Ramzan Kadyrov offers to adopt second Marius giraffe facing slaughter

February 13, 2014, 8:47 am

≫ Next: Barack Obama banned from entering Chechnya

Chechen president tells Instagram followers he is ready to take in giraffe facing death in Denmark 'on humanitarian grounds'

To sentence one giraffe named Marius to death may be regarded as a misfortune; to sentence two would be a catastrophe, according to Ramzan Kadyrov.

The Chechen president has used his Instagram account to offer to take in the second Marius, which, it emerged on Wednesday, has been threatened with the same fate as his namesake.

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Barack Obama banned from entering Chechnya

July 26, 2014, 10:12 am

≫ Next: Chechen leader 'has 1,000 wedding guests questioned after losing phone'

≪ Previous: Ramzan Kadyrov offers to adopt second Marius giraffe facing slaughter

• Chechen president cites US and EU 'state terrorism'
• Three EU leaders also barred from entry

Although Russia has not responded to US sanctions over the Ukraine crisis by putting a travel ban on President Barack Obama, there is one part of the country he is now barred from entering: Chechnya.

On Saturday Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of the small Russian republic that has been the scene of two devastating separatist wars in the past 20 years, said he was placing Obama on a list of people banned from visiting.

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Chechen leader 'has 1,000 wedding guests questioned after losing phone'

August 19, 2014, 5:59 am

≫ Next: Sanctions against Russia hit Chechen leader’s prize-winning racehorses

≪ Previous: Barack Obama banned from entering Chechnya

Human rights group says Ramzan Kadyrov, who often posts to Instagram several times a day, mislaid phone at feast

Blame it on Ramzan Kadyrov's well-known Instagram addiction; the strongman leader of Russia's Chechen Republic was apparently so worried when he lost his mobile phone at a wedding that police questioned more than a thousand people into the early hours of the morning in an attempt to find it.

The human rights organisation Memorial, which has documented numerous abuses in the mountainous region of Chechnya including the murder of its own activist there in 2009, said in a statement that the loss of Kadyrov's phone occurred on Saturday at the opening ceremony for the Shira-Yurt museum constructed in the form of a medieval Chechen village. According to his hugely popular Instagram account, the "grandiose holiday" attended by "thousands of residents of the republic" saw Kadyrov meet and dance with elders, size up a shotgun and a cannon and preside over a lavish feast. The event was capped off with a traditional Chechen wedding at which Memorial said Kadyrov gave the young couple 1m rubles (£17,000).

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Sanctions against Russia hit Chechen leader’s prize-winning racehorses

October 17, 2014, 6:27 am

≫ Next: 'Russia's treatment of Crimean Tatars echoes mistakes made by Soviets'

≪ Previous: Chechen leader 'has 1,000 wedding guests questioned after losing phone'

Thoroughbreds Zazou and Dashing Home unable to race and winnings frozen because Ramzan Kadyrov is target of sanctions

Western sanctions against Russia have hit high-ranking officials, banks, oil companies, and now two prize-winning racehorses.

The trainer of the celebrated thoroughbreds Zazou and Dashing Home cannot collect prize money won in races in Germany because the horses are owned by Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader of Russia’s Chechnya republic who was put on the European Union sanctions list for supporting the annexation of Crimea.

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'Russia's treatment of Crimean Tatars echoes mistakes made by Soviets'

November 25, 2014, 3:02 am

≫ Next: Grozny, Chechnya smoulders after night of violence – video

≪ Previous: Sanctions against Russia hit Chechen leader’s prize-winning racehorses

Repression of Crimea’s original inhabitants is the gravest conflict in Russia today, says opposition politician and historian Vladimir Ryzhkov

The gravest ethnic and political conflict in Russia today is not to be found in Chechnya nor in the xenophobic capitals of Moscow and St Petersburg.

Rather, it stalks the newly acquired peninsula of Crimea and is bound up with the fate of the Crimean Tatars. It became clear soon after the sudden annexation of Crimea in March that modern Russia does not possess either the institutions or the tools to integrate an ethnic group with a strong sense of its own identity and a traumatic history. The usual methods employed by the Kremlin – bribery, intimidation and displacement – will only aggravate the conflict.

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Grozny, Chechnya smoulders after night of violence – video

December 4, 2014, 4:09 am

≫ Next: Gun battles erupt in Chechnya's capital after militants launch attack

≪ Previous: 'Russia's treatment of Crimean Tatars echoes mistakes made by Soviets'

Smoke rises from burning buildings in Grozny, the capital of Russia's Chechnya region, after a night of violence. At least three Russian policemen and six militants were killed in the violence during the early hours of Thursday morning. Amateur footage captures a fire fight between Russian security forces and militants in the city centre Continue reading...

