Report by Andrey Kolesnikov about how Vladimir Putin had especially many visitors on September 28

On September 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin had four public events at once. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov chose two (with the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov and the President of South Sudan Salva Kiir): primarily because both were one on one. And in general they are somewhat similar.

The President entered his office, and Ramzan Kadyrov, one might say, rushed towards him. And I must say, he looked cheerful. And most importantly, he was in a good mood. The cheerful smile simply never left Ramzan Kadyrov’s face. It had been a long time since he had seen the president, and even so close.

By the way, according to Kommersant, the head of Chechnya was not in quarantine before the meeting and made do with PCR tests and ARVI screening – this has been happening lately.

“We agreed to meet today and talk about the situation in the republic: in the economy, in the social sphere,” Vladimir Putin told Ramzan Kadyrov, meaning that everything was according to plan.

In addition, the very fact of such a meeting implies that there are no questions for the head of Chechnya and that he is doing everything correctly. Yes, and with his son, that means everything is the same, and there are no questions for him either. But not everything is like that.

“In general, the dynamics are positive,” continued Vladimir Putin. “This is largely thanks to you, your team… People work with confidence!.. Well, and good interaction with the government of the Russian Federation.” We have a number of serious tasks and programs that you yourself talk about all the time.

The goodwill on both sides was already simply cloying.

— I know that you have prepared a list of issues that you would like to discuss. Please! – Vladimir Putin nodded.

He couldn’t help but notice a strange-looking device on Ramzan Kadyrov’s finger. However, this is not the first time Ramzan Kadyrov comes to Vladimir Putin, as well as to his other interlocutors, with this device. This is a tasbih, an electronic counter of Islamic prayers, essentially a rosary of our day. Worn on the index finger of the left hand. This finger is known to be most closely connected with the soul and heart of a person.

“Thank you,” exclaimed Ramzan Kadyrov, “for taking the time to see each other, to meet, don!”

Don nodded gratefully.

— Before I start about the republic, Don, I would like to say about what we have been doing since the beginning of the SVO (special military operation.— “Kommersant”) to this day, said Ramzan Kadyrov, never ceasing to smile. “We think they even wanted to brag – both in the humanitarian direction and in the military!” Your squad shows good results: every day they take prisoners, every day they destroy equipment.

By “your detachment” he meant Chechen units loyal to the president. All other units in comparison with this, with all due respect, cannot be considered “yours” or even “ours”.

“No “Aurus” or “Abramus”… whatever they call them… are not scary for us,” Ramzan Kadyrov assured. “I believe that we were advertising for them!”

Advertising, one must think, is still in quotation marks.

“Aurus” should also have been included among the victims as a result of the utterance of this phrase.

Although Ramzan Kadyrov wanted, I think, the best thing: that is, to walk humiliatingly through these American tanks in order to trample them, making it clear that it doesn’t even matter what they are called, because he and his guys don’t care about smashing them.

– And today the fighters have a good spirit. “I sometimes look in – like, what…” continued the head of Chechnya.

That is, there, to the front line. Or to the base.

“We solve absolutely all their questions – they don’t have any problems: communications, equipment…” said Ramzan Kadyrov. “Keep the change”.- A.K.) – armored vehicles. From the republic, we even help others too… This is our common cause, so we must win together!

Ramzan Kadyrov had not explained his feelings to Vladimir Putin for a long time, so he was in a hurry to speak out:

– All the people support you! We are the only region… – which, he wanted to say, reacted to the special operation in this way. – I can tell you that we created five regiments and three battalions during this time in the republic, and they are all engaged in the North Military District today!

The word “don” has disappeared somewhere from Ramzan Kadyrov’s speech, have you noticed? And he spoke about the North Military District, choosing the words: “they are engaged”, and not “they are fighting,” let’s say. Because “they are fighting” is a parasitic word, and not some other word.

“Give your best wishes to the guys,” the president supported the head of Chechnya, “and best wishes to their families!” I know that you personally deal with these issues all the time, including supporting the families of our guys who are fighting on the front line. They fight confidently, well, courageously and heroically.

There was no way Vladimir Putin even thought about reproaching Ramzan Kadyrov. But you’re just welcome. On the contrary, just gratitude to him for everything.

“I am very pleased,” said Vladimir Putin, “that very good contacts have developed with other units, I know the attitude of commanders, including higher-level ones.” I think I already said: I asked one of them how the guys from Chechnya were fighting there. The answer was at that very second: they won’t let you down, I have complete confidence in them. You see, this still says a lot! This is an assessment of commanders who actually take part in hostilities.

