Russia's Concern About Power Reflected in Kadyrov's Response to Riots: ISW

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on Tuesday said Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's recent shoot-to-kill orders against antisemitic protesters could have come due to Kremlin concerns about waning power in territories "on the periphery" of Russia.

On Sunday night, hundreds of angry rioters stormed onto the landing field at the Makhachkala airport in the Russian republic of Dagestan. Members of the mob carried Palestinian flags and were reportedly hunting for Israeli passengers from a flight that had landed from Tel Aviv. Police detained some 60 rioters at the airport, and the Baza Telegram channel, which has ties to Russia's security services, reported that about 1,500 people took part in the incident.

Kadyrov, who has been a loyalist of Russian President Vladimir Putin since taking power of the predominantly Muslim southern Russian republic of Chechnya in 2007, ordered his security forces to detain protesters in any potential riots or to "make three warning shots in the air, and if the person doesn't obey the law afterward, make the fourth shot in the forehead."

While Kadyrov's comments were interpreted by some that he was showing unexpected support for Israel, the ISW said his statement "suggests that Russian officials may be increasingly concerned about the weakening of authoritarian control in regions on the periphery of the Russian Federation."

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment Tuesday night.

The ISW noted that Kadyrov initially responded to the incident in Dagestan by echoing Putin's unfounded accusation that the West had orchestrated the riots as an effort to destabilize Russia.

During a Monday press conference Putin held at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence, the Russian president called the United States "scum" for allegedly helping Ukraine in "inspiring" the airport attack through "special services."

"We need to know and understand where the root of evil is, where this very spider, who is trying to envelop the whole planet, the whole world with his web and wants to achieve our strategic defeat on the battlefield, uses the people he has fooled for decades on the territory of today's Ukraine," Putin said of the U.S., according to Russian state news agency TASS.

In its daily assessment of the war in Ukraine, the ISW said "Kadyrov's reactions to the riots in Dagestan suggest that he is first and foremost concerned with maintaining the perception of his unwavering support of Putin and secondly with demonstrating the strength of his authoritarian rule over Chechnya by threatening a violent response to potential future riots."

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