Grozny residents claim being forced to attend subbotniks

In Chechnya, employees of public institutions and students complained about being forced to take part in the action on the large-scale planting of Grozny devoted to the holiday of May 9.

Subbotniks (voluntary works to clean up territories), in the course of which more than five thousand seedlings of different species were planted, were held in Grozny on April 1-8, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by an employee of the Grozny administration.

"Those persons who wished to plant trees in their yards got seedlings free of charge. This action is timed to the forthcoming celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Victory," he has said.

Local residents have claimed that the participants of the action had to plant trees in bad weather conditions.

According to a source, the planting of seedlings involved employees of almost all ministries and departments.

Residents of Chechnya constantly face the need for compulsory participation in cleanup actions and rallies. This was stated by Amina, a representative of one of the Chechen institutions of higher education.

According to Umar, a student of the Chechen State University (ChSU), officials observed the progress of subbotniks from their foreign-made cars.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported it systematically receives reports from Chechnya stating that local residents are forced to take part in the cleanup actions and rallies. Thus, the edition received reports on forced nature of Chechen residents' participation in the recovery works in the village of Bamut, marches to Russian President's birthday, and cleaning of cemeteries on the eve of Easter.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.