routes. We pay great attention to the development of tourism. The republic's mountain routes through historical places are very attractive. We have an ancient tower, which is 1500 years old, a fortress. Also, the Nashkha area, which is considered the place of origin of the Chechens, has ancient cemeteries where Christians and Muslims are buried. Previously, Chechens were not allowed into such places. We also have many cultural and sports facilities, which will also be interesting for guests to look at. We have done and continue to do a lot to develop tourism. There are also ethnographic museums, where the atmosphere is saturated with the life of our ancestors. In five years, we will have created even more conditions for tourists. People go to Europe and Arab countries to see the sights and skyscrapers. We will have all this in our republic. We have the largest fountain in the world, even better than the one in Dubai.

I really can’t shake the feeling of comparing the Chechen Republic and Dubai. I do not know why. I was surprised that only five percent of the income there comes from the oil industry. This is mainly tourism. For you, the energy factor is a lower priority, while agriculture and tourism are a higher priority.

In fact, oil and the energy factor have faded into the background. Now everyone is putting more emphasis on tourism and agriculture, so that everything is produced locally. Therefore, we are trying to develop these areas. We invested a lot and reached an understanding. If there is understanding and people who will support you, I believe that in this case there is a prospect.

- Do you have both? Do you have understanding and people who support you?

Praise be to Allah! The republic has absolutely no problems. We have all. We don't have enough time.

Judging by the fact that you went straight from the meeting to the interview, this is understandable. How many Russians live in the Chechen Republic today?

Nowadays they live very little. There used to be more. This is due to military events and their departure from the republic. In addition, a program was invented for the departure of the Russian-speaking population from Chechnya. Many are returning. We have no difficulties in interethnic or interfaith issues.

We recently opened a new Orthodox church in the Naursky district, the most beautiful in the North Caucasus. In the Shelkovsky district they are starting to build another temple. An Orthodox church was one of the first to be opened in Grozny. In this direction, our republic can be called an illustrative example. What happened was invented by our common enemies with the aim of using the Chechen people against the Russian state. It was they who killed Russian, Chechen, and Jewish families in order to make the Chechen people guilty. This is not our fault. We were simply set up. The entire republic was given to Dudayev. Where did he come from? He is a military man, like Maskhadov. Where did Basayev, an intelligence officer, come from? This war was invented against the sovereignty of Russia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was then necessary to destroy Russia. Entire Western European institutions have developed and continue to develop such a strategy, increasing pressure on our country.

The Chechen Republic stood up to defend the entire country and thereby saved the state and its society. We have lost and suffered the most. And we are very offended when we are blamed for all the troubles.

- 14 years have passed since the referendum. Was it easier then or now to lead the republic?

It was easier for me then. Then the first President of the Chechen Republic was Akhmat-Khadzhi. I was a police officer and was behind his back. And it was easy for me then.

- Since they became the first person in the republic...

In fact, if you are the head of a region or some organization, then, of course, it is difficult, complex and dangerous. You bear a huge responsibility before the Almighty, the leadership of the country and your people. You don't have the right to make mistakes. Must be on alert day and night. Over the years, you begin to think more, worry more, and worry about the matter.

It doesn't compare to when I was thirty. Now there are more worries and more responsibility. Previously, I could say I had a boyish attitude towards some things. Now you have to think more deeply about your actions.

- What significant change has occurred over these 10 years?

Just yesterday, a friend of mine asked me a question: what is more important to me? I answered - religion, people, family. He asked me - why is the family in the third place? That's how my father put it. My people are a big family, and children are a small family. If I don't worry about a big family, then the little one will never be happy. When Akhmat-Hadji sent me to certain death, they asked him - why are you sending your son? He replied that his son should be ahead of his comrades, and not hide behind other people's backs.

-Are you just as ready now...

One hundred percent. I have to think about the well-being of all the people of Chechnya.

- Thank you.

how many millions of Chechens are there in the world? and got the best answer

and why those??? :)

Answer from Yobot Dunce[guru]
2 billion

Answer from Mikhail Turchenkov[guru]
it seems like they are everywhere

Answer from Adam Novak[guru]
Total population 1,500,000 worldwide (2009) Regions with significant populations Chechnya1,050,000 Russia300,000 (not including Chechnya and north Caucasus) Dagestan115,000 Ingushetia103,000 Kabardino-Balkaria4,000 North Ossetia-Alania3,000 Karachay-Cherkessia2,000 Ady gea1,000 Stavropol Krai15,000 Krasnodar Krai1,000 Europe100,000 (not including Russian Federation) Turkey70,000 Kazakhstan35,000 Jordan10,000 Azerbaijan5,000 Egypt5,000 Syria4,000 Georgia10,000 (including 9,000 Kist people) Iraq2,500 IranN/A (estimates from 2,000-10,000) United States500 Canada100 All data from 2009

Answer from Nataliakarizhskaya[newbie]
one is already a lot and a million is explosive

Answer from Black spirit[guru]
Millions? Fear God. At best, 600 thousand

Answer from Tim Simon Smith[guru]
a million and a half

Answer from Mira[guru]
Jews, Jews all around are Jews... You can add Chechens...

Answer from Dimass[guru]
what millions? there are so many of them

Answer from Malika[master]
HAHAHA, you made me laugh!)) we can’t even reach 1 million!)) where from? This is such a policy that everywhere Chechens are made to blame, so it seems that there are so many of us and in general all Caucasians are only Chechens!))

Answer from LEO LELE[newbie]
Million dial! if you collect from this globe, Russia has always been afraid of them and therefore did not allow them to number more than a million, otherwise not only Russia will be taken and the whole world

Answer from Berza-Dog[active]
In Russia there is about one and a half million, and if in the world as a whole, then a little more than two million!

Answer from 2 answers[guru]

What is the population of Chechnya in the world?

1. CHECHENS (self-name Nokhcho), people in the Russian Federation, the main population of Chechnya (1.031 million people), also live in Ingushetia (95.4 thousand people), Dagestan (87.8 thousand people), as well as the city Moscow (14.4 thousand people), Stavropol Territory (13.2 thousand people), Astrakhan (10 thousand people), Volgograd (12.2 thousand people), Rostov (15.4 thousand) people), Tyumen (10.6 thousand people) regions, Volga Federal District (17.1 thousand people). There are 1.36 million Chechens in the Russian Federation (2002). The total number is about 1.4 million people. An ethnic group of Chechens-Akkins lives in Dagestan. They speak Chechen. Believing Chechens are Sunni Muslims.
   Chechens, like their related Ingush, belong to the indigenous population of the North Caucasus. Mentioned in Armenian sources in the 7th century under the name Nakhchamatyan. Initially, the Chechens lived in the mountains, dividing into territorial groups. In the 15-16th century they began to move to the plain, to the valley of the Terek and its tributaries Sunzha and Argun. Until 1917, Chechens were divided into two parts based on their place of residence: Greater and Lesser Chechnya. In the lowland areas the main occupation is agriculture, in the mountainous areas cattle breeding; Domestic crafts, production of cloaks, leather goods, and pottery are developed.
2. 1,267,740 people

Attention, TODAY only!

In the Chechen Republic, the dominant religion is Sunni Islam.

The process of Islamization of Chechens has seven stages. The first stage is associated with the Arab conquests in the North Caucasus, the Arab-Khazar wars (VIII-X centuries), the second stage is associated with the Islamized elite of the Polovtsians, under whose influence the Nakhs were (XI-XII centuries), the third stage is associated with the influence of the Golden Horde ( XIII-XIV centuries), the fourth stage is associated with the invasion of Tamerlane (XIV centuries), the fifth is associated with the influence of Muslim missionaries of Dagestan, Kabarda, Turkey (XV-XVI centuries), the sixth stage is associated with the activities of Sheikh Mansur, aimed at establishing Sharia, the seventh stage is associated with the activities of Shamil and Tashu-Hadji, who fought against adats, establishing Sharia, the eighth stage is associated with the influence of Shaikh Kunta-Hadji and other Sufi teachers on the Chechens.

The beginning of the mass spread of Islam among the ancestors of the Chechens dates back to the 14th century, although there is reason to believe that Islam diffusely penetrated among the Chechens in the 9th-10th centuries, which is associated with the penetration of Arab commanders and missionaries into the territory of the Chechens.

In general, the spread of Islam among Chechens is a complex, contradictory and centuries-long process of adaptation to ethnocultural reality.

Islam spread both by violent means - the conquests of the Arabs, and by peaceful means - through missionary activity. In Chechnya, and in general throughout Russia, the Sunni branch of Islam, represented by the Shafi'i and Hanafi madhhabs, established itself.

In the North-Eastern Caucasus (Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia), Islam has the form of Sufism, functioning through the Naqshbandiyya, Qadiriyya and Shazaliya tariqas, which have had a spiritual, cultural and political influence on many peoples of the region.

In the Chechen Republic, only the Naqshbandiyya and Qadiriyya tariqats are widespread, divided into religious groups - vird brotherhoods, their total number reaches thirty. The followers of Sufism in the Chechen Republic are Sunni Muslims who rely on the basic tenets of Islam, but at the same time follow Sufi traditions, honoring their ustaz, the sheikhs known to them, and the awliya.

A large place in the religious activities of traditionalists is given to oral prayers, rituals, pilgrimages to holy places, the performance of religious rituals - dhikrs, the construction of ziyarat (movaleev) over the graves of deceased ustaz. This centuries-old spiritual and cultural tradition in modern conditions, thanks to the activities of the President of the Chechen Republic and the Muftiate, is being actively revived, reaching its apogee.

Islam in Chechnya, due to its centuries-long adaptation to popular culture, is distinguished by its liberality and tolerance of other religious systems.

In the Chechen Republic, starting in 1992, a new teaching, unconventional for the region, began to spread - the so-called Wahhabism, which represents a religious and political alternative to local Islam.

The activities of the Wahhabis had a pronounced political nature and were directed against society and the state. The radicalism and extremism of Wahhabism was determined by the transition from one socio-political system to another, the collapse of the USSR, de-ideologization, democratic transformations, and the weakness of state power.

Currently, the activities of religious extremists, as well as terrorists, are being suppressed in the Chechen Republic.

A rapid revival of traditional Islam has begun, which is manifested not only in the construction of mosques and religious schools, but also in the spiritual education of youth. Traditionalists in their daily sermons call Muslims for unity, spiritual elevation, condemn drug addiction and many other sinful acts.

