Ramzan Kadyrov: Chechen President Blames Boston Bombings On U.S.

Impact

Widely acknowledged as a world leader that is very close to Putin, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov used Instagram to blame the United States for the Boston Marathon bombing: the two suspected bombers, hailed from Chechnya originally. 

"Any attempt to draw a connection between Chechnya and Tsarnaevs — if they are guilty — is futile." Kadyrov said- once again, using the social media photography site, Instagram. Perhaps Kadyrov’s reliance on a social media site might stem from his own serious struggle with real news outlets, demonstrated through the myriad assassinations of journalists in Chechnya who report on the real issues in the country. 

Under Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya is a near police state.  Women, regardless of their religious beliefs, are required to wear headscarves when entering any government building, including schools, and enough people have “disappeared” (assumed to be taken by the ) that Human Rights Watch finds them to constitute major crimes against humanity. In spite of severe economic peril and widespread unemployment, Kadyrov lives the high life, with a fleet of supercars, some of which cost over a million apiece. Just in case none of this was repugnant enough, just for good measure, Kadyrov supports honor killings, as the wife should be the property of her husband. 

Even with his busy Instagram schedule, Ramzan Kadyrov still has time for the occasional torture session, and has been implicated for personally conducting human rights violations, some of them in his own home. Chechen whistleblowers even living abroad are not safe, as one man residing in Vienna was murdered, and many suspect the order to do so was given by Kadyrov. 

Journalists in particular have faced horrific violations of rights, punished by thugs when reporting on the crimes of the state. Activist and journalist Natalya Khusainovna Estemirova was abducted and murdered in 2009, only a few days after her human rights organization called for Vladimir Putin to be put on trial for atrocities committed in Chechnya, and activists in the area say that it is likely that Kadyrov, or his subordinates ordered the abduction. Her murder resembles the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, which was never solved, and which many say was designed to intimidate and discourage human rights activists in Chechnya from speaking out. 

Ramzan Kadyrov is more than an avid Instagram user: he is a human rights violator, torturer, and tyrant. The Boston Marathon bombings may have little to do with Chechnya, other than the suspects’ country of origin, but Ramzan Kadyrov has enough atrocious human rights violations to answer for among his own people.