Chechen police officers ordered to get second wives for themselves

All male employees of the Interior Ministry of the Republic of Chechnya were reportedly ordered to find second wives for themselves, Radio Svoboda reports with reference to information distributed in WhatsApp messenger.

The Chechen authorities are reportedly ready to help law-enforcement officers in arranging all the paperwork to legalise their second marriage, the source said adding that those unwilling to have two wives will have to face various penalties, right up to dismissal.

"Let's leave the threats that we will quit our jobs, let's cast away faint-hearted talks and let's prove that we are real men, so help us God," the author of the message on WhatsApp wrote. It is believed that the author of the post is a high-ranking police official in Chechnya.

Interestingly, spokespeople for the traffic police of Chechnya neither refuted nor confirmed the information. A source at a division of the Interior Ministry of Chechnya could not confirm the information about the order for police officers to have two wives either. However, the anonymous official said that he would not be surprised if it was real.

The Chechen administration shares loyal attitude to polygamy. In April, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said that Muslim men have permission from God himself to have four wives.

"I'm very pro-polygamy. Why? Because it's better than leaving family and having lovers on the side.  It is more correct for a man than to humiliate his wife by having a mistress or giving jewellery and all sorts of gifts to a prostitute while his wife with children live in constant need," the head of Chechnya said in 2011. He then added that it was only his personal point of view. Kadyrov also stressed that he had not discussed a possibility to allow polygamy in Russian Muslim republics with anyone in the administration of the country.