Putin considers Chechnya a ‘modern Russian miracle’

On 19 December, Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual marathon press conference and call-in-show, ‘Direct Line with Vladimir Putin’, during which he mentioned the North Caucasus republics several times, unlike in previous years.

The very first question at the press conferences came from a North Ossetian journalist, who asked why the North Caucasus Military Institute in Vladikavkaz had been closed 15 years ago.

‘There was no need for so many specialists, so many military for such an army as the Russian army was. Now we are increasing the army and force units due to a number of circumstances — up to 1.5 million people. I can't say directly now, yes, we will do it tomorrow, but I promise you that we will definitely work it out,’ Putin replied.

Putin heaps praise on Chechnya

Putin mentioned Chechnya several times during the event, in particular, singling it out as one of Russia’s regions with the highest birth rates, along with Tuva.

‘There is nothing wrong with demography in Chechnya and Tuva. We have two such subjects of the federation. Do we need to do anything extra? Just say thank you, support them, and take the rest of us as an example,’ Putin said.

In recent years, Putin has focused considerable attention on the issue of improving Russia’s declining birthrates. Additional measures to encourage mothers to have more children are being implemented in the regions, and any information about the childfree movement has been recognised by the state to be ‘extremist propaganda’.

Putin also spent some time focusing on the Chechen capital, Grozny.

After a Chechen journalist asked Putin whether Grozny was beautiful, he responded that the city was ‘a modern Russian miracle’.

Putin also recalled a visit to Grozny during the Second Chechen War.

‘I flew over Grozny during the harsh years when the fight against terrorism, primarily international terrorism, was going on there. It was all ruins, and from these ruins there were still machine-gun bursts toward the helicopter’, he said.

In his opinion, the restoration of the Chechen capital is due to the merit of the authorities and local residents.

‘I'm not talking about the mosque, which is lovely to see, but such new structures, buildings, and architectural solutions. This cannot but arouse a sense of pride — for what has been done in Chechnya and Grozny in recent years,’ Putin concluded.

Putin was also asked about the implementation of plans to build a high-speed railway from Krasnodar to Grozny, which could be linked to the existing Moscow-Adler main line.

‘Something is in a more advanced state, some things are not. I wouldn’t like to go into details, but I know about these plans for sure. We recently discussed in the government what options there are to link the Chechen Republic with Krasnodar and the Black Sea coast. All this should be done in due course, but there are no precise plans yet. Although it is expedient, I’m not hiding it’, Putin said.

School children, teachers, and public employees forced to watch

Journalists from other North Caucasian republics were unable to ask their questions to Putin.

Ingushetian journalists in particular protested against the fact that they have not been able to ask Putin a question for 10 years.

However, even though these republics were not represented at the press conference, employees of state institutions in the North Caucasus were obliged by the leadership to watch the marathon call-in, either physically at their workplace or through the official institution webpages on the Russian social network Vkontakte.

This also extended to schools.

For example, several kindergartens in Daghestan shared pictures of their staff watching the call-in show while at work, including kindergartens  No. 17 and No. 5 in the city of Buynaksk, kindergarten No. 14 in Izberbash, and the kindergarten in the village of Mekegi.

In some schools, the schoolchildren themselves were forced to watch the call-in show. The administration of the Babayurtovsky district of Daghestan published a video showing children watching the show, before promptly deleted the footage.

The kindergarten’s head, Roza Baybolatova, told the Podyom newspaper that this was the first time Putin’s press conference was shown to pupils at the school.

‘It was the first time, sorry. The children sat for a short time’, she said.

OC Media contacted the management of some of the schools where it was confirmed students had watched the broadcast.

According to one employee, the event was organised by the head teacher, who was absent from the workplace.

All the schools refused to comment about whether the students and their parents appreciated the broadcast being aired. In total, the call-in lasted 4.5 hours, and Putin answered 76 questions. At the same time, the show received about two million questions in advance, the Russian state news agency TASS reported.

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