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Gun battles erupt in Chechnya's capital after militants launch attack

December 4, 2014, 8:49 am

≫ Next: Up to 800,000 Chechens protest over cartoons of prophet Muhammad

≪ Previous: Grozny, Chechnya smoulders after night of violence – video

At least six gunmen and 10 security officers killed in Grozny attack that started in early hours of morning

Militants attacked buildings in Chechnya’s capital, Grozny, in the early hours of yesterday morning, prompting gun battles that left at least 10 security officers and six insurgents dead.

According to Russia’s anti-terrorist committee, three cars carrying militants drove into the city overnight, killing three traffic police officers who tried to stop them.

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Up to 800,000 Chechens protest over cartoons of prophet Muhammad

January 19, 2015, 9:12 am

≫ Next: Charlie Hebdo protests continue across the Muslim world - video

≪ Previous: Gun battles erupt in Chechnya's capital after militants launch attack

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said he would die to protect prophet’s name in wake of Charlie Hebdo’s ‘vulgar’ images

Hundreds of thousands of people protested in Russia’s Chechnya region on Monday against what its Kremlin-backed leader called the “vulgar and immoral” cartoons of the prophet Muhammad published by French newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

Mixing pro-Islamic chants and anti-western rhetoric, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov criticised Europe to chants of “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) as the protesters stood along the main thoroughfare of Chechnya’s capital, Grozny.

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Charlie Hebdo protests continue across the Muslim world - video

January 19, 2015, 11:27 am

≫ Next: Boris Nemtsov murder: Chechen chief Kadyrov confirms link to prime suspect

≪ Previous: Up to 800,000 Chechens protest over cartoons of prophet Muhammad

Protests against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo continue across the world with around 800,000 people rallying in Chechnya. The president of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, condemns the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad and says Europe has learnt nothing from the attacks. In Pakistan, a crowd gathers to burn effigies of the French president wrongly draped in the Italian flag. In Gaza, protesters carry Islamic State flags and pictures of the Kouachi brothers as they try to gain entry to the French cultural centre Continue reading...

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Boris Nemtsov murder: Chechen chief Kadyrov confirms link to prime suspect

March 8, 2015, 1:18 pm

≫ Next: Chechen leader tells soldiers to fire on unapproved Russian troops in region

≪ Previous: Charlie Hebdo protests continue across the Muslim world - video

Kremlin’s ties to Caucasus leader Ramzan Kadyrov in spotlight as five suspects appear in court over Russian opposition politician’s killing

An associate of Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov was involved in the murder of Boris Nemtsov, a Russian court has heard, in a twist to the investigation that raises as many questions as it answers.

Zaur Dadayev, a Chechen, was one of five men to appear in a Moscow courtroom on Sunday, all from Russia’s north Caucasus region.

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Chechen leader tells soldiers to fire on unapproved Russian troops in region

April 23, 2015, 5:27 am

≫ Next: Chechen teenager 'forced' to marry police chief amid growing row in Russia

≪ Previous: Boris Nemtsov murder: Chechen chief Kadyrov confirms link to prime suspect

Ramzan Kadyrov instructs security forces to shoot at soldiers from other regions operating in Chechnya without his permission

Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has told his security forces to open fire on Russian federal troops if they operate in the region without his approval.

He told his troops they could shoot at unauthorised soldiers from other regions after the killing of a man in the Chechen capital, Grozny, by security forces from a neighbouring region.

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Chechen teenager 'forced' to marry police chief amid growing row in Russia

May 18, 2015, 3:58 am

≫ Next: Russia's independent newspaper reveals forced marriage in Chechnya

≪ Previous: Chechen leader tells soldiers to fire on unapproved Russian troops in region

Ceremony goes ahead despite claims 17-year-old was coerced into becoming second wife of man three times her age. Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber reports

A Chechen police chief married a 17-year-old at the weekend despite a growing outcry over claims that the teenager had been forced to wed the man, who has another wife and is thought to be three times her age.

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Russia's independent newspaper reveals forced marriage in Chechnya

May 18, 2015, 4:25 am

≫ Next: Chechen leader to star in two films – one Hollywood, one human rights exposé

≪ Previous: Chechen teenager 'forced' to marry police chief amid growing row in Russia

Novaya Gazeta reports on wedding of police chief, 47, and girl just turned 17

Thank goodness for the continued publication of Russia’s independent newspaper, Novaya Gazeta. Without it, we may never have known of the outrageous case of the 47-year-old Chechen police chief who pressured a 17-year-old girl into becoming his second polygamous wife.

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Chechen leader to star in two films – one Hollywood, one human rights exposé

May 26, 2015, 3:10 am

≫ Next: Hammer-wielding raiders storm human rights group offices in Chechnya

≪ Previous: Russia's independent newspaper reveals forced marriage in Chechnya

Ramzan Kadyrov announces role in action thriller on Instagram – as foundation releases documentary portraying him as corrupt dictator. The Moscow Times reports

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is starring in two films – one a Hollywood thriller featuring the camouflage-clad hero firing a machine gun into the sky and the other a sombre documentary accusing him of human rights abuses.

