Chechen authorities blame USA of information war against Kadyrov

The blocking of the YouTube channels of the "Akhmat" Football Club (FC) and the "Akhmat" MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) Absolute Championship fighting organization is violating the rights of information recipients and is part of a hybrid information war against Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen Press Minister has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in January, the US sanctions led to the blocking of the YouTube channels of the "Akhmat" FC and the above MMA organization.

By blocking the above accounts, the American Google Corporation, the owner of the YouTube, has violated the rights of "all information recipients, and fans of football and MMA," Akhmed Dudaev, the Chechen Minister of Information and Press and assistant to the head of Chechnya, has stated. "But these are hundreds of thousands of people – over half a million people have subscribed to only one YouTube channel – of the MMA organization," Mr Dudaev has added.

The minister has treated the blocking as "absurd." "The principle of 'sports are outside politics' has long been disregarded," he has stated with indignation.

He has also accused Google of using social media as a "political warfare tool" and "information blockade". "A hybrid information war has been launched against the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov," Akhmed Dudaev wrote on the Instagram.