After February 23 action, residents of Chechnya rebuke Kadyrov of inconsistency

Chechen authorities have acted inconsistently by organizing a mourning rally on the 76th anniversary of Vainakhs' deportation after the earlier ban on commemorative events imposed on residents of Chechnya on that day. The rally was not announced; and only officials and law enforcers took part in it, local residents have complained.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 23, a rally in memory of repression victims was held in Grozny, which was attended by Ramzan Kadyrov. "The pain of the tragedy will never erase from our memory," he wrote on the Instagram.

Local residents treated as illogical to hold a mourning rally by republic's authorities after the long-term ban on such actions. "Our leadership had first forbidden any mourning for deportation victims to be held on February 23; now, they have organized such an event themselves. Once they state that Stalin was to blame, another time they blame Chechens themselves. I can't understand such fluctuations," Abubakar, a local resident, has stated.

"In 2011, the mourning was moved from February 23 to May 10. Moreover, Ruslan Kutaev, a well-known figure, was sent to jail under a far-fetched pretext, because he dared to violate the authorities' ban and held a conference on the topic of deportation. And this year, Kadyrov himself is talking about deportation," Islam, an activist, was surprised.

Earlier, sociologists have stated that Chechen authorities will not be able to delete the start of deportation date out of people's memory.