14:00, 10 October 2025

Grozny-City became the leader in the voting after Kadyrov announced a lottery

A 500-ruble banknote featuring Grozny City and an iPhone 17. The "Caucasian Knot" illustration was created using AI in the Copilot program.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov announced a giveaway of ten iPhone 17s among those who vote four times for the image of "Grozny-City" on the 500-ruble banknote and post the news on social media. In the online vote on the Central Bank's website, "Grozny-City" beat out "Elbrus" by 17,000 votes.

As reported by the " Caucasian Knot ," the "Russian Community" declared the idea of depicting "Grozny-City" or Mount Elbrus on the new 500-ruble banknote "ideological sabotage ." Blogger Max Divnich, who clashed with "Akhmat," urged his followers to vote for Elbrus over Grozny. Regional leaders urged residents to participate in the symbol selection process, while social media users called the competition far-fetched . Several symbols will be used on each side of the 500-ruble banknote, and the winner of the vote will not necessarily occupy the central spot, the Bank of Russia explained. Ramzan Kadyrov called on residents of the republic to more actively support "Grozny-City," and within 24 hours, the gap between this symbol and Mount Elbrus had narrowed threefold.

Voting began on October 1st. It will last two weeks and conclude on October 14th at 12:00 PM Moscow time. The results will influence the final design of the banknote.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov announced a competition among those who would vote for the image of "Grozny-City" to appear on the back of the 500-ruble banknote.

"Today, we desperately need the support of everyone who loves Grozny and the Chechen Republic. Therefore, I'm announcing a large-scale competition among residents of the Chechen Republic and anyone else who wants to participate! Ten iPhone 17 units will be up for grabs," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

According to him, to participate in the drawing, you must vote for "Grozny-City" "from all four platforms (VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, email, and Gosuslugi)" and publish screenshots of your vote on social media with a special hashtag. The lottery will run until 12:00 PM on October 11.

As of 11:30 AM Moscow time, Grozny-City overtook Elbrus in the online vote for the image on the back of the banknote. 689,000 people voted for the capital of Chechnya, while 672,000 voted for Elbrus. As recently as the evening of October 9, Elbrus had 607,000 votes, while Grozny-City had 595,000.

The Academic (Elizabeth) Gallery in Pyatigorsk is leading the vote for the image on the front of the 500-ruble banknote by a significant margin, with more than 774,000 votes cast.

The idea of depicting "Grozny-City" on the 500-ruble banknote, which the Russian Community is campaigning against, is being presented by Kadyrov as a symbol of the success of the imperial project, while both sides in the conflict are concerned only with their own prestige and influence, not state unity, analysts noted.

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/416194

Author: Caucasian Knot