Paul Goble
Staunton, September 4 – While commentators in some non-Russian republics see plans to change the title of their chief executives from president to "head,” most Chechens, experts say, are "indifferent” to a change which they believe was initiated in Moscow and only given publicity by Ramzan Kadyrov.
According to a report in Kavkaz-Uzel today, the decision of the Chechen parliament, taken unanimously on Thursday, to give Kadyrov a different title is not agitating Chechens who generally believe that "the initiative for renaming was organized from Moscow” and will have little effect in Grozny (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/173782/).
While Kadyrov has insisted that he is the author of the idea of eliminating the title of republic president, Grozny analysts speaking on condition of anonymity said that Kadyrov was responsible for talking about the possibility of calling himself imam, something Moscow would ...