Chechen resident publicly apologizes for his panic coronavirus message

A video with an apology of Rustam Amaev, a Grozny resident, for inventing an epidemic that has overwhelmed Chechnya was recorded under pressure, local residents believe.

The video with apologies posted on the Instagram is preceded by a message in the Chechen language that frightened the residents of the republic. "The Ministry of Public Health has issued a decree because, as they say, viruses have spread in Russia. Unimaginable things are happening here. Children are already put in corridors of the infectious [hospital]," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has translated this message.

Then, a man appears in the video, presenting himself as Rustam Amaev, an ambulance employee. "I've listened to some reports and jokingly spread this video in my group; and it was spread among people. I apologize to them," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has translated Amaev's words from the Chechen language.

The Amaev's reports stated that thousands of Chechen residents had been infected with the coronavirus, says the text accompanying the video posted in the Instagram public "About Chechnya and More". "It is amazing that people are ready to believe in it. <...> Confusion and riots begin; and all that just because another talker decided to spread gossip in the WhatsApp. Should such people be forced to apologize? They should!" the administrator of the public is sure.

Residents of Chechnya told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that they treat the Rustam Amaev's apologies as forced ones. "It is clear that he was forced to publicly refute all this. If he himself had decided to do this, he would hardly have spoken of himself in such derogatory terms," said Aslan, a local resident.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 8, 2020 at 11:39 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.