Kadyrov threatened the mufti from Crimea for talking to captive Chechens

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, threatened Ayder Rustemov, the head of the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the annexed Crimea, with persecution – this is how he reacted to the mufti’s conversation with the captured Chechen fighters. The politician said that if the prisoners return to Russia, they must immediately go to war again to avenge Rustemov.

At the end of January, the channel of Ukrainian blogger Vladimir Zolkin published a video recording of a conversation between the mufti recognized by Kyiv and prisoners, among whom were five Chechen soldiers. Rustamov spoke about the criminality of the war against Ukraine and why it cannot be called a jihad (holy war), which the authorities of Chechnya regularly repeat. This is already the second meeting of the mufti with captive Muslims, the first took place in August last year.

After that, Ramzan Kadyrov said in an insulting way that the Mufti of Crimea tried to humiliate the prisoners and denigrate the path they had chosen.

“I will personally ask you, wherever you are… If [пленные] return, then they should be the first to be on the front line and look for you.” Kadyrov said. He added that “under the gun” the captive Chechens were allegedly forced to agree with everything that the Ukrainian religious figure said.

At the same time, in October, the head of Chechnya himself communicated with Ukrainian military prisoners in his residence – several people were brought to him under convoy after the trip of the official’s children to Ukraine. Kadyrov claimed that the authorities in Kyiv used mobilized Ukrainians as “cannon fodder.” In response, they called their participation in the war senseless, and also voiced theses promoted by Russian propaganda.

• In August, Ramzan Kadyrov addressed the supporters of the unrecognized republic of Ichkeria, who are now fighting for Ukraine – he declared blood revenge against them and promised to persecute them for the rest of their lives.
• In March, Kadyrov appealed to Ukrainian President Zelensky to hand over power to the “legitimate president Viktor Yanukovych.” He wrote that he is ready to personally ask Putin for asylum for the current leader of Ukraine, as a result of which he will have a chance “to at least partially atone for his guilt.” Kadyrov managed to threaten Zelensky with “irreversible consequences”, blood revenge, and promised to “knock on the door” of his adviser Alexei Arestovich.
• In February of this year, the head of Chechnya announced his intention to “denazify and demilitarize” Poland after the end of the war against Ukraine.