Chechen athletes continue Kadyrov’s immunity trend

While commenting on an attack on a referee and players of the Moscow football club during a match with the “Akhmat” Football Club (FC) in Grozny, human rights defenders Svetlana Gannushkina and Ruslan Kutaev have noted that in Chechnya, athletes feel like an elite and try to copy the behaviour of the republic’s leaders.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on May 27, during the youth football championship, a footballer of the “Akhmat” youth team attacked a referee after receiving a red warning card during a match between the “Akhmat” and “Lokomotiv” teams. Then a massive fight began, during which, according to the press service for the “Lokomotiv” FC, two players of the Moscow team were injured.

In Chechnya, athletes feel like an elite and, following the example of the authorities, tend to immunity, Svetlana Gannushkina, the chair of the “Civic Assistance” Committee*, told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

“The highest Russian authorities give complete freedom to the Chechen leaders. The federal centre has placed them in special conditions. And no behaviour of young athletes is needed to draw attention to the ongoing arbitrariness,” the human rights defender stated.

Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, also believes that the behaviour of young Chechen football players reflects the policy of the republic’s authorities. Ruslan Kutaev called on not to associate the incident with national specifics.

“These are not some national specifics of the Chechen people, but a trend emanating from those who pay for their activities. At present, athletes from the ‘Akhmat’ FC just copy the trend set by Ramzan Kadyrov and his subordinates,” Ruslan Kutaev explained to the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

* the organization is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the register of foreign agents.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 28, 2021 at 05:47 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.