Chechnya President Kadyrov says Russia will not make any concessions in Ukraine

President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov addresses service members while delivering a statement, dedicated to the military conflict in Ukraine, in Grozny, Russia, February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Gengis Kondarov/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) – Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of Russia’s Chechnya, said on Wednesday that Moscow would not make any concessions in its war in Ukraine, deviating from the official line, suggesting that the Kremlin’s negotiator was wrong.

Kadyrov, who is fighting Chechen forces in Ukraine as part of the Russian military operation, said in comments on Telegram that President Vladimir Putin would not stop what he started there.

He spoke after Vladimir Medinsky, Russia’s chief negotiator, said after talks with Ukraine on Tuesday that Moscow was taking steps to de-escalate the conflict, including reducing military activity around Kyiv. Read more

“We will not make any concessions, it was … Medinsky who made a mistake, gave an incorrect formulation … And if you think that he (Putin) will leave what he started in the way he gave us today, this is not true,” said Kadyrov.

Kadyrov, who rose to power in Russia’s predominantly Muslim southern region of Chechnya in the wake of two powerful post-Soviet wars, has often described himself as Putin’s “foot soldier”. Moscow has spent huge sums of money to rebuild the region under his leadership.

Although he wields great power and is one of the country’s most influential regional leaders, his contradicting statements with Medinsky by name were very unusual on such a sensitive topic as war.

“This is of course a serious problem for Putin,” political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya said on Telegram.

Reporting by Reuters. Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Trevelyan

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