Official website of the President of Russia

Transcripts   /

President Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon!

I am very happy to see you. Everyone in Chechnya who knew and loved [first Chechen President] Akhmat-hajji Kadyrov will soon be celebrating his birthday. I also wanted to see you before this date, before August 23. Much of what Akhmat-hajji had planned is now being carried out in Chechnya. You know as well as I do, and in some regards even better than I do, all the difficulties involved in this process.

But whatever the difficulties, the process is going ahead and is following the course that Akhmat-hajji set. I am pleased to see that not only is economic life becoming more active in Chechnya, and not only are the plans that he and I had discussed, plans such as rebuilding housing, for example, being implemented, but that the political process is also moving forward and is reaching out to the different movements and political forces.

Akhmat-hajji’s son, who is here today, has also done a great deal to continue this work. He could be said to have taken the baton from his father, to a considerable degree. I would like to thank you for this work. Good on you. I would like to thank you not only for the effective way Chechnya’s law enforcement agencies have worked. This effectiveness has been very clear, especially over the last year. The results have been very visible, and this is confirmed by the Interior Ministry’s leadership in their reports. The minister is happy with your work. You have put together a good team of people to carry out these important and responsible tasks.

I would also like to note the Chechen government’s work on rebuilding the republic’s economy. Of course, Akhmat-hajji would not be satisfied with everything because many acute problems still remain. And we do not always manage to settle these problems within the original timeframe we set and with the quality of results we would like to see.

But what is particularly important, and what I want to stress, is that the situation in Chechnya is developing along the lines that the republic’s first president, Akhmat-hajji Kadyrov, had planned. I ask you to pass on my very best wishes to the people in Chechnya who worked with him and struggled with him for the Chechen people’s future, and I ask you to pass on my very best wishes to all of Chechnya’s people.

Ramzan Kadyrov: Thank you for finding the time to meet with us. The work that my father and I began has the support of our people and this support is daily proof of my father’s memory. A memorial to him was set in place yesterday. Thank you for everything. Thank you for showing this mark of respect not only to the Kadyrov family, but to all the people living in Chechnya. Thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin: There’s no need for thanks. I have seen this memorial. I think I will also have the chance to see it where it now stands. We will choose a time and will definitely come to see it. I think that erecting this memorial was the right step to take in immortalising the memory of a man who was ready to sacrifice even his own life for the sake of the Chechen people’s interests, a man who showed absolute courage, consistency and firmness.

It was the Moscow authorities who took the first step to immortalise Akhmat-hajji Kadyrov’s memory. They did this of their own accord because Akhmat-hajji gave his life not only for Chechnya and the Chechen people’s interests, but also for peaceful development of events in all of Russia. We are all grateful to him for this and will of course preserve his memory.