Putin Ally Calls to Execute Criminals' Family Members

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has called on his security forces to punish the relatives of those who have committed crimes.

Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, made the remarks during a meeting with the commanders and heads of units under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic and the National Guard.

"If someone infringes on public safety, an officer or a tourist, and if we don't even find the offender, we won't keep looking for them, but we will definitely find their relatives," said Kadyrov in a meeting, which is reported to have been held on December 30.

Kadyrov has ruled the predominantly Muslim republic of Chechnya, located in southern Russia, since 2007. He has been accused by international groups of overseeing numerous human-rights abuses, including abductions, torture and extrajudicial killings.

His Chechen fighters have fought alongside Putin's troops in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On November 27 last year, Kadyrov said a further 3,000 of his fighters were ready to fight in Ukraine as part of new units of the Russian Defense Ministry and the Russian National Guard.

The meeting focused on how authorities can ensure public safety during the holidays.

"As is customary from time immemorial, if one of the relatives has done wrong and the criminal cannot be found, their brother, their father would be killed," the Chechen leader said, according to several local outlets.

"Thus, our blood feud will be repaid very quickly. Otherwise, a person kills someone and lives with impunity, and their relatives start renouncing them," Kadyrov added. "No relatives' renunciation is effective until we kill someone from their family and take the right of blood feud."

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment via email.

In late October 2023, Kadyrov also said rioters should be shot in the forehead to prevent unrest.

He made the remarks in a video on his Telegram channel in response to antisemitic riots that erupted in the Russian republic of Dagestan, which borders Chechnya to the west, on October 29.

"Otherwise, make three warning shots in the air, and if the person doesn't obey the law afterward, make the fourth shot in the forehead," Ramzan Kadyrov said, according to Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti. "No one else will come out [to protest]. This is my order."

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