Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has published on social media a report by an opposition activist Ilya Yashin which claims that Kadyrov's rule poses a threat to Russia.
Kadyrov published the report, titled “National Security Threat” online before it was presented by Yashin in Moscow.
Kadyrov claims that the report “contains nothing but chatter.”
“The authors will present this material to the reporters in Moscow as a sensation,” Kadyrov wrote on his Facebook page.
Kadyrov also published the report on his Instagram, Vkontakte and LiveJournal accounts.
Kadyrov likely gained access to the report through Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Open Russia website. The organization admitted the report was published ahead of time due to a technical error.
The report was due to be officially presented by PARNAS opposition party deputy chairman Ilya Yashin on Tuesday at 1 p.m.
The presentation, which took place in the PARNAS office in central Moscow, was disrupted by the evacuation of journalists by police. According to the attendees, police said that the evacuation was the result of a bomb threat, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Yashin called the actions of the police a provocation, the BBC reported. The office was evacuated for the same reason on Monday.
The aim of Yashin's report, prepared to coincide with the anniversary of the death of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, is “to open the eyes of Russian society to the fact that Ramzan Kadyrov, with the connivance of the country's administration and the security services became a figure that represents a threat to Russia's national security.”
In the report, Yashin accuses Chechnya's head of involvement in Nemtsov's murder as well as killing of Chechen rebels Ruslan and Salim Yamadayev and the journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
The report also says Chechnya has received billions of rubles in subsidies from the federal budget and has been a source of fighters for Islamic State, a terrorist group banned in Russia.
Yashin, commenting on Kadyrov's publication of the report, welcomed the move.
“After the report was published by the head of Chechnya himself, there is no doubt — it will be read in the republic. This bravado will play in our favor,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.