Chechnya president hits out at gay purge reports
Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s leader, where allegations of anti-gay purges have been rife since 2017. (NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP/Getty Images)
The president of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has hit out at international organisation and decried reports of the gay purge in the Russian region.
Kadyrov took to social media to claim that he had met with the human rights council in the region and that he had worked with the organisation to make a “grandiose improvement” to rights in the region.
He also accused international organisations of conducting a “massive information attack using the most unworthy methods, reality is distorted, attempts are being made to blacken our society, lifestyle, traditions and customs.”
Reports of Kadyrov’s claims come after the newspaper Novaya Gazeta uncovered that hundreds of gay men had been detained and some were killed in Chechnya.
Further investigation carried out uncovered that gay men had been sent to concentration camps.
The reports of his claims come after international human rights groups called upon Russia to intervene in the purge.
The Kremlin has denied that there was substantial evidence to prove the persecutions, but editors of the paper have voiced fears over the safety of the staff after they received countless threats.
Hundreds of LGBT activists have protested the “gay concentration camps” outside of the Russian embassy.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has called on Trump and his administration to call on Russians to end the anti-gay purge and 50 members of congress have signed a letter condemning the situation.
Here is how you can help stop the horrifying attacks.
