Social network users dispute authorities' response to reports about clean-ups among Ramzan Kadyrov's subordinates

The Chechen authorities have grudgingly reacted to the information about detentions and torture of Chechen officials. Minister Djambulat Umarov called the information "fake", and then users of social networks found the version about clean-ups credible.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" release an article about a "large-scale clean-up" among top-ranking Chechen officials suspected of disloyalty to Ramzan Kadyrov. In Chechnya, opposition to Ramzan Kadyrov is possible only with the support of Moscow, political analysts believe.

Akhmed Dudaev, the assistant to the leader of Chechnya, called on people not to look for a "mysterious subtext" in reports about personnel changes in the republic.

Authors of some comments on the "VKontakte" social network perceived the minister's statement as an indirect confirmation of the version released by the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta".

"This is a normal situation for a today's state," Anatoly Levin wrote on Facebook. "For such a regime, this is a normal and inevitable situation," agreed Fedor Kvashnin.

Many Instagram users supported the authorities of the Chechen Republic.

"Unreliable people must be put in jail until the end of their lives," wrote, in particular, user ms_barzukaev.

"May Allah protect our padishah [Ramzan Kadyrov] from traitors and people who cannot be trusted," agreed user groznyi__095.