Putin awards military honour to Chechen autocrat days after US imposes sanctions

Ramzan Kadyrov declared himself Putin's ‘loyal soldier’

(Yelena Afonina/TASS)

Vladimir Putin has awarded the rank of major general to Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov – a man who has been linked to the killing, torture and disappearance of hundreds.

Mr Kadyrov, who published the new honour on his social media pages on Thursday, said the Russian president had called him personally to read out the executive order.

“It is a high distinction that I value highly,” he wrote. “I’m the president’s loyal solider, and ready to carry out any order on any continent he wishes.”

The move comes less than three days after the US State Department announced the blacklisting the controversial strongman and his family.

On Monday, secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the sanctions were the result of “numerous gross violations of human rights dating back more than a decade”.

Thursday’s development appeared to be a direct response to the US snub, and was trailed two days ago when foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova first responded to the US move. “It will be difficult to respond reciprocally, but we will think up something,” she said.

Mr Kadyrov’s own response fell much in line with his brand. In a message on Telegram – his Instagram, and Facebook accounts have been suspended – he posted a picture of himself brandishing two guns. “Pompeo, we accept the fight!” the caption read. “What comes next will be more interesting.”

Since assuming power from his assassinated father in 2004, the tiger-loving strongman has ruled Chechnya as a personal fiefdom. He enjoys autonomy unrivalled among any other regional leader – the result of a grand security bargain to keep order following two bloody wars with Moscow.

The strongman has used the deal to deliver personal riches and a regime of terror, with critics frequently disappearing in mysterious circumstances.

Mr Kadyrov is understood to have supported several waves of repressions of LGBT+ people beginning in 2017. At least three men have died, with dozens missing, and hundreds more reporting torture. Russian authorities have refused to investigate the evidence, or open a criminal case.

Igor Kochetkov, whose Russian LGBT Network led the frontline emergency effort to evacuate at-risk citizens, said the honour underlined the Kremlin’s attitude to human rights abuse.

“The authorities are showing they don’t want to investigate Kadyrov’s crimes,” Mr Kochetkov told The Independent. “The award of military titles and honours tells him everything he needs to know.”