Volodymyr Zelensky suggests Washington go after Chechen Kadyrov to convince Moscow to end war in Ukraine
The United States could subject Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to the same fate as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in order to convince Moscow to end the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky suggested on Wednesday. “That’s an example with Maduro, right? (…) That they are carrying out some sort of operation with [Ramzan] Kadyrov, with this murderer »Mr. Zelensky told journalists, the day after a summit in Paris between the Ukrainians and their Western allies.
He was referring to Washington’s shock military intervention on Saturday during which Nicolas Maduro and his wife were captured and taken by force to New York. “Maybe [Vladimir] Putin will see this and think twice”launched Mr. Zelensky after putting forward the idea of taking the Chechen leader as a new target.
“He issues a wanted notice against me, he imposes sanctions on me. And now he asks the Americans for help”replied Mr. Kadyrov on Telegramin a message accompanied by insults.
Former separatist turned loyalist of the Russian head of state, Mr. Kadyrov rules Chechnya, a Russian republic in the Caucasus, with an iron fist. He applauded the Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022, increasing threats against kyiv and its allies and sending thousands of Chechen soldiers to the front.
Accused of some of the main political assassinations of the last twenty years in Russia, Mr. Kadyrov is also accused by NGOs of serious human rights violations in his republic. There have been many rumors in recent years that he is ill or dying. At the beginning of January, one of his close associates released a video in which he was seen with him to deny new allegations of his hospitalization in a Moscow clinic.
Volodymyr Zelensky had already reacted on Saturday to the American operation in Venezuela, this time by seeming to suggest that the Americans were targeting Vladimir Putin himself. “About Venezuela? What can I say? If dictators are allowed to be dealt with in this way, then the United States knows what to do next.”he then said at a press conference.
