Portrait contest reinforces trend of Kadyrov family cult

Authors of the best portraits of the leader of Chechnya and his parents will be awarded 500,000 roubles each from the Kadyrov Foundation, Magomed Daudov, the speaker of the Chechen parliament, has announced. He has called on Chechen natives living abroad to participate in the portrait contest. The money could have been used to help those in need in Northern Caucasus, and not to strengthen the cult of the Kadyrov family, some Internet users complain.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in August, the celebration of the 70th anniversary of Akhmat Kadyrov’s birth highlighted the cult of his personality in Chechnya: the opening of a school, the start of construction of a power plant, a bicycle and auto rally and other actions were timed to that date. Teachers were required to gather schoolchildren and oblige them to perform poetry in honour of the first president of Chechnya, local residents said.

On the late evening of September 7, Magomed Daudov, the speaker of the Chechen parliament, announced the contest “for the best artistic image” of Akhmat Kadyrov, Ramzan Kadyrov, and Aimani Kadyrova. “In Europe and throughout Russia, many squares, parks, streets, and bridges are named in honour of Akhmat-Khadji. Therefore, we want to announce a contest for Chechens who live beyond the republic. Whoever draws Akhmat-Khadji best will be awarded 500,000 roubles,” Magomed Daudov said on the video as translated from the Chechen language by the “Caucasian Knot”.

In their comments under the post about the contest announcement, many Instagram users supported the idea and wished success to contestants. However, some other users were critical. “Just do not forget: this fundamentally contradicts Islam,” user ramazangram_212.2 wrote. “But could you give the money to those in need? There are a lot of them in our region,” user milca_mila777 suggested in turn.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 8, 2021 at 01:38 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.