The upcoming feature, which Kadyrov announced on his personal Instagram page today, is to be called Whoever Doesn’t Understand Will Get It.

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Hammer-wielding raiders storm human rights group offices in Chechnya

June 3, 2015, 3:41 am

≫ Next: Chechen leader's show of strength muddies loyalty to Putin

≪ Previous: Chechen leader to star in two films – one Hollywood, one human rights exposé

The Committee Against Torture is one of only two independent rights groups in region where leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been accused of widespread abuses

Masked men, some wielding hammers, stormed the offices of the Committee Against Torture in Chechnya during a protest denouncing its work, the human rights organisation said.

The group tweeted that its headquarters in Grozny, the capital of the region in southern Russia, had been damaged on Wednesday and police had not responded to calls for help. It said its offices have been raided in the past and its representatives beaten.

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Chechen leader's show of strength muddies loyalty to Putin

June 3, 2015, 10:03 am

≫ Next: The 'little presidents' who deny press freedom by attacking journalists

≪ Previous: Hammer-wielding raiders storm human rights group offices in Chechnya

Ramzan Kadyrov’s display of loyalty to Russian president could be warning of Chechen forces’ huge potential

Chechnya’s macho leader Ramzan Kadyrov is the most loyal of Vladimir Putin’s regional heads, at least in theory. The central street of the captial, Grozny, is called Putin Avenue, and the lampposts lining it are adorned with the Russian tricolour. Putin’s portrait looks down from dozens of buildings across the city, and Kadyrov’s Instagram account, his main method of communication with the outside world, is full of protestations that he is a “foot soldier”, supremely loyal to Russia’s great leader.

But recent events, especially the murder of Boris Nemtsov in Moscow, have led to renewed debate over whether the Kremlin’s political control over the region, won back after two gruesome wars in the post-Soviet years, may be loosening.

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The 'little presidents' who deny press freedom by attacking journalists

July 22, 2015, 1:39 am

≫ Next: 'Leaks over Nemtsov murder signal both dissent and democracy in Russia'

≪ Previous: Chechen leader's show of strength muddies loyalty to Putin

Survey by Reporters Without Borders of the political leaders who intimidate, insult and jail editors and reporters who dare to hold them to account

Heads of state and government leaders who publicly scorn journalists violate the principle of press freedom, argues the Paris-based organisation Reporters Without Borders (RWB).

The press freedom watchdog denounces the “little presidents” who publicly attack journalists and media outlets, arguing that journalists treated in a contemptuous, insulting, defamatory or racist manner are put under “terrible pressure... just for doing their job.”

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'Leaks over Nemtsov murder signal both dissent and democracy in Russia'

August 6, 2015, 2:37 am

≫ Next: 20 years after Chechen war, families still searching for missing bodies

≪ Previous: The 'little presidents' who deny press freedom by attacking journalists

Steady flow of information about the Chechen connection suggests many insiders would like to see the end of Ramzan Kadyrov, says Mark Galeotti

After early confusion and contradiction, an increasingly clear picture is emerging from the investigation into the murder of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov – and it has Chechens at its heart.

The shooter is believed to be Chechen fighter Zaur Dadaev, who initially confessed to the crime before claiming to have done so under duress, with the implication that he received his orders from Ruslan Geremeev, deputy commander of the special forces Sever Battalion. The loudly unspoken question is whether Geremeev was in turn acting for the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, or one of his close allies.

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20 years after Chechen war, families still searching for missing bodies

September 1, 2015, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Chechen leader demands judges who banned Islamic work be punished

≪ Previous: 'Leaks over Nemtsov murder signal both dissent and democracy in Russia'

To mark the Red Cross’s International Day of the Disappeared, RFE/RL meets parents unable to bury their loved ones

Zura Batayeva carefully holds a small black-and-white photograph between her fingers. Creased and faded, it shows an earnest man with curly black hair.

The picture is all that remains of her son, Visit Batayev, who disappeared without a trace shortly after Russian tanks rolled into Chechnya more than 20 years ago – launching the first of two devastating wars against separatist rebels in the North Caucasus republic.

‘These bodies need to be identified’

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Chechen leader demands judges who banned Islamic work be punished

September 10, 2015, 11:28 am

≫ Next: Putin’s closest ally – and his biggest liability | Oliver Bullough

≪ Previous: 20 years after Chechen war, families still searching for missing bodies

Ramzan Kadyrov claims decision is evidence that state actors are working with ‘hostile forces’ to fuel tension between Russians and Muslims

Ramzan Kadyrov, the outspoken leader of Chechnya, has threatened a judge over a decision to ban a piece of Islamic literature, and dared the country’s prosecutor general to punish him for it.

Kadyrov took to Instagram to condemn a decision made in August by a court in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the far east of Russia to ban a work of Islamic literature called Supplication (Dua) to God: Its Meaning and Place in Islam.

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