How could it be that the head of a Russian region asks officials to pay off debts of its residents?

Question

As someone who has learned Russian, I read news from Russian news agencies from time to time, and one of them is TASS, a state-owned news agency, which has recently published a news article that left me totally perplexed. Here's the link to the original Russian text, and here's my translation into English:

GROZNY, 3 April /TASS. The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has urged officials to pay off debts to grocery stores accumulated by low-income residents, in honor of the holy month of Ramadan, sacred for Muslims. He made this appeal at a meeting in Grozny.

"I have received an SMS from Khadijat (TASS note: daughter of the head of Checnya, deputy head of the administration of the head and government of the region) saying that many people have to buy food on credit, owing to a lack of money. It would be good to help them close these debts. It would be good if everyone focused on a separate district and paid off the debts in it."

Kadyrov said that he himself would pay off the debts in the district where he lives.

A common practice in Chechnya is that poor people take goods "on record" and pay later, after receiving a pension or salary. The seller makes a record in a special copybook.

I am at a loss as to how this is possible. Why should officials use their own hard-earned personal funds to pay someone else's debts? Also, how could an official legally have means to settle debts for an entire district, given that salaries of Russian officials average just about US$600 per month? Furthermore, if the practice of buying food on credit is common in Chechnya, how could its head be unaware of it, only learning about it from an SMS sent by his daughter?

The whole news article looks totally fake, but it comes from TASS, so I am typing my question in the hope that experts on Russia could shed light on this.

Answer 1

The whole news article looks totally fake, but it comes from TASS, so I am typing my question in the hope that experts on Russia could shed light on this.

The story look authentic to me, even though TASS is known to lie frequently. Please take my answer with a grain of salt, as I am no expert on Russia or Chechnya, or Ramzan Kadyrov.

Why should officials use their own hard-earned personal funds to pay someone else's debts?

Officials in Chechnya and to a certain degree Russia as well are more like feudal lords, or (in Chechnya) clan leaders or warlords. Expect the corresponding behavior from them. Do not expect the Chechen officials to be anywhere like officials in a Western democracy. Chechnya is a region governed by feudal warlords, in a regime that is a mixture of kleptocracy, highly sectarian Islamic fundamentalist theocracy, and totalitarianism. Chechnya is not quite Russia, despite being a part of the Russian Federation.

Chechen officials do not use their own hard-earned personal funds. They have not earned their wealth by hard public service. They do have enormous wealth, some hidden, some explicitly shown with pride, some in the name of their relatives or multiple (!) wives. The wealth has been accumulated through stealing, corruption, and handouts from the Russian regime. The Russian regime has an enormous source of income from oil and gas sales, as well as from the sale of other natural resources.

When the officials give generous gifts to the Chechen population, who are mostly poor and lack political power, the officials look good and enjoy more support from the population.

Also, how could an official legally have means to settle debts for an entire district, given that salaries of Russian officials average just about US$600 per month?

According to many sources, the income and wealth of many of the Russian and especially Chechen officials is vastly more than $600 per month. Kadyrov has a palace, or palaces, a fleet of very expensive cars, thoroughbred horses, a private military with excellent weapons, etc. I think you are off by many orders of magnitude.

Chechnya could have been a thriving country, with a prosperous middle class, were it not for the wealth hoarded by such officials, and the political system that allows this and much, much more. The excesses of the Chechen theocratic, kleptocratic warlords even make mockery of culture, such as the recent music prohibitions.

Furthermore, if the practice of buying food on credit is common in Chechnya, how could its head be unaware of it, only learning about it from an SMS sent by his daughter?

This is a lie by Ramzan Kadyrov, reported verbatim by TASS and not challenged by such state-owned media, because it is not safe to challenge people like Kadyrov. Remember opposition politician Nemtsov, who was assassinated, and many Kadyrov challengers who later "sincerely apologized" to Kadyrov on video.

Kadyrov, and the TASS "journalists" know full well the details of the poverty of the majority of Chechens (and Russians, for that matter). Kadyrov and the TASS officials are kleptocrats, corrupt people, and serial liars. They steal from the common people, and pretend to not know about their poor economic conditions. From time to time, they act surprised, and give out "generous" handouts to the poor. But they keep most of their ill-gotten wealth to themselves.

References:

• Chechnya - Wikipedia

• Chechnya bans music with tempos deemed too fast or slow : NPR

• Официальные доходы Рамзана Кадырова за два года выросли более чем в 50 раз (article in Russian)

• Documentary on Ramzan Kadyrov (in Russian) - YouTube

I will post selected translations later.

Answer 2

Your confusion is understandable because you missed the underlying cultural context - Chechnya is a Republic of Russia where Chechens are a majority and most of them practice the religion of Islam.

The fundamentals of Islam are based on 5 "pillars" (obligatory beliefs). And one of these pillars of Islam is called Zakat, which very simply put is the obligatory act of charity. Islamic philosophy claims that all the wealth of the world belongs to God and that you become a custodian of part of this wealth only by the grace of God. As such, financially well-off muslims are obligated to share their wealth with others who are financially dire. So all muslims who have a minimum threshold of wealth, are obligated to donate 2.5% of it directly to needy individuals. (For more info, see Zakat: The Obligatory Charity Explained).

