Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal demanded an explanation from his deputy Oleg Urusky for the photographs in which Urusky is walking next to the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. On Monday, February 22, he wrote about this on Facebook.
“I’m waiting for an urgent explanation from Oleg Urusky,” Shmygal commented on the photo.
The picture was taken, presumably, at the IDEX-2021 international military-technical exhibition in Abu Dhabi, where Urusky is leading the Ukrainian delegation.
It is known that on July 20, 2020, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Kadyrov was blacklisted. This means a ban on the head of Chechnya from entering the States. The same measure applies to Kadyrov’s wife and his daughters Aishat and Karina (Khadizhat). According to the US State Department, Kadyrov is involved in human rights violations that took place more than 10 years ago.
On July 22, 2020, the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Chechen Republic declared the US State Department a terrorist organization. After that, Kadyrov imposed sanctions against the secretary of state in Chechnya.
Later, on July 26, 2020, residents of the Chechen Republic, as support for the head of the region, Ramzan Kadyrov, said that they were on the sanctions list with him.
On December 17, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that there is nothing unusual about Western sanctions against the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov, he protects the interests of not only the region, but the entire country. The head of state also named Kadyrov as one of the targets for the so-called opponents from abroad.