Grozny residents claim being obliged to attend rally in honour of Vladimir Putin

Today, in Grozny, the stadium "Akhmat-Arena" has hosted the ceremonies to celebrate the birthday of Vladimir Putin. City residents complained that they were obliged to attend the rally.

"We were warned that we would have to be there till 8:00 p.m., and everyone was obliged to come. All the people were registered, and then we were directed in an organized group to a sector allocated for us," one of the participants of the festive event told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

At the stadium "Akhmat-Arena", prior to the concert in honour of the birthday of Vladimir Putin, the event organizers spread out a huge banner of 105 × 68 meters with the photo of the Russian President.

According to a video posted in Twitter by user Magomed Edilsultanov, the banner represented a huge cloth with a photo of the Russian President wearing sunglasses and an inscription reading: "The Best President. Happy Birthday!"

Prior to the start of the festive event, Ramzan Kadyrov himself wrote on his Instagram page that he was "ready to execute any order" issued by Vladimir Putin.

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