Chechen

representatives of the indigenous inhabitants of the Republic of Ichkeria, who traditionally lived in the mountainous regions of the northern slopes of the eastern part of the Greater Caucasus and, since the 19th century, also in the Terek Valley.

In the course of historical development, the Chechens have moved beyond the feudal stage of development of social life and have known almost no slavery, so the relations of clans and clans that underlie their society are still in full force. History of Chechnya in the 19th-20th centuries. This century can be called a period of constant struggle against colonization by Russia.

The Chechen people have a strong sense of tribal collectivism. Its representatives always feel that they are part of a family, such (taipa). And intranet links are often more intense than other ethnic communities. They maintain relations with relatives of the fifth tribe. In this case, the feeling of belonging to Lenta prevails over national identity. Members of the clan are related by blood on the father's side and enjoy the same personal rights.

Freedom, equality and fraternity in it represent the main meaning of existence. A small number of Chechen pillars lived surrounded by stronger neighbors.

The absence of complex forms of statehood among the Chechens greatly influenced the unity of the tapes. Strictly protected by the legality of descent and the rights of such members, to preserve the glory and power which each of its representatives considered to be their personal responsibility. However, at the summit, the safety of each person depends on the fact that the insult or murder of any clan member does not go unpunished (the practice of blood dispute).

At the same time, each person must reconcile his actions with the interests of his family, because his relatives had to respond to his mistake.

This situation has raised eyebrows at patriarchal and tribal morality, such as the inadmissibility of complaints against government agencies and recourse to their protection from offenders. Moreover, the role of tapas in the life of modern Czech society cannot be reduced for the following reasons: a) for each group, the armed forces are well equipped, organized, disciplined, subordinate to patriotic authorities in their actions; b) The solution of the tables largely determines the reasons for the clash between various security forces in Chechnya.

Czechs have many stereotypes about behavior in all areas of life. These stereotypes are based on strict respect for national traditions and traditions. For the majority, respect for tradition is hypertrophic, which is explained by their special education. From an early age, the Czech child was taught about the rules of the mountain bonton, whose ignorance is severely punished by older people.

Teaching is not carried out in the form of designations that are unacceptable to the child, but in the form of illustrative examples. Condemnation or approval of an act committed by a young person, youth or man is carried out directly in the presence of the child, so that he can hear and remember that he can publicly punish or, on the contrary, praise. The child, as he is, must evaluate various situations. Thus, he develops a sense of tactical, behavioral intuition, the concept of bonton, rather than reckless closure.

Another important feature of the national psychology of the Chechen language is the recognition of the legitimacy of everyone, even the most cruel, who act as compensation for their dignity, life and honor of relatives (the practice of blood dispute). Neglecting a relative was a shame for the entire family. The image of bloody revenge led to the objective historical reality of people's lives in conditions of constant interstate and external wars.

The inability to tire a person by killing or insulting a relative indicated the weakness of the family and thus exposed them to the danger of attack.

The emotional factor of the blood conflict was both an impression and an emotional feeling of the Chechens. You can also add your pride here, which does not allow a person to live peacefully when a Serbian is offended, because insulting one of the participants in the tape is tantamount to insulting all its representatives.

One of the oldest features of national character is patriotism. For them, love for the country of birth is a feeling that should be associated with true focus. Often patriotic feelings change into nationalism and chauvinism. Radical nationalists are more common among representatives of the mountainous (poorer) region, since among them there is a stronger national tradition. Joining the entire Chechen nation as a whole is poorly understood, since a sense of responsibility for one's own type dominates.

Since the deportations of the 1940s, Chechens have had a stronger psychological attachment to the Muslim world. The national specialty of the Chechens was hospitality. "If the guest isn't looking, it doesn't go well." These negotiations express the attitude of all people towards this tradition. The arrival of a guest is always awaited and there is no need to be afraid at home. He pays special attention to it - everything that is best in the house is for the guest. Although the visitor is under the protection of the host family.

For insulting a guest is the same as insulting a master.

how many people in the world are in Chechnya.

However, some criminals in Chechnya hid in court this way. During the Queen's time, the prevalence of cross-departmental media is widespread. The feeling is extremely powerful. Brothers are always faithful to friendship, sharing joy and sadness together. They are always ready to help each other, no matter who they are. This feeling is comparable to the tradition of blood conflict and the transition from generation to generation.

In multinational groups, Chechnya is independent. As a rule, they try to unite along ethnic lines. First, communication is characterized by isolation and vigilance. But when they get used to it, Chechens can take leading positions in the group.

Head of the anthropological type of Chechens

The Chechen people, like all other peoples, do not represent a single whole in racial terms. But like most peoples, they have formed a certain anthropological type, which is perceived as typical. This type undoubtedly belongs to the Central Asian race.

In this regard, the Chechens do not differ from other Caucasian peoples, the anthropological basis of which also relates to the race described above. Its characteristic features are well known. We are talking about strong people of medium and tall build with a non-elongated, short head shape, a pronounced aquiline nose and usually dark hair and eyes.

But even among the Western Asian race, which is distributed over a vast territory, it is necessary to distinguish subspecies, just as we do among the light Northwestern European race.

Among the peoples known to me with a Western Asian racial basis - northern Armenians, eastern Georgians with Pshavs and Khevsurs, Azerbaijani Tatars, a number of Dagestan peoples, Ingush and a small number of Kumyks and Ossetians - I also, in my opinion, discovered various variants of this race.

To describe the Chechen Western Asian, I first want to express myself negatively.

His profile does not have those excessive Western Asian forms that, for example, are often observed among Armenians. A similar profile of an Armenian, approximately the one that was published by Lushan and was replicated in various books on racial studies, is not found among Chechens at all.

However, according to my observations, this type is rare among Armenians. The Chechen I photographed (images 5 and 6 on the right) has perhaps the most extreme Western Asian forms among his people. An ordinary Chechen anthropological type is depicted in photograph No. 7. This is, therefore, a completely moderate West Asian profile, albeit with a large, but still only slightly curved and not fleshy nose and a tolerably formed chin.

The latter is especially striking in comparison with image No. 5, in which, as in general in obvious Western Asian profiles, the chin recedes further and is itself flatter than what corresponds to our ideal of beauty. The profile in image No. 7 is not striking, it is balanced and pleasing due to its scope and bold, large outlines.

Also, the seated man on the right (image no. 8) falls into this category. His face can be called masculinely handsome without any restrictions. Anthropological forms that are often common are almost not reminiscent of a bird of prey of West Asian origin, but, on the contrary, have almost straight and thin noses and in which only short skulls are reminiscent of West Asian heritage.

These regular facial features were the reason for the former glory of Caucasian beauty and prompted Blumenbach to introduce the concept of the Caucasian race. Previously, especially during the era of the Caucasian Wars, when Bodenstedt was still in the Caucasus, the Caucasian peoples were too idealized, especially with regard to their physical beauty. Later, on the contrary, they went to the other extreme. Anthropological publications that depict the most extreme facial types are misleading. This applies, for example, to a photograph published in Gunther's racial studies.

It depicts an Imeretian from Kutaisi, who is perhaps the ugliest man that could be found in this city. In contrast to this, it must be emphasized once again that the Caucasian peoples, and among them especially the North Caucasians, are superior to their neighboring peoples in terms of physical beauty.

It is enough to move from Rostov towards the Caucasus and observe how at the stations the pure Caucasian faces with their large, straight features stand out from the vague Russian physiognomies.

As for the physique, I noticed that among the Armenians, eastern Georgians, Khevsurs and Dagestanis, people are mostly of average height and strong build, more often stocky than slender, but by no means tall; Some of the growth is very small, for example in some regions of Dagestan (Kazikumukh, Gumbet). In comparison, Chechens are conspicuous because of their height. It is enough to move from the last Khevsur settlement of Shatil to the Kist Dzharego and be amazed at the sharp anthropological change: among the Khevsurs there are stocky, wide figures, among the Kists there are tall, slender, even elegant, appearances.

This observation of mine was also confirmed by Radde’s messages (see list of references, No. 36).

I noted the same difference between the Ichkerians on the one hand and the Andians and Avars, especially the Gumbetians, on the other.

Slimness sometimes seems excessive. In other places, such figures would probably be called frail.

In vain! Since the shoulders are usually wide, only the hips are narrow. Because of this, the body gets an unusually firm, elastic, and sometimes slightly relaxed look. This look is further emphasized by wearing a Circassian coat on the plain.

In the mountains this is less noticeable, since there they usually wear a heavy sheepskin coat covering the body, with the exception of Melchista, where again the Circassian coat is mainly common.

The corpulence which I have observed among the Armenians and Eastern Georgians, both men and women, especially in old age, is almost entirely absent; slimness and thinness are common.

Chechens seem tall only in comparison with their neighbors; the average figures are hardly comparable to the North German ones.

I saw people taller than 1.85 m with confidence only twice. One was a Kist (meaning a highlander) from Melkhista, the other, the tallest Chechen in general, was the already mentioned grand vizier of the former Emirate - Dishninsky. By the way, this circumstance played an important role in increasing his authority among ordinary mountaineers.

He was a completely aristocratic personality, combining in himself all the advantages of his race, as well as, of course, its disadvantages.

In the above, the racial basis of the Chechen people was called Western Asian, but with the same right it can be called Dinaric.

I met Dinarides in large numbers among Serbian prisoners of war during my travels through Carinthia and Styria (historical regions of Austria) and if I compare them with the dominant race among the Chechens, then I do not see any significant differences to speak of in contrast to the Dinaric race. then a special variety of Central Asian.

For Armenians and some Dagestanis, this may correctly speak of a special sub-branch of the Central Asian race, but only in the sense that the distinctive features of the Dinaric race among them are too overly expressed (thereby alienating them from the Dinarides); the shape of the head tends to the shape of a “tower skull”, the nose is unattractively large, the height is partially below the standard. This is not typical for Chechens in general; it is also not typical for Ingush and Ossetians, and also, according to the generally accepted idea, for Circassians.

Thus, only with these reservations do I classify the Chechens as a Western Asian race.

The special position of the Chechen Western Asian will still be proven by the color of his hair, eyes and skin. People with pure black hair and very dark eyes, like Armenians and partly Georgians, are not often found among Chechens; in any case, there is no such thing that both characteristics coincide.

