Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov says authorities have detained a "con artist" who charged a man 100,000 rubles ($2,700) for a chance to meet with him.
Kadyrov, who has run the southern Russian republic since 2007, said Tuesday in a message on his Instagram blog.
A visitor from a nearby Caucasus region apparently thought otherwise, asking a local man, "Khamzat Asukhanov," to set up a meeting with the Chechen leader, Kadyrov said.
Kadyrov did not specify whether Asukhanov has any links to Chechnya's government or whether the visitor had good reason to believe that the man may be able to help arrange a meeting.
"Naturally, the crook disappeared with the money," Kadyrov said, adding that the culprit was caught outside Chechnya's borders.
The visitor was a resident of "Ossetia," Kadyrov said, without specifying whether he was referring to North Ossetia, which is a Russian region, or South Ossetia, which is a self-proclaimed state that broke away from Georgia and is recognized by only a few countries, including Russia.
It remained unclear whether the visitor, who Kadyrov said wanted to ask for help for sick relatives, actually got to meet with him.
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