Chechen authorities rely on unlawful methods of coercing to vaccination

Chechnya is not among the regions with mandatory coronavirus vaccination, because local authorities prefer various forms of pressure on residents, Svetlana Gannushkina, a human rights defender, and Alexei Malashenko, a political analyst, believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 16, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, threatened to introduce severe restrictions on coronavirus due to low vaccination rates against COVID-19 in the republic. This statement came amid local residents' complaints about compulsory vaccination.

Unlike a number of Russian regions, Chechen authorities have preferred to abandon the introduction of compulsory vaccination at the legislative level, although Kadyrov relies on his region's leadership in terms of vaccination rates, Svetlana Gannushkina, the chair of the "Civil Assistance"* Committee, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. In her opinion, a verbal order is enough for the head of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, so that the statistics on vaccinated people are high. However, this can lead to an excess zeal of local officials – in vaccination of children and people with contraindications, the rights defender has emphasized.

Chechen authorities refuse from the official mandatory vaccination, preferring to put pressure on citizens, said Alexei Malashenko, a political analyst and the head of scientific studies of the "Civilizations' Dialogue" Institute. "This is the same compulsory vaccination, only undeclared," Mr Malashenko told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

* The organization is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the “Register of non-profit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent”.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 22, 2021 at 04:43 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.