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18 May 2009 DM -- Without a doubt the event of
the week, not only for Chechnya but for all of Russia,
was Ramzan Kadyrov's declaration of his personal
income. As there is little point in giving a detailed
account of the news that came as a real shock to all
who heard it, I will merely mention the fact that
according to his declaration the head of Chechnya owns
a three-room apartment with a total area of 36 square
metres and an unpretentious VAZ-21053 car. The Chechen
President’s earnings for 2008 at his main place of
work (his salary) were 3,422,000,000 roubles
(110,214,884 USD), and he has no other sources of
income.
The problem is not even that the level of income and
the amount of property are understated. They are
entered in the document without consideration for the
reaction of the general Russian public. Kadyrov hardly
needed powers of clairvoyance in order to predict how
such a strange declaration would be perceived outside
Chechnya (and also in the republic itself). The
Chechen leader’s fortune is legendary. Indeed, he
readily shows off the luxurious trappings of his life
to all and sundry, especially the journalists from the
state-run television channels who are frequent
visitors to his estate in Khosi-Yurt. Viewers have had
more than one opportunity of admiring the magnificent
array of lavishly gilded furniture, the private zoo,
the expensive cars that Kadyrov likes to drive
himself, and the other evidence of the Chechen
President’s modest income.
The declaration is a unique document that demonstrates
its author's deep contempt for public opinion. At the
very least, Kadyrov is indifferent to what people will
think and say about him. And if one examines the
contents of the declaration more closely, one cannot
avoid the sense that they reveal a plan of
sophisticated mockery. For they refer to an apartment
and car which bear witness, if not to their owner’s
complete destitution, then to his poverty. A
three-room apartment with an area of 36 square metres
is the most wretched form of 1960s Soviet housing
design, the so-called "Khruschevka”. Modern apartments
of the same type have a different and larger
floor-space. A Chechen who owns a Zhiguli-5 is also
drawing attention to his extremely low social status.
It would obviously not have cost Kadyrov much effort
to present a more neutral declaration, with some
elements of plausibility. It looks very much as though
he was deliberately trying to provoke indignation, the
grumbling resentment of the man in the street. People
who are well-acquainted with the Chechen leader’s
character can tell many stories about his peculiar
sense of humour. One of the most vivid examples of
this is Anna Politkovskaya’s article about her visit
to Tsentoroi.
It is possible that the declaration points to an
insurmountable and mocking desire on Kadyrov’s part
(accompanied by a gnashing of teeth) to show how
invulnerable he is, how impervious to public opinion,
how independent of the control of anyone except his
sole master who now sits in the White House in Moscow.
He is making it clear that he will not allow anyone to
poke their nose into his private affairs. Russia, to
which he daily swears loyalty, can go to hell with its
interest in the contents of his pockets..
EsinIslam.Com
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