MOSCOW. Oct 17 (Interfax) - The Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has denied that high-ranking officials and law enforcers from his entourage had been sent to secret prisons and disloyal public servants had been "purged."
Speaking at a meeting with officials in Grozny on Wednesday, Kadyrov expressed bewilderment at publications about officials' sackings and arrests. "These made-up stories are a bit over the top. Their authors know it's a lie 1,000 per cent! But they keep writing and writing. In Grozny no one steps on anyone's foot, there are no robberies, no street crime. People are walking on the streets and in the parks even after midnight," Kadyrov said.
"Thousands of guests are amazed by the beauty of our towns and villages, the safety and stability, but this became a bone in the throat of those who, having lost an open war, have switched to ideological-subversion tactics.
"Certain forces and their subservient media are waging a deliberate information campaign aimed at creating a negative image of Chechnya and its leadership in Russia and worldwide.
"No sooner had I fallen ill and taken the official sick leave that they brazenly and shamelessly filled pages and the web with disinformation that there was an air ambulance aircraft at the airport, Kadyrov was seriously ill and about to be sent to one of Moscow clinics. My family is worried, asks why I am hiding the disease.
"The people voted [precisely for Kadyrov], entrusted [him] to provide peace, security and stability. These objectives will be reached regardless of what ill-wishers compose and circulate," Kadyrov said.
Earlier a report in the Novaya Gazeta newspaper claimed that "repressions in the Chechen republic against members of Ramzan Kadyrov's close circle have been on the rise for several months now. Not only high-ranking Chechen officials, but also their relatives, bodyguards and [Kadyrov's] closest entourage are detained at places of illegal imprisonment and in the basements of 'secret prisons' for days to weeks and even months." The newspaper also said that inmates were tortured and had their businesses and assets confiscated.