Kadyrov offers to exchange Ukrainian POWs for lifting his family sanctions
Head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, has stated that he is ready to exchange Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) for the lifting of Western sanctions imposed on his family.
According to the Russian news agency, TASS, Kadyrov revealed this to Scott Ritter, a former American intelligence officer who is known for his strong support of Russian propaganda, and who had served 2.5 years in prison on charges of minor exploitation or abuse.
"We have prisoners whom we have taken from Donetsk and Luhansk regions. If they remove the sanctions from my mother, my daughters, innocent people and even horses, other than me, then we will release these individuals," the Chechen leader told Ritter, who arrived in Grozny the day before.
Kadyrov also provided Ritter with a list of 20 names of Ukrainian soldiers and showed him a video recording featuring captured members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. However, he did not specify who exactly should lift the restrictions on his family.
The latest sanctions against Kadyrov's relatives were imposed in August 2023 when the US Department of the Treasury included Kadyrov's mother, Ayman Kadyrova, in the sanctions list. Prior to that, his wife, Medni, his daughters Aishat and Khadijat, as well as his cousin Turpal-Ali Ibragimov, had been added to the list.
Recently, the Chechen leader called for blood revenge in the republic and urged the elimination of dissidents "wherever they may be found".