Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov has angrily accused the United States of lecturing him on human rights and demanding that Chechens "march" to its orders. He said, "The U.S. is trying to lecture the whole world. They are trying to turn all countries and people into formations of marching soldiers, dictating to each and everyone how to live and what to do and not do."He was reacting to the State Department's recently released annual human rights report, which accused him of continued violation of fundamental freedoms and of fostering "an overall atmosphere of fear and intimidation."
Kadyrov said the report did not reflect how human rights are respected in Chechnya or Russia as a whole. He said, "In Chechnya, human rights are observed more than anywhere else."
He added, "100,000 people have their own centuries-old principles. Â… You cannot destroy them by pressing them into American standards."
The State Department report details the case of Umar Israilov, a Chechen refugee and former bodyguard of Kadyrov who was gunned down in Vienna in 2010. An Austrian court last year convicted three Chechens of organizing the murder. A fourth suspect, Letscha Bogatirov, accused of pulling the trigger, "was promoted by the Kadyrov government following the killing as a reward for his actions," according to the U.S. report.