While staying near Elista in Kalmykia for three weeks this April (more on Kalmykia, check out this blog post), I visited the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, a city of roughly 300,000 residents, together with a Russian friend of mine. The 520km ride takes six hours. The bus left at 2am in the morning and arrived at 8am with 30 hungry people, mostly heading directly for the national shashlik competition; Chechens and Ingush are known far beyond their borders for their expertise with lamb skewers. The Kadyrovs, some history and a museum that will blow your mind I’ll come to this later because first we visited the Akhmad Kadyrov Museum. Opened in 2010, with no expense spared, the building is an eclectic mix of Soviet, Renaissance, and other styles with a bit of Graceland thrown in on top for good measure. It is dedicated to the first post-war president of Chechnya, […]