Therefore, we can only talk about an anthropological type, which is generally dark. Most often, the hair on the head is dark (and also black), while the eyes opposite are brown or a color that is difficult to describe with precision. It can probably be called light brown, with a small admixture of green. I observed clear, translucent light brown eyes more often in women than in men.

But what first strikes the traveler is the large number of blondes and light-eyed people, mostly the latter of the above. It is difficult to say which tone predominates: both gray and grey-green eyes are common, and pure blue, sky-blue eyes are also common, which could not be clearer in Northern Germany.

Blonde hair is somewhat less common than light eyes.

But here the reason is a very strong gradual darkening. Among children there are significantly more fair-haired children than among adults, and dark-haired adults assured me that they had blond hair in childhood. I noticed early graying in men; Usually thirty-year-olds have noticeable gray hair. Surely one of the reasons is the constant wearing of a hat. Men with shaved heads are also not uncommon.

Learning about hair color is naturally made more difficult by this custom. And in general, you need to go spend the night with people to see uncovered heads; You won’t see people with their heads naked in the open air: it doesn’t matter if they’re a man, a woman or a child.

The color shade of the blond is perhaps less consistent with the dull blond of the eastern race, and more similar to the blond of the northern race, tending towards golden, although in its pure manifestation I did not observe golden. I have also seen red-haired people many times; their eye color was light brown.

More often than blond hair, there are blond beards, and I remember the brown-red tone, the same in men with dark hair and brown eyes.

Beards are abundant and even, and are worn with a certain precision. Flowing red beards like Barbarossa are also common, and it should be noted that henna is not used.

But most men only wear a mustache.

The skin of light Chechens is delicate and fragile; young girls have a beautiful complexion. In men, the face is reddened by the wind and bad weather, and not dark, a circumstance especially characteristic of the Nordic race.

The body is white in the best sense. I once observed this in Melchist. A certain number of kists (meaning mountaineers) were busy transporting wood along the Argun; they themselves, standing in the water, transported untied tree trunks, towed them in the right direction, holding long poles in their muscular fists and guiding the logs between the boulders washed by the foam of the waves.

Although they were not dressed, they were not embarrassed by our approaching Georgian column. Wooded slopes, a seething mountain stream, and undisguised heroic images of forest rafters created at that time an atmosphere of rare romance, which I will always remember, precisely because of its clearly expressed Nordic character. Similar cases never happened to me in the rest of the Muslim Caucasus. Extreme scrupulousness prevents men from appearing naked. They also dislike the sight of at least partially naked bodies of others; I was convinced of this many times, when in the winter of 1919/1920 I lay seriously ill for a whole month in a private house in Botlikh (Andean Dagestan), I could not persuade a single man to help me in any way.

When I tried to get up, everyone left the room despite my objections. I don't think this is due to any superstitions, such as fear of infection.

The freer views of the Chechens are also reflected in the freer position of women, who move freely without covering themselves with a veil, who are allowed to speak openly with men, which is hardly observed in internal Dagestan.

For a more accessible description of the Chechen blond, I want to compare him with fair Northern Europeans.

S. Paudler, in his work on light races, clearly distinguished between the Dalish Cro-Magnon race and the usual dolichocephalic (i.e., long-headed) light representatives of the northern race. Of these two races, only the latter is suitable for comparison. Light Caucasians are similar to her because of their smoother and evener lines, fuller lips and more rounded eye shapes.

Hard, coarse facial features, which for example are often found among residents of Westphalia (a region in Germany), are absent, judging by my observations. Not to mention the extreme Dahl anthropological types from Scandinavia published by Paudler.

As far as I know, they are not found among other Caucasian peoples. Comparison with light-colored North-Western European dolichocephals is permissible only in relation to the color and shape of the face.

In the structure of the skull, Chechen blondes do not differ from their brunette fellow countrymen. And here and there the same short, straight skulls, the same aquiline noses. The man in the middle of image No. 8 combines all the color features of the light type in a pure form, he was more than 1.80 m tall, but he had a short head shape even for Chechen proportions. There are also more elongated forms of the skull with a slight convexity at the back of the head, but they are also common among those with dark hair and brown eyes.

Still, the length of the skull never reaches the size of ordinary Nordic dolichocephalic skulls. Nevertheless, the tall Chechen blonds with their long, narrow faces and their whole demeanor really give the impression of a fair northerner. In Maista and Melkhist it is very easy to study skulls, since in the crypts there you can find a large number of them. I also found long skulls there (dolichocephalic skulls).

But of course I did not take exact measurements, this is only an approximate measurement by eye.

This slender, brachycephalic (i.e., short-headed), big-nosed race, found collectively in both dark and light forms, is so predominant among the Chechens that the remaining existing component racial parts cannot change the overall picture. The dominant one among other anthropological types is similar to the Alpine race. That is, most often we are talking about dark, short people with a shapeless physique and a rough skull.

Images No. 5 and 6 show a representative of this race, who still has relatively regular facial features, especially a rather graceful nose, while in general the faces of the Alpines seem ugly. Judging by my observations, the Chechen Alpine lacks the rounded shapes characteristic of the Alpines of Central and Western Europe.

The body is rather toned and angular, which is most likely due to the lifestyle. I cannot say that I noticed a significant number of mixtures between the high Western Asian and Alpine anthropological types.

Both coexist rather simultaneously: I don’t remember meeting a tall Chechen with a bulky head and a short nose and a flat face profile, or, on the contrary, a short and stocky one with a Western Asian shape of face and skull. Both men in image #5 and 6 are photographed sitting and appear to be the same height. In fact, the Western Asian on the right was a head taller than the Alpine on the left.

It seems to me that the part of the Chechens who belong to the eastern race, to which the Russians basically belong, also seems insignificant.

I also did not notice any obvious Mongolian racial characteristics, which are, in principle, possible, given the early proximity to the Kalmyks and the current proximity to the Nogais. These signs are found in the northern part of Avaria, and only in the form of particularly prominent cheekbones. I have never seen the Mongolian eye shape.

As for the issue of the geographical distribution of individual anthropological types, I can only speak with some degree of confidence about the distribution of blonds.

And in this regard, I can say that individual regions show great differences.

Without a doubt, in the western part of Chechnya the percentage of blondes is higher than in the east. In the west there are areas in which the population can be called mostly light. If we talk about eye color, there is no doubt about this statement, but also the number of people with blond hair, skin and eyes will be almost 50%.

First of all, this is the territory along Chanty-Argun starting from Melkhista to Shatoi.

Especially in these parts, I was surprised by the large number of generally Nordic appearances, especially since blond hair is combined with exceptionally good growth. In Maisty, the district neighboring Melchista, this was less noticeable* (* among the children I noticed some clearly Jewish facial features).

Because of the regular facial features, I also remember the population of the Khocharoy valley. And I already wrote about Shatoi girls. Next we should call the upper reaches of the Sharo-Argun, although to a lesser extent than Shatoy.

In Chaberloy, I was only in the eastern and western villages, Chobakh-kineroy and Khoy, where I did not notice a significant number of blondes, although Cheberloy was described to me by some Chechens as a territory with a mostly fair population.

In general, it must be said that some well-traveled Chechens were well aware of the anthropological features of a particular region, such as the high stature of the inhabitants of Melkhista. My observations about the distribution of the fair population were generally confirmed by them. When I asked about the reason for the differences, they answered me without much hesitation that in such and such an area there are more blondes, and in such and such there are more brunettes. The disappearance of the light element in the east is especially felt in Southern Aukh, and after crossing the Andean watershed in Dagestan territory, the dark element already dominates, both in Gumbet and Andi.

At the same time, the number of rude and ugly faces is increasing. This is most clearly manifested in the village of Benoy. I would also like to add that among other Chechens and especially among the Gumbetians who buy corn from them, the residents of Benoy have a rather bad reputation.

The fact that the light element predominates in the west is especially interesting if you look at the history of the settlement of the territory.

It turns out that in the territories inhabited, according to legend, there are primarily more blondes than in the lands later developed in the east. I don’t want to get lost in guesswork, but the idea suggests itself that the reason must be sought in the later colonization of the eastern regions, and, as already mentioned, in the possible absorption of other populations.

On the plain, I did not notice a clear predominance of the light or dark anthropological type.

Here, too (as in the mountains), tall, slender people with aquiline noses predominate.

Among the Caucasian peoples known to me, undoubtedly, the largest number of blondes is among the Chechens.

There are fewer and fewer Russians in Russia, but more and more Chechens and Ingush

In ethnographic works, as well as in the literature on the Caucasus, they mainly write about the Ossetians. In principle, the reason is clear. Ossetians are an Indo-Germanic people and during the era of Indo-Germanic research they received a lot of attention. In fact, the percentage of blondes among Ossetians is hardly higher than among Chechens.

Still, I got the impression that the features and facial expressions of Ossetians are more similar to European ones than those of Chechens and Ingush. The Ossetian hotel owners in Vladikavkaz, blondes, really bothered me with the completely unfamiliar language coming from their lips; It seemed to me that the Germans were in front of me.

The fact that the Ossetians are mostly Christians may also have played a role; to the same extent, the reason may also be that they have a larger intelligentsia than their eastern neighbors. Among the Chechens there are apparently only 2-3 people with a university education, while among the Ossetians, despite their smaller numbers, there are several dozen.

This stronger thirst for knowledge seems to be related to the Christian faith.

Von Eckert, who anthropologically studied 70 Chechens (list of used literature, No. 12), wrote at the end of the publication that everyone had dark hair. This conclusion is very unusual, assuming that the readings are made on the basis of accurate observations. But we are talking exclusively about the residents of Aukh, that is, the Chechen east.

I also included a section of traditional medicine here; perhaps this information is also of some anthropological interest.

The conversation is about the procedure for treating headaches by Chechens.

Full text in German - http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewconten … xt=r_gould

Nokhchalla - Chechen character, Chechen traditions

Mutsuraev Timur

This word cannot be translated. But it can and must be explained. "Nokhcho" means Chechen. The concept of “nokhchalla” is all the features of the Chechen character in one word. This includes the entire spectrum of moral, moral and ethical standards of life for a Chechen. One could also say that this is the Chechen “code of honor.”

