Kadyrov gets gratitude letter from President Putin after a dispute with Sokurov

On December 18, the presidential envoy to the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) handed over to Ramzan Kadyrov a gratitude letter from Vladimir Putin "for active participation in public and political life." The gratitude was announced back in April. The leader of Chechnya got the Russian President's encouragement amid a public discussion with film director Alexander Sokurov concerning whether Ramzan Kadyrov deserved the title of Hero of Russia.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 10, doubts voiced by Alexander Sokurov concerning whether Ramzan Kadyrov deserved the title of Hero of Russia provoked a resonance in Chechnya. Ramzan Kadyrov and Magomed Daudov, the speaker of the Chechen parliament, another Hero of Russia, accused Alexander Sokurov of provocation. On December 12, almost two dozen Chechen scientists and cultural figures signed an angry appeal to Alexander Sokurov, and on December 15, Djambulat Umarov, Chechen Minister of National Policy, criticized both statements and films of Alexander Sokurov.

On December 18, Alexander Matovnikov, the presidential envoy to the North-Caucasian Federal District, handed over the Vladimir Putin's gratitude letter to Ramzan Kadyrov. This was reported by the leader of Chechnya himself on his VKontakte page on the same day.

A photocopy of the President Putin's gratitude letter posted on hello_grozny Instagram community shows that the document is dated April 17, 2019.

Some Instagram users noticed that Ramzan Kadyrov got the gratitude letter with eight months delay and associated that fact with the public discussion about the title of Hero of Russia.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 19, 2019 at 12:38 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.