Participation in POWs' exchange is Kadyrov's publicity

Ramzan Kadyrov's involvement in the Russian-Ukrainian exchange prisoner of war (POWs) looks like an action coordinated with the Kremlin; and the head of Chechnya is using his role for self-promotion, intended not only for the Chechen audience, analysts assert.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the head of Chechnya had expressed his satisfaction with the return of 107 Russian POWs from Ukraine and stated that new lists for exchange had been drawn up. Earlier, Kadyrov criticized the "unequal exchange" of POWs with Ukraine.

The Chechen leader was involved in the POWs' exchange at the direction of the Kremlin, Alexei Malashenko, an expert on the Caucasus, believes, supposing that native of Chechnya are among the exchanged POWs. "For Kadyrov, his efforts to save people are a pretext to demonstrate his humanity," Mr Malashenko has added.

Dmitry Oreshkin, a political analyst, agrees with him. "Most likely, there are Caucasians among these POWs; therefore Kadyrov was involved in the process," said the analyst.

Mr Oreshkin is sure that the POWs' exchange would have taken place without Kadyrov's involvement. He also believes that the return of POWs will not improve people's attitude towards Chechen authorities.