The obligation of the state is to protect journalists from Kadyrov

Application of the editorial office of "Medusa"

Ramzan Kadyrov called the journalist of Novaya Gazeta Elena Milashin and the head of the “Committee against torture” Igor Kalyapin, and later declared whole editions “terrorists and their accomplices” - not only “new”, but also the rain TV channel. This is not just an insult (although, of course, it is too). This is a threat to physical reprisals. “We always destroyed terrorists and their accomplices, between whom there is no difference, and we will do this to the next,” Kadyrov’s words. There can be no double interpretation.

The Kremlin regularly praises itself for the “return of a strong state” (after the “dashing nineties”), merciless to the “enemies of the Fatherland” (that is, to the enemies of the authorities). The arrests of activists and demonstrative trials, the persecution of independent politicians and businessmen, the creation of the register of “foreign agents” and “undesirable”, the return of censorship - all this convincingly confirms the “power” of the Putin state.

But it is worthwhile to appear to representatives of the Chechen authorities as a “strong state” disappears. Moscow is silent not only when Kadyrov speaks. A deputy from Chechnya Adam Delimkhanov and a dozen local security forces threaten to “cut off their heads” to the family members of the objectionable judge, Saydi Yangulbaev-Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, in response, sends journalists to the meaningless Duma ethics commission. In the center of Grozny, in the midst of the next wave of Covid, when it is impossible to reach a single picket throughout Russia, they arrange a long -term rally - the local Rospotrebnadzor cannot find its organizer.

This is not a “strong state” and not even a dictatorship, built on the principle of “friends are everything, but the enemies are the law”. More like Failed State (“failed state”), where everyone who has their own power apparatus can resolve their private issues as he wants. Let's say more specifically: we are talking about Chechnya.

Any edition knows how difficult it is to work in Chechnya and write on Chechen topics. Our colleagues, who threatens Kadyrov, not only do significant journalistic work, they also perform the most important social function - they show where in Russia there is still no state in Russia, that is, the laws, rules, norms adopted in the country do not work.

During the previous conflict of Kadyrov with the “New Gazeta” in the spring of 2021, Dmitry Peskov stated that “the security of journalists should be absolutely unquestioned, nothing should pose a threat to journalists.”

Prove it. Stop Kadyrov.

The Medusa editors join the appeals of Novaya Gazeta and Rain of the Siloviki and the authorities demanding to immediately respond to threats from Kadyrov and his environment.

Medusa editors