Residents of Chechnya find excuses for MP's words about Russians unpersuasive

The public statement about dislike for Russians was misunderstood, said Magomed Khanbiev, a Chechen MP, explaining that he meant militaries. Djambulat Umarov, a Chechen Minister, has supported Khanbiev, also pointing to an inaccurate interpretation of his words. However, social network users and republic's residents are sceptical of these statements.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 10, Magomed Khanbiev, a Chechen MP, posted a video, in which in the Chechen language he declared himself "a son of Ichkeria" and said that he "does not like Russians." Russian oppositionist Alexei Navalny drew attention to the fact that the authorities of the country failed to react to the statement voiced by the MP.

In a new audio message, Magomed Khanbiev accused the blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov of the scandal.

Khanbiev has explained that when he spoke of his dislike for Russians, he meant "Budanov, Shamanov and the like." "Tumso was frightened and made a fuss. He sent it to Navalny; Navalny took it and translated as he wanted," Khanbiev has stated, adding that "he was and is friendly with Russians," and that during the war he liberated captured Russian soldiers. "I've never said that I didn't like the Russian people," Mr Khanbiev has assured.

Djambulat Umarov, the Chechen Minister for National Policy, External Relations, Press and Information, has stood up in defence of Khanbiev and made an attempt to explain the situation by the wrong translation.

According to the minister, the MP's words about the dislike of Russians should be interpreted precisely as his dislike for the generals and the militaries who fought in Chechnya, and not to transfer to whole Russian people.

In their comments to Djambulat Umarov, social network users criticized his words.

"The word 'Г1аски' means a Russian," wrote the user under the nickname Beautiful Voice.

The residents of Chechnya interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent agree that Djambulat Umarov tried to somehow mitigate Magomed Khanbiev's words, but he failed to do it.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 16, 2019 at 07:08 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.