State Duma Committee Approves Proposal to Rename Three Cities in Chechnya

The State Duma's relevant committee recommended that deputies adopt in the first reading the bills proposed by the Chechen authorities to rename three cities in the republic.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported, in May the government commission on legislative activity supported the bills to rename three Chechen cities prepared by the republican parliament. In June, the Chechen parliament submitted three bills to the State Duma to rename settlements. It was proposed to rename the city of Sernovodskoye to Sernovodsk, the city of Naurskaya to Nevre, and Shelkovskaya to Terek.

The State Duma Committee on Regional Policy and Local Government recommended that the chamber of parliament adopt all three bills on renaming cities in Chechnya in the first reading, TASS reported today.

As noted in the documents, a survey of residents was conducted on the issue of renaming the cities, and following the discussion, the proposal to rename received their support, the agency writes.

Recall that on June 1, the Chechen Ministry of Finance announced that 17 municipal districts will be created in the republic as part of the local government reform, but the Grozny and Argun urban districts will remain.

23:09 06.09.2025

Kadyrov's decision violated the rules for renaming Grozny streets

The head of Chechnya announced today the renaming of one of the streets of Grozny in honor of Lieutenant General Esedulla Abachev, who was seriously wounded in a military operation in Ukraine. Decisions on renaming must be made by the Grozny Duma, subject to the support of local residents.

The campaign to change toponyms in Chechnya has been going on for several years now. Thus, on December 10, 2020, the authorities organized a survey of Grozny residents about their consent to renaming all four districts of the city and eight inner-city settlements in honor of national heroes. In particular, it was proposed to rename the Leninsky district of Grozny to Akhmatovsky (in honor of Ramzan Kadyrov's father), Oktyabrsky to Baysangurovsky, Zavodskoy to Sheikh-Mansurovsky, and Staropromyslovsky to Visaitovsky. On December 29, 2020, Ramzan Kadyrov reported that 69.68% of voters took part in the vote and supported the proposal - in particular, renaming the Leninsky District to Akhmatovsky was supported by 98.07% of respondents.

Based on the results of the survey, the Grozny settlement of Gikalo was named after Zhamalayli Elikhanov, Prigorodnoye - after Sheikh Iznaur Neserkhoev, the settlement of Rodina - after Hussein Isaev, the Third State Farm was renamed into the settlement named after Sheikh Deni Arsanov, the settlement of Michurin - after Sheikh Daud-Khadzhi Hadzhimusaev, Solenaya Balka - Darban-Khi, the 30th section - Suyr-Kort, the town of Ivanova - the village named after Dadin Aibiki.

Many names in Chechnya are connected with the cult of the Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrov, which began to be created immediately after his death in 2004. In particular, an avenue in Grozny and Ramzan Kadyrov's native village in the Kurchaloevsky district - Akhmat-Yurt - are named after Kadyrov Sr. In addition, the main sports complex in Grozny, a mosque in the capital of Chechnya, and a number of sports clubs in the republic, in particular, the Terek football club, are named after Akhmat Kadyrov.

The years of leading Chechnya allowed Ramzan Kadyrov to build a total family cult: leadership positions, key positions, awards, and names in honor of relatives - all this confirms the course towards the "Akhmatization" of Chechnya, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "In the name of the father and son: how the cult of the Kadyrovs is being implanted in Chechnya".