Grozny holds festivities to celebrate City Day

In the morning of October 5, the Chechen capital started mass events to celebrate the City Day of Grozny. Besides, Chechnya has celebrated the Day of Chechen Youth and the birthday of Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the republic. Many residents of the republic expressed sceptical attitude to the scale of celebrations.

Actors Jean Depardieu, Valery Zolotukhin, Sergey Shakurov, Leonid Yakubovich, and Italian actress Ornella Muti congratulated residents of the republic on the holiday. This was reported by the website and the leader and the government of Chechnya.

Residents of the republic and of the Chechen capital themselves have different opinions in assessing the celebrations. Some believe that the holding of major cultural events helps to create a positive image of Chechnya in the world, while others believe that the leaders organize all holidays and celebrations for themselves only, with little thinking of ordinary citizens.

"I think that Ramzan (Kadyrov) does everything right, since the world got used to the image of a Chechen bandit, terrorist and religious fanatic, created over the past 10-15 years. We should show all people that we are the same people like they are and that we have our own traditions, culture and customs, which are to some extents even better than others' ones. This is also a politics," says Khamzat M., a resident of the republic.

"This is for himself that Ramzan brings here artists and singers from all over the world, and this is for himself and his company that he builds countless recreation parks, mosques, etc. If the republic's leaders somehow think of ordinary people, firstly, we would build factories and enterprises and not entertainment centres, multi-storey buildings, and apartments, which only very rich people can afford. At our place, everything is built for window dressing and everything is being done only to gratify Kadyrov's vanity," said Bekkhan S., another local resident.