Grozny Mayoralty’s report highlights practice of forcing residents of Chechnya to participate in subbotniks

More than five hundred people from thirty departments took part in a series of subbotniks (volunteer unpaid work on Saturdays) in the “English Castle,” the Mayor of Grozny reported. Social media users questioned the voluntary decision of city residents to take part in cleaning up the destroyed building.

Grozny Mayor Khas-Magomed Kadyrov conducted an inspection on the territory of the “English Castle” in the Sheikh-Mansurovsky District of the Chechen capital. “This place has always been very popular among residents and guests of the capital, so ... the Grozny Mayoralty organized a series of subbotniks on the territory of the people’s favourite sight. More than five hundred people responded to the call for joint work, and they cleared the building of all debris,” the Grozny Mayoralty reported in its Telegram channel.

The so-called “English Castle” is a building built in the 1920s by order of the English oilmen who were then working in Chechnya. “How to clean up a building and the territory adjacent to it, several hectares, without special expenses and a shortage of workers? That’s right, it can be done by organizing subbotniks. <...> Of course, no one ‘forced’ anyone. Public sector employees abandoned all their household chores and simply decided to devote their days off to such a necessary task (according to the official position of the authorities),” wrote a reader of the “Caucasian Knot”.

The large-scale involvement of residents of Chechnya in subbotniks is a continuation of the traditions of the Soviet era, although the authorities of the republic have the opportunity to hire workers for money, believes Svetlana Gannushkina*, the chair of the “Civic Assistance Committee”*.

The law allows employees to refuse forced labour, notes advocate Andrei Stepanov.

It is illegal to force public sector employees to participate in subbotniks, emphasizes advocate Yevgeny Chernousov. However, appealing even to federal departments and courts will not bring any positive results, since the complaint will be “downloaded” to lower public bodies in Chechnya, notes the advocate.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.