A child in a traditional Chechen family absorbs the qualities of a knight, a gentleman, a diplomat, a courageous defender and a generous, reliable comrade, as they say, “with mother’s milk.” And the origins of the Chechen “code of honor” lie in the ancient history of the people.

Once upon a time, in ancient times, in the harsh conditions of the mountains, a guest who was not accepted into the house could freeze, lose strength from hunger and fatigue, or become a victim of robbers or a wild animal.

The law of the ancestors - to invite into the house, warm, feed and offer overnight accommodation to the guest - is observed sacredly. Hospitality is “nokhchalla”.

Roads and paths in the mountains of Chechnya are narrow, often snaking along cliffs and rocks. Having a row or arguing can lead to falling into the abyss. Being polite and compliant is “nokhchallah.” The difficult conditions of mountain life made mutual assistance and mutual assistance necessary, which are also part of “nokhchalla”. The concept of “nokhchalla” is incompatible with the “table of ranks”. Therefore, the Chechens never had princes or slaves.

“Nokhchalla” is the ability to build relationships with people without in any way demonstrating one’s superiority, even when in a privileged position. On the contrary, in such a situation you should be especially polite and friendly so as not to hurt anyone’s pride.

So, a person riding a horse should be the first to greet someone on foot. If the pedestrian is older than the rider, the rider must dismount.

“Nokhchalla” is friendship for life: in days of sorrow and in days of joy. Friendship for a mountaineer is a sacred concept. Inattention or discourtesy towards a brother will be forgiven, but towards a friend - never!

"Nokhchalla" is a special veneration of a woman.

Emphasizing respect for the relatives of his mother or his wife, the man dismounts his horse right at the entrance to the village where they live.

And here is a parable about a highlander who once asked to spend the night in a house on the outskirts of a village, not knowing that the owner was alone at home. She could not refuse the guest, she fed him and put him to bed. The next morning the guest realized that there was no owner in the house, and the woman had been sitting all night in the hallway by a lit lantern.

While washing his face in a hurry, he accidentally touched his mistress’s hand with his little finger. Leaving the house, the guest cut off this finger with a dagger. Only a man brought up in the spirit of “nokhchalla” can protect a woman’s honor in this way.

"Nokhchalla" is the rejection of any coercion.

Since ancient times, a Chechen has been brought up as a protector, a warrior, from his boyhood. The most ancient type of Chechen greeting, preserved to this day, is “come free!” The inner feeling of freedom, the readiness to defend it - this is “nokhchalla”.

At the same time, “nokhchalla” obliges the Chechen to show respect to any person.

Moreover, the further a person is by kinship, faith or origin, the greater the respect. People say: the offense you inflicted on a Muslim can be forgiven, for a meeting on the Day of Judgment is possible. But an insult caused to a person of a different faith is not forgiven, for such a meeting will never happen. To live with such sin forever.

Wedding ceremony

The Chechen word “wedding” means “game”. The wedding ceremony itself is a series of performances that include singing, dancing, music, and pantomime. Music sounds when fellow villagers, relatives, and friends go for the bride and bring her to the groom’s house. There are other performances that take place at this stage of the wedding.

For example, the bride's relatives delay the wedding train by blocking the path with a cloak or a rope stretched across the street - you need to pay a ransom to get through.

Other pantomimes take place already in the groom's house. A felt carpet and a broom are placed in advance on the threshold of the house. When entering, the bride can step over them or move them out of the way. If she tidies up neatly, it means she’s smart; if he steps over, it means the guy is out of luck.

But the bride, festively dressed, was seated in a corner of honor by the window under a special wedding curtain, and then she was given a child in her arms—someone’s first-born son. This is a wish for her to have sons. The bride caresses the child and gives him something as a gift. Guests come to the wedding with gifts. Women give pieces of cloth, rugs, sweets, and money. Men - money or sheep.

Moreover, men always give the gift themselves. And then - a feast on the mountain.

After the refreshments there is another performance. The bride is brought out to the guests, from whom they ask for water. Everyone says something, jokes, discusses the girl’s appearance, and her task is not to talk back, because verbosity is a sign of stupidity and immodesty. The bride can only offer a drink of water and wish the guests health in the most laconic form.

Another performance game is organized on the third day of the wedding.

The bride is led to the water with music and dancing. The attendants throw cakes into the water, then shoot them, after which the bride, having collected water, returns home. This is an ancient ritual that is supposed to protect a young woman from the merman. After all, she will walk on water every day, and the merman has already been lured with a treat and “killed.”

On this evening, the marriage is registered, in which the trusted father of the bride and the groom participate. Usually the mullah, on behalf of the father, gives consent to his daughter’s marriage, and the next day the bride becomes the young mistress of the house. According to an old Chechen custom, the groom should not appear at his own wedding. Therefore, he does not participate in wedding games, but usually has fun at this time in the company of friends.

Attitude towards a woman

A woman who is a mother among Chechens has a special social status.

Since ancient times, she has been the mistress of fire; man is only the master of the house. The most terrible Chechen curse is “so that the fire in the house goes out.”

Chechens have always attached great importance to a woman as a keeper of the hearth.

And in this capacity she is endowed with very special rights.

No one except a woman can stop a fight between men based on blood feud. If a woman appears where blood is flowing and weapons are clanging, the mortal battle may end. A woman can stop the bloodshed by removing the scarf from her head and throwing it between the combatants. As soon as a blood enemy touches the hem of any woman, the weapon aimed at him will be sheathed: now he is under her protection. By touching a woman's breast with his lips, anyone automatically becomes her son. To stop a quarrel or fight, a woman would let her children take a mirror to those who were chopping - this acted as a ban on civil strife.

According to Western tradition, the man will let the woman pass first as a sign of respect. According to Chechen, a man, respecting and protecting a woman, always walks ahead of her. This custom has ancient roots. In the old days, on a narrow mountain path there could be very dangerous encounters: with an animal, a robber, with a blood enemy... So the man walked ahead of his companion, ready at any moment to protect her, his wife and the mother of his children.

A respectful attitude towards a woman is evidenced by the custom of greeting her only while standing. If an elderly woman passes, it is the duty of any person, regardless of age, to stand up and say hello first. The greatest shame was considered to be disrespect for the mother and her relatives. And for a son-in-law, honoring his wife’s relatives was considered a virtue for which God could send him to heaven without trial.

Men's etiquette

The basic norms of behavior of a Chechen man are reflected in the concept of “nokhchalla” - see.

section 1. But for certain everyday situations there are also traditions and customs that have developed over centuries. They are reflected in Chechen proverbs and sayings about how an owner, husband, father should behave...

Conciseness - “I don’t know, no - one word, I know, I saw - a thousand words.”

Slowness - “The fast river did not reach the sea.”

Caution in statements and in assessing people - “A wound from a sword will heal, a wound from a tongue will not.”

Temperance – “Intemperance is stupidity, patience is good manners”

Restraint is the main characteristic of a Chechen man in almost everything related to his household chores.

According to custom, a man will not even smile at his wife in front of strangers, and will not take the child in his arms in front of strangers. He speaks very sparingly about the merits of his wife and children. At the same time, he must strictly ensure that no man’s affairs and responsibilities fall on his wife - “The hen, which began to crow like a rooster, burst.”

A Chechen reacts to obscene language as if it were a particularly serious insult, especially if the curse involves a woman.

This is due to the fact that the biggest shame is if a woman from the family allows herself any relationship with a stranger. In the republic, although rarely, there were cases of lynching of women for free behavior.

The concept of male beauty for Chechens includes tall stature, broad shoulders and chest, thin waist, thinness, fast gait - “You can tell what he is like by his gait,” people say.

The mustache carries a special, symbolic burden - “If you don’t behave like a man, don’t wear a mustache!” For those who wear a mustache, this strict formula is accompanied by three prohibitions: do not cry from grief, do not laugh from joy, do not run away under any threat. This is how a mustache regulates the behavior of a Chechen man!

One more thing. They say that the leader of the rebel highlanders, Shamil, who was going to surrender, was called out several times by his faithful associate.

But Shamil did not turn around. When he was later asked why he did not turn around, he replied that he would have been shot. “Chechens don’t shoot in the back,” Shamil explained.

Special numbers - 7 and 8

One of the Chechen fairy tales talks about the young man Sultan, who courted a girl for exactly 8 years.

According to Chechen customs, an infant should not be shown a mirror until he is eight months old. In the Vainakh version of the myth of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman went in different directions to find a mate; Eve said that on her way she crossed eight mountain ranges. Chechen tradition presupposes that a woman knows eight generations of her maternal and paternal ancestors. A man must know the seven ancestors.

These examples show that Chechens associate the number 8 with a woman, and the number 7 with a man.

Seven is essentially made up of ones. The eight, consisting of four twos (otherwise, from pairs) reflects motherhood, the principle of generating one’s own kind. Thus, digital symbolism shows the special, prevailing place of women in society, which came from ancient times, in comparison with men. This is also emphasized by the famous Chechen proverb - “If a man spoils, the family spoils, if a woman spoils, the whole nation spoils.”

Chechens attach special importance to inheritance through the female line. Thus, the expression “mother’s tongue” is used when a person’s worthy behavior is noted, and the expression “mother’s milk” is used when one is condemned for an unseemly act. To this day, a Chechen has the right to take a wife of any nationality, but a Chechen woman is not encouraged to marry a foreigner.

Mutual assistance, mutual assistance

When meeting, every Chechen will first ask: “How is it at home?

Is everyone alive and well?” When breaking up, it is considered good manners to ask: “Do you need my help?”

The custom of mutual labor assistance goes back to ancient times. In those days, harsh living conditions forced the mountaineers to unite for agricultural work.

The peasants tied themselves together with one rope to mow grass on the steep mountainside; the entire village reclaimed areas for crops from the mountains. In any misfortune, especially if the family lost its breadwinner, the village took upon itself the care of the victims. Men did not sit down to the table until part of the food was taken to a house where there was no male breadwinner.

A greeting from a young person to an older person necessarily includes an offer of help. In Chechen villages it is customary, if an elderly person begins some kind of housework, to take part in it as a neighbor. And often it is the volunteer helpers who start the work.

The tradition of mutual support has developed among the people responsiveness to the misfortune of others.

If there is grief in the house, then all the neighbors open the gates wide, thereby showing that the neighbor’s grief is his grief. If someone dies in the village, all fellow villagers will come to this house to express condolences, provide moral support, and, if necessary, financial assistance.

