Kadyrov demanded to actively search for authors of objectionable publications
At a regular meeting with his subordinates, the head of Chechnya ordered “to step up efforts” to identify people “spreading slander and disinformation” on social networks and messengers.
"Caucasian Knot" wrote that at the end of July in Grozny, at the request of the authorities, four women's clothing stores were closed due to inappropriate advertising on social networks. The authorities promised to open them if the owners delete the inappropriate publications.
The demand to more actively identify the authors of publications that Ramzan Kadyrov finds undesirable was voiced at an extended meeting dedicated to the “socioeconomic situation in the region.” Although the head of the Chechen Interior Ministry Aslan Iriskhanov reported a “stable and controlled” situation, the head of the republic considered the security forces’ work with critical information on social networks to be insufficiently active.
“I have instructed to intensify efforts to identify and suppress the activities of individuals spreading slander and disinformation, including on social networks and messengers. State Duma deputy Adam Delimkhanov reported that similar work is being actively carried out outside the region,” Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel.
One of the recent examples of “work outside the region” carried out by Chechen security forces is the abduction of blogger Areg Shchepikhin from the Yaroslavsky railway station in Moscow. Six detainees, three of whom presented IDs of employees of the Russian Guard Directorate for Chechnya, said during interrogation that they had received the task of detaining the blogger from their superiors. Details of the high-profile kidnapping of the blogger are collected in the "Caucasian Knot" report "Chechen security forces against Areg Shchepikhin: kidnapping or detention?".
Shchepikhin's kidnapping was a reminder of the involvement of Chechen security forces in the disappearance of Salman Tepsurkaev in 2020. He was kidnapped in the Krasnodar Territory by unknown persons, after which a video appeared online in which a naked Salman was forced to sit on a bottle. It was established that he was taken away by people in civilian clothes, among whom were later identified as active police officers. Salman's tracks ended on the territory of one of the Chechen security forces. According to human rights activists, he was killed, as reported in the "Caucasian Knot" report "Torture for ADAT**: why Kadyrov's critic was humiliated".
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