In theory, he is one of Vladimir Putin’s most loyal allies, in reality he is a bulky figure that Moscow has decided to “control”, at least in the state media. According to Russian websites, the state media was banned from quoting Chechnya’s chief Ramzan Kadyrov in their materials without first obtaining approval from above. An obvious attempt to limit the visibility of Kadyrov, who has been very active on social media since the war began. The articles about the Chechen leader must therefore first be approved by the heads of the individual newspapers, who in turn have to get the green light from the political authorities.
This dictate – explain journalistic sources – is behind the failure of the official agency Tass to re-broadcast Kadyrov’s message about the surrender of 260 Ukrainian soldiers. Additionally, the same agency has begun increasingly delaying — or not releasing at all — news about the conflict in Ukraine deemed “inconvenient”.
Kadyrov would be challenged with allegations about the alleged successes of Chechen fighters, but also with criticism from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who refused to call artists who left Russia “traitors”.