Kremlin dissociates itself from question on closure of "Novaya Gazeta"

Fighters from the Akhmat Kadyrov special-purpose police regiment, who call on to close the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" because of its critical posts, should address their claims to a court, and not to Vladimir Putin, Russian President's press secretary Dmitry Peskov states.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 15, the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" made public a part of its investigation on extrajudicial executions in Chechnya, including a testimony of Chechen law enforcer Suleiman Gezmakhmaev. According to his story, residents of Chechnya, detained in January 2017, were tortured and forced to incriminate themselves before the extrajudicial killings, and the law enforcer witnessed those events. After the publication of the materials by the "Novaya Gazeta", participant of a rally in Grozny demanded to close the newspaper.

Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin, has stated that in case of claims against the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta", the fighters from the Akhmat Kadyrov special-purpose police regiment should go to court, and their appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin posted on social media platforms is not the right address. "If, in the opinion of those who wrote the appeal, the newspaper's post [presents] distorted information and slander that defame the honour and dignity of people, there are legal procedures and tools that may and should be used," said Dmitry Peskov as quoted by the TASS today.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 18, 2021 at 01:54 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.