Suspension of Ramzan Kadyrov's social media accounts angers Chechens

At Saturday night, accounts of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in Facebook and Instagram were inaccessible. In the afternoon on Saturday, Ramzan Kadyrov responded to the blocking of his accounts and accused the US authorities of that.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the US Ministry of Finance included five citizens of Russia, including the leader of Chechnya, into the Magnitsky List of sanctions. US authorities treat Ramzan Kadyrov "responsible for extrajudicial executions, acts of torture and other serious human rights violations".

The Chechen leader has published his message in all social networks to which he still had access. "A demarche of Instagram looks strange, since it still tried to make an appearance it was independent of official Washington. And for some reason, it took place immediately after the publication of the sanctions imposed by the US Treasury," reads the message posted by the Chechen leader on his page in VKontakte.

Djambulat Umarov, Chechen Minister for National Policy, External Relations, Press and Information, has voiced an angry comment on the blocking of the Ramzan Kadyrov's accounts and accused the US State Department of doing that.

"A sabotage cyber attack has been committed against the Ramzan Kadyrov's account in Instagram," stated Djambulat Umarov as quoted the RBC.

Shamsail Saraliev, a State Duma member from Chechnya, has also voiced emotional accusations against the US State Department. "The US State Department has demonstrated the highest form of cynicism to the whole world. This is a next link in the natural chain of actions to confirm that the concept of 'freedom of speech' is an empty phrase for the US," Shamsail Saraliev wrote on his page in VKontakte.

According to the State Duma member, the US secret services "did not cope with a powerful wave of truth", which Ramzan Kadyrov publishes on his pages in social networks.

Chechen youth will hold an action in Instagram in support of Ramzan Kadyrov, said Rustam Tapaev, the chairman of the Union of Chechen Youth. According to him, the format of the action has not been fully determined yet: it is supposed there will be a flash mob with posts to support Ramzan Kadyrov or mass closing of accounts in social networks.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.