16 october 2008

Vladimir Putin met with the Republic's authorities and the Gudermes administration and answered journalists' questions

Vladimir Putin

Meeting with journalists

"In my opinion, Chechen Muslims and all Muslims in Russia can rightfully be proud of this mosque. It is a truly great gift to the Muslim community".

In Gudermes Vladimir Putin inspected disaster relief progress after the recent earthquake. He met with the Republic's authorities and the Gudermes administration; and visited earthquake damaged sites. 

The Prime Minister then traveled to Grozny, where he visited the Akhmat Kadyrov mosque, built in memory of the first Chechen President. Europe's largest mosque, it holds up to 10,000 worshipers.

After visiting the mosque, the Prime Minister answered journalists' questions.

Question: Mr Putin, what is your impression of the mosque? It is supposed to be the largest in Europe.

Vladimir Putin: Well, I haven't measured it, but I would say it's really quite impressive. In my opinion, Chechen Muslims and all Muslims in Russia can rightfully be proud of this mosque. It is a truly great gift to the Muslim community. The mosque's opening tomorrow is timed to coincide with the international conference, which is a good sign, I believe. The title of the conference - "Islam: a religion of peace" - is relevant and topical. We will send a message to the whole world that Islam is a peaceful religion, aimed at developing relations between various denominations, between various people. It is very important here in Russia. It is a great achievement for the Chechen people and for the Chechen government.

But we are here for more than sightseeing. The visit's objective is to inspect the disaster relief progress after the recent earthquake, and to assess whether any further measures are needed to help people.

And I'd like to say I am satisfied with what I have seen: the Republic's Health Care Ministry and the President have prioritized this issue. Celebrating holidays is important, but we should not forget about the average person's everyday needs.

We will discuss it later. Good luck.

Remark: Thank you.