Grozny

The capital of Chechnya, an autonomous republic in the North Caucasus and the part of Russia with the worst reputation of all. Harry reaches it by road from Elista through Dagestan, a drive of seven or eight hours.

The reputation is the point. Every Russian he told he was coming looked concerned; many said they would never come themselves; and the FSB officer who interviewed him at the airport asked why he was going. What he finds is a city he describes as spotless, extremely peaceful and — his own word — a little boring.

What it looks like now

The UN once described Grozny as the most destroyed city in the world. Almost everything standing was built after the war.

• The centre is new: skyscrapers that light up at night, a pedestrianised main street of restaurants and cafés, and lighting Harry goes back for after dark.
• Military are everywhere, which he reads both ways — it is why the city feels safe, and it tells you something about how safety is maintained.
• There is visible money: BMWs, Range Rovers and Rolls-Royces, more good cars than he saw elsewhere in Russia. He attributes the rebuilding to support from Moscow.
• Comparisons fail. He was told it would be the Dubai of Russia and half agrees about the skyline, then says he’d rather walk here — Dubai isn’t walkable and this is.
• No pedestrian crossings and no green man. You cross when you can.

How the republic works

• Autonomous, under its own leadership, with rules similar to Russia’s but administered separately. Harry’s understanding, which he flags as possibly wrong, is that it holds the highest degree of autonomy of any Russian republic.
• Ethnically homogeneous — about 96% Chechen, against roughly a quarter ethnic Russians in Kalmykia.
• Clans matter: over 150 of them, and the republic is known for loyalty and honour.
• Sanctions bite harder here. Counterfeit KFC, McDonald’s and Starbucks; cash only for foreigners; no SIM cards; and even Yandex, the Russian ride and delivery app, doesn’t operate. Some international brands do — the Arabica coffee chain is here.
• The mall sells Samsung, rugs, and a Putin Team Russia clothing line, plus rugs printed with the republic’s leader — which Harry notes are for hanging, not for standing on.

Everyday life

• Muslim-majority and observant: five prayers a day, beards, no shorts, traditional dress widely worn by women.
• No drinking and no smoking. Harry sees nobody smoke all day; there are designated areas for it. He calls the result a healthy, god-fearing lifestyle.
• Dagestanis have the highest life expectancy in Russia and Chechens the second, which he offers as the visible consequence.
• Public life is mixed. Street life is roughly half women, which he flags explicitly against the assumption people bring from Pakistan or Afghanistan — traditional, he says, and everybody living freely.
• The markets are silent. He compares the main one to a library and calls it the calmest market he has ever been in; the loudest thing there is his own group.
• Watch the greeting. Harry shakes a woman’s hand and immediately regrets it, having been hugged by a seller earlier and misjudged the norm.

The papakha

The Caucasian sheep-wool hat, worn across Chechnya, Dagestan, Azerbaijan and Armenia as a mark of pride and honour. The saying Harry is given: if you have a head, you should wear a hat on it.

It is not everyday wear any more — weddings, special occasions and MMA fights. He buys one anyway, at 2,500 rubles, about $25. Check the wool: much of what is sold is synthetic, and the real ones are noticeably different to handle.

Chechen food

Eaten at a grill house on the main street, found through Google reviews. Nobody speaks English, so the restaurant finds whichever server has a few words and sends them over — a system Harry says works fine.

• Meat and broth, the meat exceptionally good (he rates it nine out of ten) and served with soft pastry pieces to dip. The broth comes in a mug.
• Thin toasted bread with a mild soft cheese between the layers, cooked in a lot of oil — he compares it to a cheese paratha.
• A sweet pumpkin flatbread, which the server names as her own favourite and which he rates highly.

Obs: the dish names are only partly legible in the source and aren’t recorded here; the descriptions are Harry’s.

His summary: the meat is the thing, the sides are not, and the sheep is good but not as good as Kalmykia’s.

A haircut

2,000 rubles, about $20, in a barbershop with good reviews and a signed Maradona shirt on the wall. The beard gets far more time and care than the hair, which Harry notes is the local priority. Locally, the moustache is shaved off and the beard kept — he declines. Skin fades are not common here.

Getting here

The drive from Elista, with Vasili:

• 18,000 rubles for the whole run — not cheap in absolute terms, and Harry thinks very good for the distance.
• Distance means nothing to Russians. An eight-hour drive is treated the way Harry would treat a trip to the next village.
• The border into Chechnya wasn’t checked. He expected passports and heavy scrutiny, saw a lot of army, and was waved through.
• The landscape changes at the border — from steppe and near-desert to green hills and trees, which he says feels like being back in Europe.
• The pink lake in Kalmykia is not pink. Harry’s verdict on pink lakes generally, having also seen the one in Senegal: the biggest scam of all time, pink for maybe two days a year and mostly in the edit.

Harry’s tips

• Come and look. This is the flagship case for judging a place yourself: the people warning him off were Russians, not foreigners.
• Bring cash. Cards don’t work for foreigners, no SIM, no Yandex.
• Cover up and don’t drink. Trousers not shorts, and expect an alcohol-free, smoke-free city.
• Don’t offer a handshake to a woman.
• Buy the papakha, but check it’s real wool.
• Get outside the city. His own conclusion is that Grozny is safe, beautiful and short of things to do, and that the interest is in the surrounding republics.

Source

• I Went to the Most Feared Place in Russia - Chechnya 🇷🇺 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcDuqVPzdfY