The Charlie Hebdo fallout spilled out over the North Caucasus and Moscow on Friday. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov threatened Moscow's Radio Echo after it ran a poll, asking its listeners whether media should publish cartoons depicting Mohammad. 68 percent said yes, the cartoons should be published and 30 percent said no.
Within the hour later, Kadyrov posted on Twitter that that Echo’s editor-in-chief, Aleksei Venediktov, had insulted Muslims and said, "There are those who will bring Venediktov to account."
Kadyrov wrote, "Venediktov has long ago converted Echo of Moscow into the main anti-Islamic horn." If authorities did not restrict the radio that "incites animosity and hatred among people and nations," Kadyrov continued, “There will be people to make Venediktov responsible."
Venediktov and his reporters responded to the threat by wearing white T-shirts with "Je suis Charlie," and said that Echo's reporting was balanced and professional.
Kadyrov began his Friday morning by tweeting a picture of himself speaking in a black uniform. In the caption, Kadyrov calls the former boss of Yukos Oil Company his "personal enemy" and "enemy of all Muslims" for calling for the publication of Mohammad cartoons. Kadyrov said that in Europe, where Khodorkovsky now lives, there would be people able to call the oilman to account. |