A Russian lawmaker accused by Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov of involvement in a plot to assassinate him has denied having anything to do with an attempt on his life, Ingush independent media outlet Fortanga reported on Wednesday.
Bekhan Barakhoev, a Russian State Duma deputy representing Ingushetia, a North Caucasus republic next door to Chechnya, refuted the allegations during a public event in the Ingush city of Malgobek. “With Almighty Allah as my witness, I have nothing to do with it and never had,” Barakhoev said, according to Fortanga.
Last week, Kadyrov threatened to declare “a blood feud” against Barakhoev and two other Russian lawmakers, Senator Suleyman Kerimov and State Duma Deputy Rizvan Kurbanov, both of whom are from the neighbouring republic of Dagestan.
Kadyrov claimed that the three lawmakers had “seized” Russia’s largest online retailer Wildberries from its owner, Russia’s richest woman Tatyana Kim, and had ordered Kadyrov’s assassination.
Kurbanov denied the accusations in a video address on Friday, saying he “had no part in planning the attempt on the life of the honourable Ramzan Akhmatovych Kadyrov”. Kerimov has so far not responded to Kadyrov’s allegations, but appears to have the backing of Dagestan head Sergey Melikov, who said on Saturday that Dagestan would “always support Suleyman Kerimov in a difficult moment”.
Talk of a “blood feud” and the surge in inter-ethnic tensions between the Chechen and Ingush peoples appears to be tied to the failed Chechen-led raid at the Wildberries headquarters in Moscow last month, in which two Ingush security guards were killed.
Kim and her estranged husband Vladislav Bakalchuk, had been locked in a bitter dispute for months over a deal that would see Wildberries merge with advertising firm Russ Group, a much smaller company that is controlled by ethnic Armenian brothers Robert and Levan Mirzoyan, who reportedly have ties to Kerimov. Kim announced the completion of the merger on 1 October.
Kadyrov previously expressed support for Bakalchuk, vowing to help him derail the deal, which he called “a corporate raid” in July. On Thursday, Kadyrov warned the public against “stirring up” the situation, and said that any accusation that Kadyrovites had led the failed raid would be seen as “an attempt to paint this as an ethnic issue”.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on Kadyrov’s allegations against members of Russia’s legislature on Wednesday, advising anyone who had received threats to contact the relevant authorities “which will take the necessary measures in accordance with the law”.