Funeral arrangements for Chechens are entirely taken care of by relatives and fellow villagers. A person who has been absent from the village for some time, upon arrival, receives full information about the events that happened without him, including misfortunes. And the first thing he does upon arrival is express condolences.

“A neighbor nearby is better than relatives far away,” “Rather than live without human love, it is better to die,” “The unity of the people is an indestructible fortress,” says Chechen wisdom

Hospitality

According to legend, the ancestor of the Chechens, Nokhchuo, was born with a piece of iron - a symbol of belligerence - in one hand and with a piece of cheese - a symbol of hospitality in the other.

“Where a guest does not come, grace does not come”, “A guest in the house is a joy”, “The longer the guest’s path to your home, the more valuable this guest is”... Many sayings, legends, and parables are dedicated to the sacred duty of hospitality among the Chechens.

Hospitality is especially evident in rural life. To receive guests, each house has a “guest room”; it is always ready - clean, with fresh linens. No one uses it, even children are prohibited from playing or studying in this room.

The owner must always be ready to feed the guest, so at any time in the Chechen family food was specially set aside for this occasion.

For the first three days, you are not supposed to ask the guest anything: who he is, why he came... The guest lives in the house as if he were an honorary member of the family. In the old days, as a sign of special respect, the daughter or daughter-in-law of the owner helped the guest take off his shoes and outerwear.

The hosts provide a warm and generous welcome to the guest at the table. One of the basic rules of Chechen hospitality is to protect the life, honor and property of the guest, even if this involves a risk to life.

According to Chechen etiquette, the guest should not offer any payment for the reception.

XIX-XX centuries. Dynamics of growth in the number of Chechens

He can only give a gift to the children.

The Chechens have always followed the ancient custom of hospitality. And they showed it to any kind person, regardless of his nationality.

A Chechen greeting is in direct connection with hospitality. When greeting, they open their arms, that is, they open their hearts, thus expressing purity of thoughts and sincerity in their attitude towards a person.

Adat in modern Chechnya

Adat - from Arabic “custom” - customary law among Muslims, in contrast to spiritual law - Sharia.

The norms of adat developed under conditions of dominance of tribal relations (blood feud, twinning, etc.). Adat regulated the life of the community and marriage and family relations. This set of ethical norms, traditions and rules of behavior has been one of the specific forms of organizing public life in Chechnya since ancient times.

The Chechen ethnographer Said-Magomed Khasiev spoke about the role of adat in the life of modern Chechnya in an article published in the newspaper for the Chechen diaspora “Daimekhkan az” (“Voice of the Fatherland”). CM. Khasiev writes: “There are adats that elevate a person’s dignity, helping him become better. They are opposed by adats, which the Chechens call mountain-pagan (lamkersts).

They are not followed by the majority of society. Here is an example related to a folk legend. Once an abrek (robber, people's defender) Zelimkhan met a woman overcome with grief on a mountain road. The famous abrek asked what happened. “They took my baby away,” the woman replied. Zelimkhan set out on a search and soon saw two men carrying a child in their Circassian coats. Abrek asked for a long time to peacefully return the child to his mother, he conjured God, his parents, his ancestors, but to no avail. And when he started making threats, the men hacked the baby to death with daggers.

For this Zelimkhan killed them. – According to Chechen adats, you cannot raise your hand not only against a baby, but also against a teenager under the age of majority, a woman, or an old man of retirement age. They are not even included in the circle of revenge. However, those who follow the mountain-pagan adats can even kill a woman in the name of revenge.

Another example is related to folk tradition. We are talking about a horse thief who died after falling from a stolen horse. Mountain pagan morals dictate that the owner of the horse be responsible for this death. But real adats emphasize the direct guilt of the deceased himself: the person encroached on someone else’s property, and therefore his relatives are obliged not only to return the horse, but also to give its owner a gift as an apology.

Examples from social life. Adats oblige a person to be responsible for order in the area where he lives. One center of his life is the house (hearth), the other is the social center of the settlement (Maidan, square).

If, for example, a fight occurs in the square, then compensation for damage (material or physical) will be charged the greater, the further from the place of the fight the center of the rioter is located. Adats also provide for different compensation for the same wound on the right and left side bodies.

According to adat requirements, a young man who kidnaps a girl without her consent is obliged to ask if she has a boyfriend whom she would like to marry.

If they answer that there is, then the kidnapper sends a message to that person: I have taken your bride. Thus, he became an intermediary, a friend of the groom. Sometimes, through such an act, reconciliation was achieved between warring families and family ties were established.

In Chechen society now there are people who observe the norms of traditional adat, and there are also those who follow mountain-pagan morals. Such people are characterized by theft, arrogance, impudence, and the desire to use force. They can steal a girl, abuse her, kill her.”

CM. Khasiev believes that now in Chechnya it is necessary to popularize traditional adats in every possible way, strictly emphasizing their difference from mountain-pagan morals.

This is the path to restoring moral and ethical standards in society.

“Recovery will begin only then,” writes S-M. Khasiev, - when everyone learns to ask themselves: what did I do today that was good, kind, and useful? According to ancient Chechen belief, every day a person is given a chance to do good nine times and to do evil nine times.

Don’t even step on a bug on the road, refrain from saying a bad word, drive away a bad thought - on this path you can do good. On this path, a healthy moral and ethical atmosphere of society is formed.”

In the family circle

Attitude towards elders. The unshakable rule of every Chechen family is respect and care for the older generation, especially parents.

Usually parents live with one of their sons. In the morning, the good daughter-in-law begins her housework in half of the old people. Only after that does she start other things.

Not only the son and daughter, but also other family members, including grandchildren, take care of the elderly. In Chechen, grandfather is called “big father,” and grandmother is most often called “mother.” Children can sometimes disobey, not fulfill the request of their father or mother, and they will be forgiven for this.

But it is completely unacceptable to disobey your grandfather, grandmother, other older relatives or neighbors.

Not standing up when old people appear or sitting down without their persistent invitation means demonstrating poor upbringing.

Tradition does not allow drinking alcohol in the presence of parents or any older relatives. You should also not speak to elders in a raised tone or behave cheekily.

If the parents do not live with one of the sons, then the children are especially attentive to them: for example, the best products are constantly sent to the parents’ house.

In rural areas, as a rule, a separate house is placed in the yard for the elderly. This is a long-standing custom: there the elders in the family are provided with the most comfortable living conditions that correspond to their needs and age.

Family responsibilities. Most Chechen families have many children.

In addition, several brothers often live with their families in the same yard or in the same village. Over the centuries, the rules of family relationships have evolved. In general terms, they are like this.

Conflict situations, quarrels between women, children, and the like are resolved by the eldest man or woman in the yard.

The mother of children, if they were offended, should never complain to her husband.

As a last resort, she can turn to any relative of her husband. Although it is considered a rule of good manners not to pay attention to children’s grievances, quarrels, and tears.

Chechen children know that it is their uncle who will readily respond to any of their requests and help. He would rather deny something to his child, but without very serious reasons he would never leave the request of the children of his brothers and sisters unanswered.

The rules of family relationships presuppose the responsibilities of the younger ones to the older ones, and vice versa. The older generation is responsible for strengthening family ties. Parents must maintain an atmosphere of harmony and mutual understanding in their sons' families. In this case, special correctness is required in relation to the daughter-in-law. Thus, the father-in-law must be extremely delicate towards the wives of his sons: in their presence one cannot drink alcohol, swear, or violate the dress code accepted in the Chechen family.

"Family honor" It is customary among Chechens to attribute both the merits and demerits of an individual to the account of his entire family. An unseemly act will cause many relatives to “blacken their faces” and “hang their heads.” And about worthy behavior they usually say: “Nothing else could be expected from the people of this family” or: “The son of such a father could not have acted differently.”

By raising children in the spirit of family traditions, Chechens instill in them the quality of “yakh”, which has the meaning of healthy competition - in the sense of “being the best.” The elders’ instructions sound something like this: “You must have yah. Under no circumstances should you be worse than your comrades. Don’t offend the weak, no matter who he is, and don’t be the first to offend anyone.”

© Copyright: Mutsuraev Timur, 2010
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The head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, called the non-systemic opposition “enemies of the people.” After the scandal caused by this statement, President Vladimir Putin thanked Kadyrov for his effective work. Kadyrov has led the Republic since 2007. RBC found out what Chechnya became under him

Festive procession on one of the central streets of Grozny, dedicated to the Constitution Day of the Chechen Republic (March 23, 2012) (Photo: RIA Novosti)

1. Subsidized

Over nine years, from 2007 to 2015, Chechnya received 539 billion rubles from the federal budget in the form of subsidies, subventions and subsidies. Their annual volume averaged 60 billion rubles, and according to this indicator, the republic is in the top three most subsidized regions (only Dagestan and Yakutia received more in 2013 and 2014).

For comparison: 680 billion rubles. was spent on large-scale construction in Vladivostok on the eve of the APEC summit in 2012, 160 billion rubles. by this time the state had allocated for construction.

The dependence of the republic's budget on assistance from the center is perhaps the most well-known fact about the Chechen economy: gratuitous transfers all this time accounted for an average of 87% of the region's income. According to the Ministry of Finance, in 2014, 81.6% of Chechnya’s budget came from the federal budget. Only Ingushetia had more - 85.6%. In terms of subsidies per capita, Chechnya, however, is in 8th place (41.5 thousand rubles) after the Chukotka and Nenets Autonomous Okrugs, Magadan Region, Altai, Yakutia, Tyva and Ingushetia.

Since 2007, the volume of aid to the republic has fallen only twice - in 2010 and 2013. In 2015, while aid in other regions decreased by an average of 3%, funding for Chechnya increased by 8%, to 61.3 billion rubles, notes Natalya Zubarevich, director of the regional program of the Independent Institute for Social Policy. At the same time, less than half of the subsidies received by the region are calculated transparently - according to a formula, she adds, the rest is an opaque manual distribution in which the government and relevant departments participate. The Ministry of Finance told RBC that they could not provide summary data on subsidies, and advised to look for this data on the website of the Federal Treasury. However, there was no data on Chechnya there.

