“We draw the attention of law enforcement agencies to these statements from a high-ranking official that violate the laws of the Russian Federation,” the appeal says. At the beginning of the week, Novaya Gazeta turned to the Investigative Committee because of Kadyrov’s previous statements.
The editors of Ekho Moskvy expressed support for the Dozhd TV channel (recognized as a foreign agent) and Novaya Gazeta after the words of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. The radio station issued a statement calling on President Vladimir Putin to intervene. This was announced in his Telegram channel by the editor-in-chief of the radio station Alexei Venediktov.
“In connection with the threats against our colleagues from Novaya Gazeta and the Dozhd TV channel from the head of the Chechen Republic, we want to express our solidarity with the journalists of these publications,” the statement said.
The editors believe that law enforcement agencies need to pay attention to these words, as they violate the laws of Russia and come from a high-ranking official who is a general of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. “We ask the President of Russia, as the guarantor of the Constitution of Russia, to intervene in this situation,” Ekho Moskvy said in a statement.
The editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, told RBC that the editors filed an application with the Investigative Committee on January 31. Nadezhda Prusenkova, head of the newspaper’s press service, clarified that it was Kadyrov’s previous statement. According to her, the editors do not plan to submit another application yet.
RBC sent requests to the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The Minister for National Policy, Foreign Relations, Press and Information of Chechnya, Akhmed Dudayev, told RBC that inside the country “the fifth column is effectively carrying out its subversive activities.” “And when they point to it, they say that they are enemies of the people, the country, they call it the fifth column – they aggressively start shouting, turning to the same authorities that they have been discrediting for years. The judicial, law enforcement system, the country’s leadership,” Dudayev said.
The day before, on February 1, Kadyrov called for criminal proceedings against Dozhd and Novaya Gazeta, as well as against the head of the Committee against Torture (the legal entities of the organization were recognized as foreign agents, now it works without registration) Igor Kalyapin and a journalist from Novaya Gazeta Elena Milashina. “What facts do you need that they are terrorists, accomplices of terrorists? Where are you looking?” he turned to law enforcement.
The press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, said earlier that claims against Kadyrov are not the Kremlin’s issue. “If we are talking about the safety, life and health of people, then this is the topic of law enforcement agencies, this is not the topic of the Kremlin. There is no need for the Kremlin to watch this. Law enforcement agencies perform their functions and do it very clearly,” he noted.
