Residents of Chechnya treat visit of Kadyrov's retinue to Kaaba as PR action

A group of 14 pilgrims, including Khozh-Akhmed Nettiev, the Qadi of the Shali District of Chechnya, and a Dagestani athlete Magomed Malikov, who is Ramzan Kadyrov's friend, have visited the sacred Muslim Kaaba; and on their return to Grozny, they delivered gifts to the head of Chechnya. The pilgrims for praying in Kaaba are selected by Kadyrov himself, who makes an event, important for Muslims, into a PR campaign, said the residents of Chechnya, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

This year, the hadj (pilgrimage) to Mecca was undertaken by 1596 residents of Chechnya out of the quota of 2600 pilgrims, allocation by the authorities of Saudi Arabia; the reduction of the number of pilgrims has to do with a sharp increase of the travel costs.

"This is a great event in the life of all republic's and country's Muslims. Kaaba is opened for visiting only twice a year; and according to the rules, only one or two persons from a country are allowed to visit it," the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of Chechnya has noted.

Khozh-Akhmed Nettiev was among those who participated in public condemnation of his fellow countryman Said-Emin Gazaliev, who confessed for putting fire to the ziyart (mausoleum) of Dorda-Sheikh.

Local residents express their dissatisfaction with the fact that almost everyone who had been inside Kaaba, as well as most Chechen pilgrims to Mecca, are the persons from the closest Kadyrov's retinue, his relatives and friends.

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