Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov warned the relatives of Chechens suspected of Wahhabism that he would sanction their murder at a meeting with his security forces, the Caucasus affiliate of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on Wednesday.
Kadyrov urged Chechens to report their relatives to the police if they showed “symptoms of Wahhabism”, a radical strain of Sunni Islam that calls for strict adherence to the letter of the Quran, in a video posted on Telegram on Tuesday.
Anybody associating with “devils” should “be punished”, Kadyrov said. “He who trespasses against his brother must understand that, in accordance with the blood feud, we will kill everyone — father, brother, uncle.”
“I appeal to the Chechen people — be aware of what your children are doing. You all know the symptoms of Wahhabism. … We would rather stop him in time than kill you, your son and your brother,” Kadyrov warned.
Perpetrators of crimes against the security forces and the state, and those who indirectly assisted them, would be punished “to the fullest extent of the law”, Kadyrov wrote in a separate Telegram post on Tuesday.
Kadyrov’s comments come after Sunday’s attack by suspected Islamist militants in the neighbouring North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, in which at least 21 people, including 15 police officers, were killed. Security forces reported that they had been able to “liquidate” the five alleged attackers.
Asked to give an official reaction to Kadyrov’s words, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday said that the fight against terror should be “uncompromising and as ruthless as possible”.