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New Chechen President Meets His Friends
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov met yesterday with leaders of the Chechen community in Russia at the Hotel President in Moscow. More than 100 representatives of regional Chechen communities were present, among them advisor to the Russian president Aslanbek Aslakhanov, head of the Moscow Industrial Bank Abubakar Arsamakov, businessmen Vakha Agaev and Lema Kasaev and former husband of singer Kristina Obrakaite Ruslan Baisarov. Olympic champion wrestler Buvaisar Saitiev flew in from Krasnodarsk for the meeting. All of the president's guests were significantly older then him. “You are all experienced people. You know life and can give good advice. That is why I decided to meet with you and listen to you,” Kadyrov told them.
Kadyrov spoke to his guests in Chechen for half an hour without notes. “When restoration was being carried out under federal direction, no more than 30 percent of the funds allotted for it in the federal budget made it to the [Chechen] republic. As a result, nothing was restored but huge money was spent. For that they called our republic a black hole,' even though the money disappeared in Moscow, not Chechnya.”
After that, Kadyrov turned his attention to the Russian media, criticizing it for “continuing to spread a bad image of Chechnya.” He criticized the Kommersant correspondent individually for lacking objectivity. He called on community leaders to protect Chechens. “We have defended Russia from international terrorism, so the attitude toward us from the authorities and law enforcement and society should be respectful,” he said, adding that he lost his father and hundreds of close friends in the fight against terrorism.
Chechen elder and minister of justice of the former Checheno-Ingushetia Idris Albastov stated that it was thanks to the Ramzan Kadyrov's father, Chechen president Akhmat Kadyrov, that Russian President Vladimir Putin lives Chechnya. He also called on the Chechens to support and assist the new young president. State Duma members from Chechnya Ruslan Yamadaev and Akhmar Zavgaev, Federation Council member Musa Umarov, businessmen Agaev and Baisarov and others expressed their support for Ramzan Kadyrov. Speaker of the Chechen legislative assembly Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov told the assembly, “Vladimir Putin and the Chechen people support Ramzan!”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 22, 2007
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