There are a couple of bizarre things about the Chechen president and the worst of it all is that it’s accounted for on his Instagram account. The account shows pictures of him snuggling with cute animals, his life as a Suni and a weird collection of militia gear. Now, the 39-year-old Ramzan Kadyrov published a video on said Instagram account of well-known opposition activists depicted in the crosshairs of a sniper rifle.
The man depicted is the former Russian Prime Minister and opposition leader Mikhail Kasyanov and activist Vladimir Kara-Murza having a little chat while crosshairs linger over them, complete with the caption:
Kasyanov came to Strasbourg for money for the Russian opposition. Those who did not understand before will understand now.
Since Kasyanov served as Putin’s first prime minister, he has now become an outspoken Kremlin critic, as well as the leader of the opposition RPR-party. He considers the video a message of direct threat and called on authorities to investigate.
When asked about the video, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had not yet seen the video as “we don’t normally follow Instagram, not to mention Kadyrov’s Instagram page”.
Kadyrov has previously described opposition leaders “traitors” and “enemies of the people”. Last year he defended one of the Chechens charged with the murder of Boris Nemtsov, a former prime minister gunned down in Moscow in February 2015.
The controversial leader has received the support of Putin in return for keeping a lid on Chechnya’s Islamist insurgency. While observers believe that Kadyrov is looking for a wider influence, others believe that Kadyrov undertakes the threats in complicity with the Kremlin.
There is no longer any doubt that all such statements in recent weeks and specifically this one were approved by Putin and the Kremlin, and quite probably were inspired by them too.
[source: ibtimes]
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