2. Laboring woman, young, male

The population of Chechnya at the beginning of 2016 was 1.4 million people, slightly less than 1% of the Russian population. 65% live in rural areas - according to this indicator, Chechnya is surpassed only by Altai.

The republic has the highest natural growth in the country: over the past six years, an average of 21 people have been added per 1 thousand annually. In second place is Ingushetia (19 people per year). And in neighboring Dagestan (fourth place) - 13. In Moscow, for comparison - 1.2.

Lezginka, a traditional Caucasian male solo or couples dance, is very popular in the Chechen Republic. The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, performed it in public more than once, including at the infamous wedding of the head of the Nozhai-Yurtovsky District Department of Internal Affairs, Nazhud Guchigov, and the minor Luiza Goilabieva. (Photo: Reuters/Pixstream)

There are fewer divorces in Chechnya than anywhere else in Russia: there is less than one divorce per 1 thousand people. According to this indicator, Ingushetia, Dagestan and Chechnya share the last three places. In the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, divorces are already more common - 2.5 divorces per 1 thousand people. In the Stavropol Territory there are 4.3 divorces per 1 thousand people.

According to Rosstat (2014), Chechnya has the largest proportion of children (people under working age) in Russia - 34.7% of the population, the lowest proportion of old people - 9.2% and a high proportion of men in the population (per 1 thousand men in Chechnya there are only 1034 women, and the average in Russia is 1146 women; this is the fourth place from the bottom).

3. Unemployed, but earning money

In terms of unemployment rate as of January 1, 2016, Chechnya is in fourth place (16.7%, or 107.5 thousand unemployed). Ahead are Ingushetia (30.8%), Tuva (20.8%) and Karachay-Cherkessia (17.2%). At the end of 2014, Chechnya was in first place in Russia in terms of registered unemployment (15.7%, 99.5 thousand people). Then more than half (53.2%)unemployed were men of working age (33.2 years). However, Zubarevich doubts the veracity of these indicators and does not exclude that they may be so in order to maintain the volume of benefits or obtain some additional rent.

Low employment can also be judged by the number of people paying taxes in the republic. According to the Federal Tax Service in 2013 (the latest available statistics for the region), there were only 215,580 people, or 16% of the total number of living citizens. Even in the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, the ratio of workers to residents was only 39.3%, which is . And in most villages there are often only 2-10 workers per 100 residents.

According to the average salary level - 21,500 rubles. per month - Chechnya is in 65th place. In 2014, according to Rosstat, wages decreased by another 3% (the worst figure in Russia).

Paradoxically, the real monetary income of the population is growing: the average per capita income of residents of Chechnya, according to Rosstat, in 2014 was 19.8 thousand rubles, according to this indicator the republic ranks 66th among other regions. However, in terms of income growth in 2014 (10.5%), Chechnya took second place after Adygea. Income consists of salaries, social benefits, income from property, etc. and is calculated for each resident of the republic.

This is probably explained by the fact that the largest part of the income structure compared to the rest of Russia - 43.1% - is the mysterious “other income”, including “hidden” and remittances. “There are many people employed in the shadow sector in Chechnya, many residents go to work in other regions - to Moscow or to oil fields - and send money home,” explains Varvara Pakhomenko, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.

4. Easy to climb

Chechnya, according to Rostat statistics, is on the list of regions from which more people leave than come. In 2014, 2.25 thousand more people left the republic than arrived (a total of 12 thousand left Chechnya).

The unfavorable ratio between those who left and those who arrived jumped almost 4.5 times in the middle of Ramzan Kadyrov’s rule: from 757 people in 2010 to almost 3.5 thousand in 2011, and in 2013 it reached 4.7 thousand.

In terms of the number of people leaving, Chechnya is far from the leader in Russia. It is in 54th place, not counting Crimea and Sevastopol. For comparison: in Dagestan the difference between those who arrived and those who left is almost 14 thousand people (as of 2014). According to statistics, the overwhelming majority of those who left Chechnya went to other regions of the country, and only 89 people went abroad, for example in 2014. However, human rights activists are skeptical about these figures. According to the head of the Civic Assistance Committee, Svetlana Gannushkina, 20 thousand Russians left abroad in 2012, and 40 thousand in 2013. Most of them are Chechens, she claims. German authorities reported that in the first half of 2013, almost 10 thousand Russians asked for asylum, a year earlier there were 3.2 thousand, Spiegel wrote. Unofficially, German officials told the publication that the vast majority of Russian asylum seekers came from Chechnya.

5. Safe but restless

In recent years, Chechnya has been consistently recognized as one of the safest regions of Russia, if the state of crime is assessed based on official statistics.

According to the portal of legal statistics of the Prosecutor General's Office, which operates with figures for the last five years, the largest number of crimes was registered in 2010 - 4581. In the next four years, according to official data, crimes in Chechnya became less and less: in 2011 - 4254, in 2012 - 3919, in 2013 - 3636, in 2014 - 3500.

In 2015, Chechnya showed its best result - 3,103 registered crimes. These statistics allowed the republic to drop to 79th place in terms of crime rate, losing in 2015 to only six regions - the Jewish Autonomous Region (2788), Kalmykia (2759), Magadan Region (1350), Ingushetia (1305), Chukotka (629) and Nenets Autonomous Okrug (627).

Neighboring Dagestan lags far behind Chechnya in the ranking of the safest regions. In 2013, when the largest number of crimes was recorded in Dagestan over the past five years (14,003), the republic took 51st place in the ranking and is still not inferior to anyone.

Source: Rosstat

Despite favorable official statistics, Chechnya is one of the few regions of Russia where open attacks by militants on the capital are possible. militants from the Caucasus Emirate arrived in the center of Grozny in several cars, killing three policemen at the entrance who tried to stop the cars to check documents. They then occupied the Printing House in the center of Grozny and the nearby school No. 20. Because of the attack, a counter-terrorist operation regime was introduced in Grozny; for several hours, special forces tried to drive the militants out of the Press House and the school.

This is not the only incident involving militants in present-day Chechnya. As follows from the statistics provided to RBC by the Caucasian Knot portal (on the Caucasian Knot website these data are published in the section “North Caucasus - statistics of victims”), in 2014 alone, ten clashes, two explosions and one terrorist attack were recorded in Chechnya, as a result of which 52 people were killed and 65 were injured. In 2015, Caucasian Knot specialists counted three armed clashes between security forces and militants, two explosions and the same number of terrorist attacks, which resulted in 14 deaths and 16 injuries.

In terms of the level of terrorist danger, Chechnya, as follows from the data of the legal statistics portal, ranks second in Russia after Dagestan. In 2015, 315 terrorist crimes were registered in Chechnya, and 520 in Dagestan.

6. Paramilitary

Data on the number of security forces in Chechnya - military personnel from the Ministry of Defense, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor General's Office - vary. As follows from open sources, media reports and human rights activists, the main group of security forces in Chechnya are fighters from several units of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Formally, they are subordinate to Moscow, in particular to the central apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, but, as, for example, the head of the “Committee for the Prevention of Torture” Igor Kalyapin says, they take instructions exclusively from Kadyrov and his entourage.

According to Novaya Gazeta, the backbone of Kadyrov’s security bloc consists of private security forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic. This unit is entrusted with some of the most critical areas of work - the protection of oil enterprises and the Kadyrovs’ ancestral village of Tsentoroy. Novaya notes that 2,400 soldiers serve in the “non-departmental regiment”. In second place in terms of the number of fighters is the special forces regiment under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya (1600-1800).

Other security forces in which security forces loyal to Kadyrov work are the “North” and “South” battalions of the 46th division of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to Novaya, about 2,000 soldiers serve in these units. In addition, in Chechnya there are two separate regiments of patrol service (1200-1500 soldiers each) and a commandant's security company (500-1000 soldiers). There are also riot police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Chechnya: according to Novaya, which is confirmed by Kalyapin, there are no more than 350 fighters. In total, the “army” of Chechen security forces can range from 10 thousand to 12 thousand people, says the human rights activist. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Defense were unable to respond to RBC’s requests for information about the number of their employees.

7. Socially unprotected

Chechnya is in penultimate place in the country in terms of the number of hospital beds (after Ingushetia). According to Rosstat, there are 157.8 people per bed in the republic. The largest number of new hospital beds appeared in 2011 - 2596. Then their number began to decline: from 10 thousand in 2012 and 2013 to 8.7 thousand in 2014. In 2014, no new hospital beds appeared at all. Chechnya, however, is not alone here: there are 46 other such regions in Russia.

The republic ranks last in the number of doctors and nursing staff - 13.3 thousand. There are 140.7 people per medical staff member. (also the worst indicator in Russia).

According to Rosstat statistics, Chechnya has the largest queue for kindergartens among Russian regions: 146 children per 100 places (in Ingushetia, the closest in terms of this indicator, 129 children). Only 29.6% of children under the age of seven go to preschool educational institutions.

The number of schools, according to statistics, has not changed much since 2005: in 2005 there were 460, in the 2014/15 academic year - 480. On average, 21 children study in one class in a Chechen school. For comparison: the most filled classes are in St. Petersburg and Moscow (25-26 children), and the least filled classes are in the Oryol region (13 children). Nevertheless, there are clearly not enough schools in the republic: 41.8% of students continue to attend school in the second and third shifts; among Russian regions, this figure is the worst in Chechnya. At the same time, 18.4 thousand teachers work in Chechnya. This is 19th place among regions, with Moscow in first.

Chechnya is the leader in the number of minors in Russia, which explains the large number of teachers compared to many regions, says Igor Remorenko, rector of the Moscow City Pedagogical University.

The number of students in Chechnya has grown by almost 9.7 thousand over ten years. However, only 19.4% of the residents employed in the republic’s economy have a higher education. This is the smallest percentage in Russia (the largest is in Moscow and North Ossetia: 48.2 and 42.2%). Most of the working population of Chechnya graduated from 11 grades of school - 50.7%.

8. Fast

During Ramzan Kadyrov’s tenure at the head of Chechnya, the number of premium cars in the republic was constantly growing, mainly the most expensive segment of German and Japanese brands - Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Lexus.

A year after Kadyrov began leading the republican government, in 2007, 40 premium cars were registered in Chechnya (according to the Autostat company).

