New US sanctions create no threats to Kadyrov

The US sanctions imposed in connection with the murder of Boris Nemtsov are not fundamentally new and unable to create problems for Ramzan Kadyrov. They could even increase the popularity of Kadyrov in the Middle East, the political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 7, the profile committee of the US Congress approved the resolution calling for the investigation of Boris Nemtsov's murder and the imposition of sanctions against those involved therein. Also, the congressmen proposed to study Ramzan Kadyrov's business assets abroad.

The sanction bill, approved by the House of Representatives of the US Congress, contains nothing fundamentally new compared to the "Magnitsky List", said Yuri Rogulev, Director of the Roosevelt Fund for US Studies at the Moscow State University (MSU).

"Sanctions against Kadyrov cannot have any practical consequences for him; as before, he won't go to the US to open bank accounts; it looks he hasn’t intended to. The only difference is that now the inquiries will be held in Arab countries too," Mr Rogulev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The new sanctions will not damage Kadyrov's image and reputation; he even can benefit from them, Alexei Malashenko, a political analyst and the head of scientific studies at the "Civilizations' Dialogue" Institute, has stated.

He is sure that inside Chechnya itself, the sanctions against Kadyrov also will have no effect. "Kadyrov's regime is so strong that no sanctions may change his policy in the republic. Everything will remain unchanged there," Mr Malashenko has concluded.

The American sanctions against Kadyrov will not affect his status as an informal leader and representative of the Islamic Russian community abroad, said Russian Orientalist, Evgeny Satanovsky, not excluding that they could even increase the popularity of Kadyrov in the Middle East.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 16, 2019 at 01:04 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.