Ramzan Kadyrov demands to exclude thousands from housing waiting list

Most of those who are in the housing queue in Grozny, have no right to be there, said the head of Chechnya. On Tuesday, they began checking all the temporary accommodation centres (TACs) for those in need of housing, the Grozny Mayoralty has reported. Local residents assert that authorities are unable to solve the problem for many years.

"They live in hostels ... You start checking ... 28 persons, who live there claim they have no housing. They have houses, apartments, cars – everything they need – but still live in hostels ... Swindlers: 111 families, 28 hostel tenants are in need of housing," Mr Kadyrov has stated.

He has announced that out of 20,000 persons on the housing waiting list in Grozny, 19,800 are "swindlers" who "want to get apartments for free," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

According to a woman-tenant of one of Grozny hostels, she knows many cases when state housing was granted to those, who had no legitimate right to own it.

However, in Grozny hostels, there still families of forced migrants, who have received no help from the authorities.

"I've been living in a hostel with my children for 11 years, hoping for the promised housing instead of ours destroyed during the war," said a local resident named Malika.