Schoolchildren are involved in Chechnya in informing residents about the elections.
In the Sharoisky district, officials involved schoolchildren from the "Young Kadyrovites" movement in informing local residents about the upcoming elections for the head of Chechnya.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on August 31, the authorities of Chechnya named the dates for the work of the canvassers: from September 1 to 15, 2260 members of the precinct election commissions are to visit more than 260,000 households and inform residents about the elections.
On September 18-20, elections for the head of the republic will take place in Chechnya. Ramzan Kadyrov, running for this position again, received 99.7% of the votes in the 2021 elections; critics of the Chechen authorities pointed to administrative resources and violations during the voting.
In the Sharoisky district, schoolchildren from the "Young Kadyrovites" movement were involved in the information campaign "Stay Informed!", aimed at informing local residents about the upcoming elections. The participation of the "Young Kadyrovites" in the campaign was reported on September 3 by the news agency "Chechnya Today", citing the Chechen Election Commission.
"Volunteers communicated with residents, distributed materials about the upcoming elections, and reminded them about voting on September 18, 19, and 20," the commission explained.
"Young Kadyrovites" is a unified youth organization named after the first president of Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov. The first "young Kadyrovites" appeared in Chechen schools in 2009. The Ministry of Youth of Chechnya states that the organization "Young Kadyrovites" was established on December 31, 2014. In August 2018, more than 10,000 schoolchildren were accepted into the organization, which at that time accounted for about a quarter of the students in Chechen schools.
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that in Chechnya, schoolchildren, students, and budget sector workers are regularly involved in mass events, and residents and analysts have linked the participation of these groups to the need to ensure mass attendance. For example, on April 9, 2025, school directors in Achkhoy-Martan received an order to bring all teachers and high school students to a rally, one school director reported.
Participants in the event claimed that they were not allowed to leave. On March 12, 2024, Caucasianist Ruslan Kutaev* linked the forced participation of budget workers in the rally in Grozny to the task of creating a favorable picture of support for the authorities before the elections, while human rights activist Oyub Titiev pointed to the practice of forced mobilization of people for such events. On September 20, 2019, a staff member of the head and government of Chechnya named among the participants of mass clean-ups activists from youth movements and volunteers from among local residents, while surveyed budget workers stated that participation was mandatory and refusal could lead to dismissal.
Budget workers in Chechnya regularly complained about being forced to participate in events related to voting. For instance, on September 20, 2021, a teacher from the village of Samashki reported that educators were forced to write explanations if they did not conduct outreach with students' parents and convince them to participate in the voting. On July 1, 2020, employees of budget organizations reported a requirement to confirm participation in voting with photographs from polling stations, while a teacher from the Achkhoy-Martan district spoke about the duty schedules for educators at the polling stations.
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