In Chechnya, 3,009 previously divorced families have been reunited, the Grozny-Inform news agency reported, citing data from the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Chechnya (DUM). It is unclear what time frame the data is referring to, although it appears to tally up those who have reconciled since 2017.
According to the DUM, a total of 24,543 measures aimed at harmonising marital and family relations have been carried out in the region, during which 5,960 divorced couples were identified. The administration stated that 5,288 children are being raised in the reunited families. At the same time, 2,332 couples declined to restore their family relationships.
The report noted that in the families of those couples who did not agree to reconciliation, there are 6,126 children, of whom 4,032 live with their fathers and 2,049 with their mothers.
Commissions for the settlement of family conflicts in Chechnya were established on the instruction of the Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov. According to human rights defenders, family reunifications take place under pressure and can become traumatic for those who decided to divorce for various reasons.
Official family harmonisation commissions are engaged in returning to families women who seek divorce or leave their husbands due to domestic violence, human rights activists from Kavkaz bez materi (Caucasus without mothers) movement noticed. In 2023, RFE/RL also reported that women in Chechnya seeking divorce often face pressure from authorities and religious leaders.
As an example, there was the death of a resident of Gudermes, Madina Umaeva, who had repeatedly attempted to leave her husband but returned under pressure.
Madina Umaeva died on 12 June 2020 in her husband’s home and was buried at night. Her husband stated that she died after falling down the stairs during an epileptic seizure. Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov subsequently said that her relatives had no confirmation that her husband was responsible for her death. After this, Umaeva’s mother apologised for her earlier statements about the violent nature of her daughter’s death.
OC Media
The local independent media outlet Caucasian Knot also published comments from its readers stating that reconciliations take place in a ‘voluntary-compulsory manner’.
According to one reader cited by the publication, in one case a woman decided to return to her family after her former husband, with whom the children lived, intended to remarry. The husband, the source claims, refused to resume the relationship, but after the woman appealed to the muftiate, members of the commission visited him with a demand to restore the family. According to the source, his explanations were not taken into account and, as he alleges, he was told that there was a ‘corresponding instruction’. The couple eventually resumed cohabitation, but, according to the same source, conflicts between them continue.
The same individual also described another case in which spouses reconciled with the participation of the commission separated again a few months later and subsequently formed new families.
Elizaveta Chukharova
Official statistics have shown that Chechnya recorded the highest ratio of divorces to marriages in Russia in February 2025, with 965 divorces and only 312 being registered — with divorce rates being three times higher.
By comparison, the national average in Russia is approximately 70 divorces per 100 marriages, according to Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service.
In November 2024, Kadyrov stated that since 2017, a commission for the ‘harmonisation’ of family relationships had restored 2,716 families.
