As Russia redesigns its currency, Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov wages a symbolic war for visibility
When the independent Russian outlet Radio Svoboda published journalist Artem Radygin’s report on the Russian Central Bank’s search for a picture to go on its new 500-Ruble note, what emerged was more than a story about the aesthetics currency design.
It was a story about power, the politics of image in contemporary Russia, and the cracks in the façade of unity between the Kremlin, popular Russian nationalism (encouraged and instrumentalised by the Kremlin in the context of its war of aggression in Ukraine, but whose online voices can sometimes be stern critics of how the war has been run), and Chechnya’s autocratic leader Ramzan Kadyrov (a declarative ultraloyalist to Vladimir Putin who, at the same time, runs Chechnya as his private fiefdom).
[There’s a long story here: in the 1990s and 2000s Russia fought a brutal series of wars in Chechnya to prevent it from seceding from the Russian Federation; these wars were intimately intertwined with the rise of Putin to power, and fundamental to the position of Kadyrov, with a great deal of murkiness in between.]
On 1 October 2025, the Central Bank of Russia launched an online vote to select the landmarks to appear on its new banknote, inviting the public to choose symbols representing the North Caucasus Federal District (of which Chechnya is one part). Among the options on offer were Mount Elbrus (the highest mountain in the Caucasus range), Derbent Fortress and Grozny City, a shimmering skyscraper complex built by Kadyrov as a monument to his rule and “the rebirth of Chechnya”.
Three days later, Kadyrov took to Telegram to mobilise votes for Grozny City, calling it a “symbol of victory over international terrorism” and offering iPhone 17s as inducements for people to vote (multiple times) in support of his preference. His campaign ignited an online firestorm. Russian nationalist pro-war bloggers accused him of manipulating votes, or even that trying to place Grozny City on the 500-ruble note amounted to “anti-Russian sabotage”. Even members of parliament joined the backlash, promoting rival symbols and accusing the Chechen leader of overreach.
By 10 October, the Central Bank abruptly cancelled the vote, citing “technical manipulation”. But as Radygin reports, this was no simple case of ballot tampering. It revealed how deeply Kadyrov’s cult of personality has entangled itself with the Russian state’s symbolic order.
For Kadyrov, glitzy Grozny City represents not just reconstruction, but personal vindication and the glowing proof of his transformation from warlord to state loyalist. Yet as Chechen human rights activist Musa Lomaev tells Radio Svoboda, this triumphal image conceals a harsher reality. Ordinary Chechens don’t see freedom in Grozny City and still live with fear, kidnapping and repression.
Radygin’s piece situates this vanity struggle within Russia’s broader authoritarian drift. As Kirill Martynov, editor-in-chief of the exiled Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe, observes, displaying Kadyrov’s power on a Russian banknote would be entirely fitting for today’s war-torn, repressive Russia. He further notes that methods once considered particular to Chechnya such as intimidation, enforced loyalty, the fusion of religion and power, are now common across the Russian Federation. Has Chechnya been Russified, or has Russia rather taken on the increasingly overt characteristics of Chechnya’s political economy?
The controversy has also unfolded amid rumours of Kadyrov’s ill health and waning political influence. His public feud with General Vladimir Shamanov, who condemned Chechnya’s move to rename Russian-settled villages, has further exposed the tensions within the Kremlin’s hierarchy in relationship to Chechnya. Kadyrov’s response – calling Shamanov a “hyena”, for example, and threatening lawsuits – seem less like strength than desperation. As Martynov suggests, Kadyrov’s fixation on the banknote is, ultimately, a struggle for relevance.
The battle over the banknote can be seen as a mirror of Russia’s political decay and an authoritarian regime’s search to remain visible.
Original article ‘500 извинений’ by Artem Radygin was published in Russian by Radio Svoboda on 13 October 2025.
It is available here.
Radio Svoboda is the Russian-language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), known for its independent journalism and critical coverage of state corruption and repression across Russia and Eastern Europe.