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov stated that Chechnya is the leader in Russia in the number of official cars for officials. Ramzan Kadyrov vehemently denied this: “... we have not written off the old equipment for many years, we continue to use it to this day” (quote from RIA Novosti). In Kadyrov’s own garage, according to Gazeta.Ru, there is a Mercedes-Benz S 600 Pullman Guard, and his guards travel in luxury SUVs Porsche Cayenne or Mercedes Gelandewagen In the photo: Bikers drive in a column along Akhmat Kadyrov Avenue during the 10th anniversary celebration adoption of the Constitution of the Chechen Republic (Photo: RIA Novosti)

In 2008, when a crisis hit the country, the number of expensive cars in the republic increased more than fourfold - 173 cars. In 2011, 201 expensive cars were already registered, but the peak came in 2013, when 343 premium cars were registered in Chechnya.

Mercedes immediately became the most popular brand in Chechnya. So, in 2007, out of 40 registered premium cars, 15 were Mercedes; in 2008, 72 German cars were registered, in 2009 - 73, in 2010 - 103, in 2011 - 126, in 2012 - m - 84, in 2013 - 170, in 2014 - 266, in 2015 - 208.

Lexus is in second place in popularity among Chechens, but in terms of sales, cars from the Japanese manufacturer lag significantly behind the demand for Mercedes in Chechnya. In 2007, 12 Lexus were registered in the republic, and in 2008 - already 52. ​​Then purchases decreased slightly - to 17-45 cars per year (see infographics).

The top three in popularity is closed by the German BMW.

The financial well-being of the Chechens is on par with the financial well-being of neighboring Dagestan. As follows from Autostat statistics, Dagestan, in terms of consumer preferences in the premium segment of cars, is identical to Chechnya, but not completely. In Dagestan, Lexus is more popular than Mercedes. In 2015, 113 Mercedes and 133 Lexus cars were registered in the republic.

In the neighboring Stavropol Territory, which has one and a half times more inhabitants, the demand for premium cars is several times higher than in Chechnya and Dagestan. According to Avtostat statistics, the peak of sales of expensive cars in the region occurred in 2014: then 2,581 premium cars were registered.

9. Believer

There are 931 mosques in the region, according to data from the Spiritual Administration of Muslims in Chechnya: 314 cathedral mosques, where Friday prayers are performed, and 617 quarter mosques (mosques for daily prayer). In 2014, 31 mosques were built, in 2015 - 43.

For comparison: in Tatarstan there are 1,485 mosques (increased by 50 mosques since 2014), in Dagestan - 1,580 (by 80 mosques), in Ingushetia - 217 (by 27), according to the Council of Muftis of Russia.

According to RBC calculations, Chechnya has the largest number of mosques per person in Russia: about 1,490 residents per mosque. In Dagestan - 1908, in Ingushetia - 2181, in Tatarstan - 2610. According to a report by Delloite and the Kuwaiti company Noor Telecommunications Company, there are 500 Muslims per mosque in the world (2014 data). In Turkey - 931 people, in Iran - 1080, in Saudi Arabia - 111. Indonesia has the most mosques - 818.6 thousand, and there are 309 residents per mosque.

In December, construction began in Shali of a mosque named after the head of the republic with a capacity of 10 thousand people (the same as the “Heart of Chechnya” in Grozny named after the former President of Chechnya Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov, father of Ramzan Kadyrov). The project was developed by Uzbek architects. Construction of the facility is planned to be completed within three years. Photo: construction of the Ramzan Kadyrov mosque in the city of Shali (December 24, 2015) (Photo: RIA Novosti)

Orthodox churches in Chechnya are managed by the Makhachkala diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church (territories of Dagestan, Ingushetia, Chechnya). Seven Orthodox parishes are registered on the website of the Ministry of Justice in Chechnya, five of which opened only in 2014. In Ingushetia - three, in Dagestan - 15.

10. Not Russian

According to the last two population censuses (2002 and 2010), the number of Russians in Chechnya has almost halved. In 2002, there were 1.1 million Chechens and 40.6 thousand Russians in the republic. In 2010, there were already 1.2 million Chechens and 24.3 thousand Russians. According to the 2010 census, Chechnya is the republic with the most pronounced titular nationality in terms of numbers. Chechens (excluding Akins) made up 95.1% of the population there. In Ingushetia, representatives of the titular nation were 94.1% (Russians in the republic - 0.78%, and Chechens - 4.55%), in the Republic of Tyva Tuvinians - 82%. The statistics do not take into account citizens who did not indicate their nationality.

According to the 2010 census, 234.1 thousand Chechens lived in other regions of Russia, except Chechnya - more than 16.2% of representatives of this nationality, not counting the Akin Chechens. Of these, in Dagestan - 93.6 thousand, in Ingushetia - 18.7 thousand, in Moscow - 14.5 thousand, in the Stavropol Territory - almost 12 thousand, in the Tyumen region - almost 11.5 thousand.

For comparison: 60.62 thousand Ingush live outside the republic (12.8% of all Ingush). 7.2% of Avars (the largest nationality in Dagestan) live outside the republic.

11. Under construction

Chechnya has a high rate of housing commissioning, and this figure increased sharply only in 2014: from 366 to 1,140 private houses and almost from 2.9 thousand to 11 thousand apartments (Chechnya took 23rd place in this indicator). And the price of completed construction work increased from 3.4 billion rubles. in 2005 to 25.4 billion rubles. in 2014. According to Rosstat, the average price per 1 sq. m in 2014 in Chechnya - 42.4 thousand rubles. for primary housing and 38.6 thousand for secondary housing. Among new housing, these are the highest prices in the North Caucasus District. Resale is more expensive only in Karachay-Cherkessia - 40.5 thousand per 1 sq. m. m. According to an employee of one of the Grozny real estate agencies, in the center of the Chechen capital housing costs from 40-50 thousand rubles. for 1 sq. m.

How the center of the capital of Chechnya has changed

However, in Chechnya, residents mostly build private houses. The share of private houses in the total construction volume is the highest in the country - 95.5%. It dropped to 60.3% only in 2010.

12. Non-profit

The most famous non-profit organization in Chechnya is the Regional Public Foundation named after. Hero of Russia Akhmat Kadyrov, founded in 2004. The fund's assets have been consistently growing throughout the years of Kadyrov Jr.'s reign. In 2011 they amounted to 939.4 million rubles, in 2014 - 1.6 billion rubles. (according to SPARK). For comparison: the assets of the Russian Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 2013 amounted to 370.1 million rubles, the Podari Zhizn fund - 943.4 million rubles. in 2014, the charitable foundation of billionaire Vladimir Potanin - 93 million.

The founders of the Kadyrov Foundation are six individuals. These are Ramzan Kadyrov himself, the head of the republican State Traffic Safety Inspectorate Shamkhan Denilkhanov, the head of the service for supporting the activities of justices of the peace of the republic Khalid Vaikhanov, the deputy general director for security of Grozneftegaz OJSC Abusupyan Daaev and the head of the Chechen Ministry of Emergency Situations Ruslan Yakhyaev. Aimani Kadyrova, the mother of the head of Chechnya, is the president of the foundation and one of the founders.

The current head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, and his father, former president of the republic Akhmad Kadyrov, took part in military operations against federal troops during the first Chechen campaign. Both switched sides to the federal government in 1999. After the death of his father on May 9, 2004, during an explosion at the Dynamo stadium in Grozny, Ramzan Kadyrov was first appointed first deputy prime minister of the republic, then became prime minister, and three years after his 30th birthday, he took his father’s place. Photo: Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrov and the head of the security of the President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov (April 24, 2002) (Photo: PhotoXPress)

According to messages on the foundation’s website, it is building schools, hospitals and houses in the republic “on instructions from the President of the Chechen Republic.” He also sponsors martial arts tournaments taking place in Chechnya. A representative of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia told RBC that all new mosques are being built in Chechnya with the organization’s money. In total, the foundation built 190 mosques in the republic, and also built mosques in Crimea, Yaroslavl, Turkey, Israel, and even helped flood victims in the Far East. Construction costs are unknown.

Varvara Pakhomenko calls the Kadyrov Foundation a “completely opaque structure”: its detailed financial report is not publicly available, and its donors are unknown. According to the Kommersant newspaper, funds were transferred to the fund by famous entrepreneurs, Chechens by origin, Ruslan Baysarov and Umar Dzhabrailov. In addition, Kommersant writes, employees of budgetary organizations transfer 10% of their income to it. According to the publication’s interlocutors, this happens in a voluntary-compulsory form, although donations are formalized.

According to the Company magazine, the fund was the main investor in three of the seven buildings of the Grozny City complex - a 30-story business center, a five-star hotel with 303 rooms and a residential complex with 115 apartments. With money from the foundation, in 2009, the Center for Islamic Medicine was built in Grozny (the foundation is also its founder), where they “remove damage, the evil eye, treat eczema and psoriasis, set dislocations” and “the basis is not medical instruments and drugs, but the word of Allah “, it is said on the website of the central mosque of the republic “Heart of Chechnya”.

In addition, the organization is the sole founder of several companies that win government contracts. For example, the company of the Megastroyinvest fund, according to the SPARK-Marketing database, has won state tenders worth almost 4.8 billion rubles since 2012. Megastroyinvest, with money from the state and the republic, carried out major renovations of residential buildings, built schools, hospitals, the building of the Vainakh state ensemble, the Groznensky industrial park, a cement plant, etc. In addition to Megastroyinvest, the fund established the Iceberg refrigeration plant, the Chechen Mineral Waters plant, the Colosseum and Bolu Travel companies. Until recently, the fund was the founder of Leader Auto, the official dealer of AvtoVAZ in Chechnya, and the Grozny Avia airline. Megastroyinvest and the Kadyrov Foundation did not respond to RBC’s request at the time of publication.

“This is an almost unique case when a large regional fund is associated with the current leader of the region,” says political scientist Alexander Kynev. As a rule, foundations are organized by former heads of constituent entities, and such organizations are engaged in “all kinds of cultural, historical, social projects.” The only exception is the Bashkir Charitable Foundation “Ural”. The current chairman of its council is the former president of the republic, Murtaza Rakhimov. In particular, funds from the sale of Bashneft in 2005 were allocated to the fund. The fund's assets, according to SPARK, in 2014 amounted to 53 billion rubles.

