Critics see her as a supporter of pro-Russian Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov and accuse her of being a propaganda tool for the Chechen government.
Ramzan Kadyrov, President of Chechnya and a former Chechen rebel
On October 16, 2008, the mosque was officially opened in a ceremony in which Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov spoke and was with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
In October 2010, the Chechen government of Ramzan Kadyrov accused Gakayev of organising the August attack on Kadyrov's fortified home village of Tsentoroy while supposedly acting under orders from the exiled Chechen nationalist leader Akhmed Zakayev.