Ramzan Kadyrov is the Chechen head of government and has called Elena Milashina, Novaya Gazeta journalist, and Igor Kalyapin, Committee Against Torture director, “terrorists.” He also threatened violence by calling entire newsrooms at Dozhd and Novaya Gazeta “terrorists” and “their accomplices”. Kadyrov stated that terrorists and their accomplices have been destroyed, with no distinction.
There is no room for ambiguity.
The Kremlin often praises itself for creating a “strong” state after the “troubled 1990s” as well as for not showing mercy to “enemies in the Fatherland”, i.e. those who are opposed to the authorities. The “strength of Vladimir Putin’s State” is evident by the arrests and show trials of activists, as well as the persecution of independent politicians, business owners, and the creation of “foreign agent”, and “undesirable,” registries and the return to state censorship.
However, this power disappears the moment the Chechen authorities show up. Moscow is now unable to speak when asked about Ramzankadyrov, but also when asked questions regarding Adam Delimkhanov, Chechen State Duma deputy and the dozens Chechen officials who threatened to kill the relatives of Saidi Yangulbaev. According to the Kremlin’s press secretary, journalists are directed to the Duma’s meaningless ethics board by their representative. At the height of the coronavirus outbreak, it’s difficult across the country for any one to organize a picket. Thousands of people gather in Grozny to demonstrate, but city officials are unable even to identify the organizers.
Chechnya is not a “strong” state or a dictatorship based on the principle that friends should be rewarded and enemies held accountable before the law. It is a failed state in which anyone with the power to use violence to solve their problems.
Every newsroom understands how difficult it is to work in Chechnya, and to write about Chechen topics. Kadyrov’s threats to our colleagues are more than just reporting on the news. They’re also performing an essential civic function, demonstrating that Russia’s laws, rules and norms don’t work in places where there is none.
Last spring, in Kadyrov’s conflict with Novaya Gazeta’s past, the Kremlin’s spokesperson stated that journalists’ safety must “incontrovertible.”
