The Kremlin disagrees with the notion that the situation in Russia's Chechen Republic is out of control, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, following an unauthorized protest in the republic's capital of Grozny against the Yangulbaev family
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd February, 2022) The Kremlin disagrees with the notion that the situation in Russia's Chechen Republic is out of control, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, following an unauthorized protest in the republic's capital of Grozny against the Yangulbaev family.
On Wednesday, thousands of people took to the streets demanding prosecution of the family of retired Chechen supreme court judge Saydi Yangulbaev. According to Chechnya head Ramzan Kadyrov, the judge's sons, who are currently living in Europe, are said to have started a radical Telegram channel in early 2020. According to Kadyrov, the family supported terrorism and extremism and encouraged others to do so. The Chechen authorities estimated over 400,000 participants at the protest. Later that day, Kadyrov met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"No, I totally disagree that the situation there has got out of hand. This is a territorial entity of the Russian Federation. I have nothing more to add," Peskov told reporters.
At the same time, the official admitted that Putin and Kadyrov had discussed issues related to the work of law enforcement agencies, without specifying, however, if the subject of the Yangulbaev family was broached.
When asked if Putin is afraid of Kadyrov, the spokesman expressed his bafflement.
"Why should Putin be afraid of a head of a Russian region? I do not understand your question," Peskov said.
Meanwhile, Nikolai Rybakov, the leader of the Yabloko party, issued a statement addressed to the Russian president regarding Kadyrov's allegations against several public figures caught up in the Yangulbaev scandal.
"The leaders of the state authorities of the (Chechen) Republic call public and state figures of our country "terrorists" and "accomplices of terrorists", including Igor Kalyapin, a member of the Council for Human Rights and the Development of Civil Society under the President of the Russian Federation, Yelena Milashina (journalist of Novaya Gazeta), as well as Novaya Gazeta (headed by Novel prize winner Dmitry Muratov) and the Dozhd tv channel (TV Rain, designated as a foreign media agent in Russia)," Rybakov said, adding that "statements addressed to them cannot be perceived otherwise than as a threat to the lives of these people and the employees of these media."
Saydi Yangulbaev's wife was arrested last week in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod and transported for questioning to Chechnya, where she was accused of assaulting a police officer. Kadyrov, for his part, stated that the arrest was carried out in accordance with Russian law. The former judge and his daughter have since left Russia.