13. Not businesslike

By the end of 2014, according to Rosstat, 9.7 thousand enterprises were registered in Chechnya. True, there is no data on which of them are working and which are simply created and do not conduct economic activities. In other regions of the North Caucasus Federal District there are much more business entities: in Dagestan, for example, there are 34.1 thousand organizations, in the Stavropol Territory there are 56.8 thousand.

Of the 9.7 thousand Chechen companies, financial results are known for only 1,200 companies, and only 15 of them had revenues for 2014 exceeding 1 billion rubles and profits exceeding 1 million rubles. per year - only from 125 Chechen companies.

The largest enterprise in terms of revenue is Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Grozny CJSC, a subsidiary of the capital's Regiongasholding (the granddaughter of Gazprom), which supplies gas to all residents and enterprises of Chechnya. In 2014, the company earned 4.3 billion rubles. The net loss, however, is about 6.9 billion. For comparison: the revenue of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Stavropol in the same year was about 35 billion rubles, Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Pyatigorsk was 25 billion. In second and third place in terms of revenue is Nurenergo "(4.2 billion rubles) and Grozneftegaz (4 billion rubles), owned by the Russian government.

Four companies from the top 10 are engaged in construction - these are Inkom-alliance, Hi-Tech Project, Chechen-plast and Art. Revenue varies from RUB 3.7 billion. up to 1.3 billion rubles, and two of them have incomes that almost completely coincide with the volume of government contracts. Another company, Pharmsnab, is engaged in the trade of medicines, vehicles, etc. Its revenue (1.5 billion rubles) also practically coincides with the volume of government orders being fulfilled. The remaining two are Trans Metal (trade, metal processing, cargo transportation, revenue - 1.5 billion rubles) and Kuntsevo Auto Trading (dealer of 14 automobile brands, actually operates in Moscow, revenue 1.5 billion rubles) .

Among the companies that showed a profit (44.6 million rubles) is the oil producing company Chechenneftekhimprom, which was previously controlled by Rosneft, and at the end of 2015 was transferred to the ownership of Chechnya by the decision of President Vladimir Putin.

The total revenue of the ten largest companies in Chechnya is 27 billion rubles. This is almost three times less than, for example, the revenue of the cosmetic retailer L’Etoile (62 billion rubles in 2014), and less than the revenue of Yandex, which in 2014 amounted to 50.8 billion rubles.

According to the Central Bank at the end of 2015, Chechnya does not have its own banks (with a parent organization in the republic), but there are branches of four federal ones (Sberbank, Rosselkhozbank, Svyaz-Bank and Anelik Bank).

In terms of the volume of loans issued to individuals (RUB 16 billion) and the share of overdue loans (5%), Chechnya is almost at the very bottom of the list. For comparison: in the Stavropol Territory, residents took out loans in the amount of 151.5 billion rubles, the overdue rate was 10.1%. This is due in no small part to cultural and religious taboos prohibiting usury.

Chechnya ranks last in Russia in terms of the number of organizations with the participation of foreign capital: there are only two of them in the republic, and one of them is registered in Cyprus, an offshore jurisdiction popular among Russians.

The result is obvious: although the gross regional product of Chechnya per capita has been growing in recent years by 13-15% per year, in 2013 (the most current statistics at the moment) it was the lowest in Russia (88.5 thousand rubles. ). In 2011, Ingushetia was in the lead by a slight margin (63.6 thousand rubles per capita), and Chechnya was in second place (67.2 thousand rubles).

The largest share in the GRP structure is occupied by public administration, military security and social security - this means that most of the money in the economy is earned in the public sector, explains Karen Vartapetov, a credit analyst at Standard & Poor's. In terms of GRP dependence on the public sector, Chechnya is in third place. place after Ingushetia and Tyva. In second place in the GRP structure is wholesale and retail trade, repair of vehicles, motorcycles, household products and personal items (18.4%), and in third place is education (11.9%).

14. Not attractive for investment

In the RAEX rating of the Expert RA agency in 2015, Chechnya is included in a disadvantaged group of regions with insignificant investment potential and high risks. Only Ingushetia and Tyva have worse investment potential than Chechnya: both republics, in addition to insignificant potential, promise investors extreme risk.

Chechnya was also part of this group and left only in 2014. This happened due to the trend towards a decrease in terrorist activity - the main risk for the republic, Anna Stolbova, deputy head of the regional research department of Expert RA, explained to RBC. “However, since the second half of 2014, we have again seen an increase in terrorist activity,” she adds. “In addition, the potential decline in investment from the state is becoming increasingly clear, which, against the backdrop of existing financial difficulties in the region, puts pressure on the position in the ranking.”

Indeed, Chechnya cannot boast of serious investments in the region. A number of large projects have been announced in the republic, but so far there is no data on their successful implementation. For example, in 2014, the Ministry of Industry of Chechnya, together with the Derways company (Karachay-Cherkessia) and the Moscow Industrial Bank (MIB), announced the construction of the Yugavto plant in Argun. According to the plans, the plant for the production of light-duty trucks was supposed to start operating in 2015, but, as RBC clarified at the IIB, only pre-design work is currently being carried out, although the bank really intends to invest in this project, but it was not possible to get an answer to the question about the amount of investment.

Also, the Ministry of Industry of Chechnya announced in 2010 that they were planning to start producing phones together with the South Korean company Pine-7. However, nothing is known about the fate of this project. There is no information about the construction of a cascade of hydroelectric power stations worth 86 billion rubles. (the investor should be the Slovenian company Rico Group), nor about a shoe factory with the participation of the Slovenian company Alpina. Rico Group and Alpina did not respond to RBC's request within a week.

However, some investors are ready for high risks. Among the projects that have been completed in the republic are the Kokadoyskaya small hydroelectric power station on the Argun River, a mineral water bottling plant in the Sunzhensky district and a new brick factory in Grozny. True, the hydroelectric power station was built with budget money, the plant with money from the Kadyrov Foundation (it owns 100% of the enterprise), and the investors of the brick factory are unknown (according to SPARK, it belongs to Shamkhan Aslakhadzhiev).

15. iPhone lover

In terms of retail trade turnover per capita, Chechnya, according to Rosstat, ranks 80th in Russia. Despite this, the first federal food retailer Lenta will enter the local market in February. Currently, several federal networks are already operating in Chechnya, including Euroset, Uyuterra, Sportmaster and Eldorado.

According to the company, the average bill in Chechnya in December amounted to 4.9 thousand rubles, which is significantly higher than the average for the Southern Federal District (SFD) and Moscow (this is partly due to the fact that the share of financial services in the sales structure is smaller - money transfers, account replenishment, etc., than in the rest of Russia).

At Eldorado (two stores in Chechnya), the average check and traffic are also higher than in the Southern Federal District and Moscow, assures Karen Matevosyan, development director of the Eldorado chain. “These are some of the best stores in the country,” he says. “The most popular are televisions and digital equipment, especially Apple brand products.” The picture is similar with the average bill in Uyuterra: in Chechnya it is 15% more than in Russia (1 thousand rubles) and in the KupiVip online store. “The Chechen Republic is among the top 5 regions in terms of average bill - it is almost 1 thousand rubles. higher than in Moscow, and 2 thousand higher than the average bill in Russia,” says company representative Nadezhda Gurskaya. — This may be due, among other things, to a large number of purchases of luxury items.

16. Sports

Ramzan Kadyrov has two favorite sports clubs - the football club Terek and the fighting club Akhmat. The Terek football club is one of Kadyrov’s longest and most expensive projects, who tries not to miss a single important match of the team, and sometimes that opponents and judges begin to get nervous.

The budget of Terek, whose president is Kadyrov’s closest associate Magomed Daudov (Speaker of the Chechen Parliament), is not disclosed, but the media has repeatedly reported information about $50-70 million a year. According to this indicator, Terek is among the top 10 richest football clubs in Russia, behind Zenit, Lokomotiv, Spartak, CSKA and Rubin.

Terek's sponsors, as follows from the information on the club's website, are the Foundation named after. Akhmat Kadyrov, SAT & Company holding, uniting metallurgical and mining enterprises of Kazakhstan. Over the years, highly paid football players and coaches worked at Terek. In 2009, for example, Argentine forward Hector Bracamonte moved to Terek, whose salary in Grozny, according to media reports, reached $1.5 million a year. In 2011, Terek was headed by the famous former Dutch football player and coach Ruud Gullit. His contract, as the media wrote, could be from €4 million.

The Akhmat fight club is a relatively new hobby of the head of Chechnya. Located on the territory of the largest sports complex in the region - the Coliseum sports hall. The total area of ​​the facility is 8000 sq. m, the one-time capacity of spectators is up to 5 thousand people. The construction was financed by the same Foundation. Akhmat Kadyrov. The club itself also bears his name.

The club announced the conclusion of contracts with promising fighters Abdul-Kerim Edilov, Ruslan Magomedov, famous kickboxer Roman Kryklya and others. The cost of one contract for any of the named athletes, as one of the promotion companies told RBC, can vary from $2 thousand to $10 thousand. per month: fighter’s salary, medical care, training and camps. Judging by the club's official reports, athletes also regularly travel to international training camps. Visa support, insurance and expenses for the stay of one athlete, for example, at a training camp in Poland, where Akhmat fighter Zelimkhan Umiev recently went, will cost an additional $5 thousand.

Another expense for the Chechen government, in addition to spending on Akhmat, is the organization of competitions. According to RBC’s interlocutor in one of the large promotion companies, holding one event like the recent “Terrible Battle” in Chechnya costs about 15 million rubles. There were 14 “Terrible Battles” in total. Based on this, we can assume that the budget of all MMA tournaments in Chechnya can reach 200 million rubles. The estimate includes props, lighting, entertainment, prize money and advertising. Part of the costs can be recouped through ticket sales, a source in an agency specializing in sports advertising tells RBC.

17. Popular

The head of the Chechen Republic is one of the most popular bloggers, if this name can be applied to a representative of government. Your most popular account - on Instagram— Kadyrov started broadcasting only three years ago (from February 2013) and almost immediately became one of the leaders in the number of subscribers among Russian politicians. Now he has about 1.65 million readers and viewers: in addition to personal and official photographs, the head of Chechnya regularly posts videos of his training, games with children, meetings with residents of the republic, etc., and his meetings with subordinates “without ties” in sportswear a set table has long been a hallmark of the working days of Chechen officials. Ahead of Kadyrov in popularity is perhaps Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, whose Instagram has more than 2 million subscribers.