Here Ramzan Kadyrov, of course, burst out:

– Vladimir Vladimirovich, if we don’t carry out your order, it means we won’t live in this republic… – no, he should have taken it higher. – In this state! We will 100% fulfill your order!

– Thank you! — Vladimir Putin seems to have been moved. “And, in my opinion, you also assess the situation in the republic as a whole in exactly the same way.”

The president even told the head of Chechnya what to say next.

But he didn’t need any prompting and expressed himself correctly:

— We don’t have any special problems in the republic. We solved these problems a long time ago. Now there are technical issues, don, on which, as always, we need your help, don.

Ramzan Kadyrov again, relaxed, switched to “don”.

And the Don nodded again kindly.

Literally a few minutes later, the president met via video conference with the regional heads who won the elections. This meeting was not memorable and, most likely, this was precisely the goal. That is, if the format was that everyone would speak out (and this could be and was considered as an option), then it would be remembered primarily for the fact that it would last four hours. But everyone was lucky: four were given the floor. Two governors spoke from the new territories, two from the old ones. You could check the box.

The next meeting was with Salva Kiir, the President of South Sudan, recently, literally in 2011, an internationally recognized country.

However, the youngest country in the world does not have the youngest president. He came to a meeting with Vladimir Putin in a wide-brimmed hat and looked like an African Clint Eastwood. His condition was obviously affected by both the civil wars and armed uprisings that raged in the country. And he himself, an army general, fought all his life, was shell-shocked, and this, apparently, was not in vain for him. Wikipedia claims that on December 15, 2022, during the opening of a new highway, for example, something bad happened to him, and six journalists were detained on suspicion of trying to distribute the filmed video.

So I, for one, was glad that I watched the start of negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Salva Kiir on TV. Otherwise, if anything happens, it won’t be a hassle.

The meeting, however, did not start for some time, as Salva Kiir did not understand how to put on an earphone to listen to the simultaneous translation. Vladimir Putin tried to help him, took off his own and showed him how to act by his own example. But the problem was that Salva Kiir did not pay any attention to Vladimir Putin. Moreover, he simply did not notice him. And he simply did not understand what to do with this earphone. Then he simply dropped it and took it out as if he were fishing a big pike out of the river, fingering the wire with both hands. And when he accidentally glanced at the Russian president, he was delighted and began again, using his earphone as an example, to show how to use it. But by this time Salva Kiir had already lost interest in the sight of Vladimir Putin and tried to focus on something else. Then Mr. Putin gave a signal to help the man. And they helped the man.

But the president is the president. And Vladimir Putin told him that he had already been “in our country in 2019, at the first Russia-Africa summit in Sochi.”

Yes, Salva Kiir should have known about it again.

“We were one of the first countries to recognize the sovereignty and independence of South Sudan.

But still, it was necessary to give Salva Kiir his due: he came to Moscow, although for him it was, of course, a whole story into which he risked getting involved.

Moreover, there was a point in the meeting. Russia’s rapid exploration of Africa continues:

“I must say,” noted Vladimir Putin, “that we believe that much remains to be done, primarily in the field of economic development… I hope that the developments that exist, I mean the construction of an oil refinery (oil refinery.— “ Kommersant”) in your country with the participation of our company, and plans to create the second stage of this plant will benefit the development of our trade and economic relations.

And the oil refinery is all jokes aside.

Vladimir Putin said aloud about the main thing, for which, obviously, Salva Kiir came:

— Of course, we are aware that further progressive development is connected with ensuring security, with the resolution of all those problems and difficulties that you have inherited since the old days, so we will do everything to support you in this area as well.

Yes, the ashes of the Wagner PMC and Yevgeny Prigozhin personally are knocking on the hearts of African leaders. They, like no one else, seem to miss him.

Meanwhile, Salva Kiir’s speech turned out to be completely coherent, at least in the mouth of the translator:

“We can discuss a lot at this meeting and at our subsequent contacts.” We will work together – with you and with the Russian Federation, because today the situation in the world shows that no one can survive or succeed alone, and our country is no exception. We are the youngest nation on the planet. We need to have strong, influential friends, one of which is you. We do not see any alternatives to friendship with you!

But this is still plus another African country.

At the same time, during all this time, Salva Kiir, sitting in a chair in his luxurious hat, never glanced, even from under his brows, at the Russian President.

And that’s what I want to say.

How convincing Ramzan Kadyrov looked in Vladimir Putin’s office against the backdrop of Salva Kiir.

One could also try to compare Ramzan Kadyrov with the commander of the Libyan National Army, Khalifa Haftar, but the meeting between Mr. Putin and Field Marshal Haftar turned out to be completely off the record.

Andrey Kolesnikov