Another pillar of Islam is Saum or fasting, from dawn to dusk, during the Holy month of Ramzaan. This ritual of physically fasting (and abstaining from sexual activity, drinking, smoking and other addictive activities) is meant to remind muslims to learn self-control and fight desires that can lead them astray from the faith. One of the most common desires of mankind is wealth accumulation. Thus, muslims believe that the Holy month of Ramzaan, where muslims are meant to subsume their desires and inculcate self-discipline, is also the best time to do Zakat and share their wealth through acts of charity.

This year, the Holy month of Ramzaan was during the month of March and April.

Once you understand these two concepts of Islamic religious culture, it is quite easy to understand the context of the appeal made by the leader of Chechens.

Why should officials use their own hard-earned personal funds to pay someone else's debts?

Basically, he is offering a suggestion to the financially well-off muslim Chechens that helping out these low-income residents to pay off their grocery debts, would be one way to meet their religious obligation of Zakat.

Also, how could an official legally have means to settle debts for an entire district, given that salaries of Russian officials average just about US$600 per month?

One official is not expected to wipe out the debts of everyone in the district. What is suggested is that all the officials in a district jointly donate to a single cause and try to settle the debts of the many in a district.

Islam has codified that muslims (who have more than a certain threshold of wealth) need to donate 2.5% of their yearly savings (liquid assets that include cash, gold, investments etc. minus your liabilities like debt, tax or expenses). That sum (annual savings) can be considerably more for some officials, and the donation is supposed to be made from this savings, and not from the official's monthly earning (which, as you noted, could be a meagre amount). Note also that only financially sound muslims are supposed to give Zakat (this Zakat calculator offers an interesting insight on this).

(Ofcourse, your doubt is also based on the assumption that all the officials don't have wealth beyond their means, which may not be true for the wealthy or the dishonest.)

Note that apart from Zakat, which is obligatory and a fixed percentage, a muslim can also give extra donations (called Sadaqah) out of the goodness of one’s heart. And many muslims believe doing so on the Holy month of Ramzaan can earn them God's blessings.

if the practice of buying food on credit is common in Chechnya, how could its head be unaware of it, only learning about it from an SMS sent by his daughter?

I think maybe you are jumping to wrong conclusion here? When I was younger, my family used to buy grocery on credit too (in India). We weren't poor, and it was common practice for the neighbourhood grocer to allow us (and other neighbours) to buy on credit and settle the bill every month. A politician can be aware of such cultural practices, but they may not realise that many are defaulting on such debts due to changing economic circumstances (Covid, sanctions on Russia etc. may have negatively impacted Chechens more) until someone brings it to their attention. (Or you could be right and he may be just another politician embellishing the truth for dramatic effect).

Another interesting context to note here is that Russian President Putin has allowed Kadyrov to introduce Islamic Sharia law into Chechnya, when he relaxed Soviet-era laws meant to suppress all religions. So government heads mixing politics with religion seems to be a new kind of politics in Russia, with Putin too using the Russian Orthodox church in his politics.

Answer 3

Mitsuko! I read your posts on the Russian language SE I was hoping to have a chat with you but you had gone...

About these circumstances, I think it is based on some kind of Russian/Chechen traditional practice, but Kadyrov is reviving it now, because today the Russian economy is a synthesis of capitalistic, Soviet Union, and traditional clan parts. Chechnya is a very traditional Russian region, so its management is based on family and clan power. Kadyrov is a clan leader, his father was the leader who made the peace treaty with Putin and Russian leaders and ended the Caucasian crisis of the '90s.

It is not a lie that Kadyrov, the son of his father-peacemaker, uses the money from the Kadyrov Fund. It is also the part of religious and culture senses, and as a PR of Kadyrov as a merciful leader and Russian mercy to the Chechnya region. I think that is the part of Russian unspoken treaty of the Chechnya loyalty. There is also a religious sense, a duty as a good Muslim to help the poor. So he has to show his best moral side.

But of course, it is not good there are people in Chechnya who are unable to pay for food and some of the essentials for living. They are mostly old people. Probably people who lost their sons during the war (the past or current). Because the son traditionally becomes the head of the family and takes care of his elderly parents. So Kadyrov shows to his nation, that if they something will went bad with there sons in the war, he will care for their troubles instead of them. While he is supporting and caring for their troubles, they will support him and Russian politics.

So, the traditional sense is: if family head man is unable to care about their family, clan heads must to care about them. This sense Kadyrov is keeping, while asking them to help. Some kind of local traditional communism, not a rich, but people can live and follow their duty without any worries.

And moreover, Kadyrov is not just an official on salary, he is a clan leader, his official income sometimes is not a secret. And naturally, some people say that his income is much more, but even this number is not $600). Although there is no official number for his earnings after 2021, but I'm sure he do well). And he has access to the Ahmed Kadyrov fund also.

And also 600 million rubles is about $7 million, so it is not a great sum of money for a wealthy man.