Chechen authorities declared the cancellation of the vote on banknote symbols a victory

Chechen Minister Akhmed Dudayev called the early end of the "biased voting" for the images on the new 500-ruble banknote a victory. The Dagestan Ministry of Tourism, which had announced a prize draw for voters, has suspended its competition.

As reported by the " Caucasian Knot ," on October 12, the Bank of Russia halted the vote on the symbols for the new 500-ruble banknote early, stating that numerous attempts were observed during the voting process to "increase the number of votes for certain objects using technical means." The vote was decided to be held later under stricter conditions. As of October 12, Mount Elbrus was significantly ahead of Grozny-City in the online voting results.

Akhmed Dudayev responded to the Central Bank's decision on the evening of October 12, calling it a "victory." "I congratulate us all on this victory!!! The biased voting has been stopped. When there is such a worthy national leader as Ramzan Akhmatovich, injustice towards the Chechen people does not end," he wrote.

As of 7:57 a.m. Moscow time, not a single comment had been posted under Dudayev’s publication.

In turn, the Dagestan Ministry of Tourism stated that, in connection with the Central Bank's decision, the prize draw organized by the agency "is also cancelled."

The votes you cast will be saved and taken into account in the next prize drawing.

"After voting resumes, the possibility of holding the competition in an updated format will be considered. Your votes with the hashtag #ChooseDerbent will be saved and counted in the next prize draw after voting begins," the ministry's Telegram channel stated.

As of 7:57 AM Moscow time, Ramzan Kadyrov had not commented on the Central Bank's decision to halt the vote on his Telegram channel. Earlier, on October 11, Kadyrov reported the completion of the competition he had announced.

"I announced a competition to support the Grozny-City high-rise complex as part of a nationwide vote on the Bank of Russia website. Today, the winners were determined; they met all the requirements and were selected randomly. I sincerely thank everyone who participated in this competition," he wrote.

Kadyrov did not reveal the number of winners or their names. The video accompanying the post shows the presentation of prizes to a young man and two women. The other recipients are not visible in the frame. The video then continues with the young man and the two women taking turns thanking the Chechen authorities and urging viewers to vote.

As a reminder, the idea of ​​depicting "Grozny-City" or Mount Elbrus on the banknote was previously criticized by the "Russian Community," calling it  "ideological sabotage ." Blogger Max Divnich, who had clashed with "Akhmat," urged his followers to vote for Elbrus over Grozny.

The idea of ​​depicting "Grozny-City" on the 500-ruble banknote, which the Russian Community is campaigning against, is being presented by Kadyrov as a symbol of the success of the imperial project, but both sides in the conflict are concerned  only with their own prestige and influence, not state unity, analysts noted.

Social media users, however, called the competition  far-fetched . Several symbols will be used on each side of the 500-ruble note, and the winner of the vote will not necessarily occupy the central place on the note, the Bank of Russia explained.

The "Caucasian Knot" is publishing news about the voting for the image on the 500-ruble banknote in the " Fight for 500 Rubles in the Caucasus " section.

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/416272