17:25, 16 July 2020

US intelligence data used against Kadyrov's critics in Europe

Russia has used the agreement on exchange of intelligence information with the USA to search for residents of Chechnya who fled from the republic to Europe, sources in European security and intelligence structures have stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, accused the Western special services of organizing the murders of bloggers Mamikhan Umarov and Imran Aliev in order to blame these services for these crimes. The press secretary of the Russian president found it illogical to link the deaths of Kadyrov's critics with the head of Chechnya.

On July 4, Mamikhan Umarov, a Chechen native, known for his harsh criticism of Kadyrov on the YouTube, was shot dead in Vienna, the Austrian capital. Umarov replenished the list of Kadyrov's critics killed outside Chechnya.

The intensification of intelligence exchange between Russia and the USA occurred during the presidency of Donald Trump, who thus hoped to improve relations with Russia, the Business Insider writes. According to the sources of this edition, most of the information received from Russia was "veiled requests for information" about the whereabouts of Chechen residents, who had fled the republic in search of political asylum after criticizing the republic's authorities.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 16, 2020 at 01:09 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.