Kuban residents criticize Kadyrov's project of Transcaucasian HSR

Residents of Kuban need no high-speed railway (HSR) from Chechnya to Krasnodar; and it is unacceptable to cover the expenses for its construction from the budget against the background of plans on the retirement age growth. This opinion was voiced by residents of the Krasnodar Territory interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Earlier, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has asked President Vladimir Putin to finance the Transcaucasian HSR to link Grozny and Moscow. The project raised the issue concerning the payback of HSRs railways in the Caucasus; and there is no full calculation of its performance, experts note.

Maxim Sechin, a 23-year-old resident of Krasnodar, has doubted the need for a HSR to Grozny.

"Why do we need a HSR to Chechnya? I personally have no desire to go there," said the young man.

"The country faces a crisis, but you see, Ramzan Kadyrov wants a railway. The country's leaders demonstrate a strangely special attitude to him," said Grigory Isaev, a 42-year-old resident of Gelendzhik.

The direction from Krasnodar to Grozny will not be in demand for residents of the Krasnodar Territory, says Laura Gukasyan, a 35-year-old resident of Gelendzhik.

Vasily Bragin, a 48-year-old resident of the Dinskaya District, fears that the massive relocation of residents of Northern Caucasus to Krasnodar will lead to aggravation of interethnic and interreligious conflicts.

The Ramzan Kadyrov's project has the right to exist, but the railway should be built exclusively at the expense of investors, without attracting funds from the budget, believes Yury Zuev, a resident of Krasnodar.