Chechen Politicians Want to Rename Capital
Chechen lawmakers voted to rename their ruined capital after their slain president, raising the prospect of a third name for the city in 10 years.
The speaker of the local parliament said lawmakers had sent an appeal to the Kremlin to change the name of Grozny to Akhmadkala to honor Akhmad Kadyrov, the pro-Moscow president killed by rebels in 2004.
Rebels call Grozny -- a name that means “terrible” in Russian and was given by Cossack colonists in the 19th century -- Dzhokar, after leader Dzhokar M. Dudayev, who was killed in 1996.
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