Chechnya: state servants tell about forced head shaving after Kadyrov

After the flash mob initiated by Ramzan Kadyrov, law enforcers have appeared in the streets of Grozny with their heads shaved bald. This trend has voluntarily-forcibly touched on some state (budget-funded) organizations, local residents inform.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in response to local residents' requests to open barbershops that were closed because of coronavirus quarantine, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, shaved off all his hair. Some officials and law enforcers followed his example.

"We were warned that we should immediately shave bold following our boss [the head of Chechnya]. Nobody cared whether you like it or not; there was simply no choice," said Magomed, an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

Local clergymen have also followed the call of the head of Chechnya. An employee of the republic's DAM (Spiritual Administration of Muslims) said that this also affected ordinary employees of the Muftiate.

"At our Ministry for Emergencies (MfE), where I work, under the instruction of our bosses, we shaved each other right at workplaces. Those displeased were ordered to go home," said Khamzat, a local resident.

However, in the opinion of Aset Malsagova, a rights defender, any mass coercion to shaving heads is out of question yet.

In the Caucasus and in Chechnya, in particular, there is no tradition to follow the leader in any of his extravagant acts, but such behaviour is more characteristic for the retinue which is close to the ruler, Mikhail Roschin, an Orientalist, noted earlier.