Analysts explain Kadyrov's interest in Dagestani Chechens by his ambitions

The participation of the vice-speaker of the Chechen parliament in a rally on the anniversary of the deportation of Akkin people from Dagestan showed the Ramzan Kadyrov's claims to the role of the all-Chechen leader, says Caucasian expert Akhmet Yarlykapov. The authorities of Chechnya decided to earn political points through earlier banned mourning events, note Caucasian experts Mikhail Roschin and human rights defender Ruslan Kutaev.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 23, at least 10,000 people, including residents of Chechnya and Ingushetia, arrived in the Novolaksky District of Dagestan to pay tribute to the memory of victims of the deportation. At the rally, all the speakers covered the acute problem around the restoration of the Aukhov District, on the territory of which Chechens lived until 1944.

The authorities of Chechnya do not hide their interest in the life of Chechens in Dagestan, Akhmet Yarlykapov notes. The Caucasus expert believes that events similar to the one held in Dagestan are another reason for Ramzan Kadyrov to show himself as the leader of all Chechen people.

The participation of Chechen officials in mourning rallies held in Chechnya and beyond is connected with the desire of the republic's authorities to "channel the memory of the national tragedy in the right direction," Mikhail Roschin believes.

The fact that Dagestani leader Sergey Melikov has not come to the rally to meet Dagestani Chechens does not say anything about the attitude of the republic's authorities to the restoration of the Aukhov District, suggests political analyst Magomed Magomedov. He treats the visit of the vice-speaker of the Chechen parliament as nothing more than a "demonstration of a gesture of the fraternal people."