The head of Russia’s Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, has warned the US that it will face retribution if it does not lift sanctions it placed on his mother.
Washington imposed financial restrictions and a travel ban on Aymani Kadyrova and several other Russian individuals and entities on August 24, the day Ukraine celebrates its Independence Day.
Kadyrov’s mother was sanctioned because she is the head of the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation, which the US claims was involved in the “re-education” of Ukrainian children evacuated by Russia from the war zone.
In a post on Telegram on Thursday, Kadyrov, who is himself blacklisted by the US and EU, said the restrictions against “my dear mother” came as a shock even to him, despite the fact that he has become used to the “illogical sanctions decisions by the US and the West.”
“The whole world knows that she’s engaged in nothing but charitable activities,” he said.
Aymani Kadyrova was only sanctioned because she is his mother, Kadyrov claimed, and because of this, “the American decision can only be viewed as a deliberate and cynical disregard for all ethical norms.”
However, he insisted that the sanctions are “painless” for Russia and are only imposed by Washington “to comfort itself.”
“We’ll keep breaking the backs of NATO-Ukrainian gangs. If need be, we can make it all the way to the Elbe as Visaitov did in his time during the war against the Nazis,” Kadyrov said.
He was referring to Movlid Visaitov, a Chechen colonel of the Red Army during World War II who was the first Soviet commander to shake hands with the Americans at the historic meeting on the Elbe River in Germany on April 25, 1945.
“The State Department is feeling too cozy, while pushing the Ukrainian people to their death and hiding behind rainbow democracy. This American filth must be crushed,” Kadyrov said.
The Chechen leader called upon Washington to “immediately” lift the sanctions on his mother. “Otherwise, I won’t forgive you for this. I’m ready to do anything,” he warned.