Chechen leader tones down personality cult
GROZNY, Russia, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The leader of Russia's volatile Chechnya region on Wednesday acted to tone down a personality cult blossoming around him and told people to take down his portraits from public places.
"Many people post photographs for their personal aims, to attract my attention and gain immunity," Ramzan Kadyrov, a former Kremlin foe and now the Moscow-backed president of the region, said.
"Everybody wants to call their institute or street after Kadyrov, but we have to understand that this is not correct," the 31-year-old Kadyrov said.
Russian soldiers have fought Chechen rebels in two wars since 1994 and although sporadic fighting still continues, the Kremlin is eager to present Chechnya as rebuilt and normal and have backed the Kadyrov family to ensure this.
Posters of Ramzan Kadyrov alongside his father, whom assassins killed in 2005 when he was the Chechen leader, and Russian president Vladimir Putin line the streets of Grozny, the rebuilt regional capital.
Last year in a parliamentary election Kadyrov said all of Chechnya would vote for Putin and his party United Russia. The official result showed that 99 per cent of the region voted for United Russia. (Writing by James Kilner in Moscow; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
