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Davydiuk said the Kremlin is trying to punish Kadyrov for recent critical statements toward Russia’s Defense Ministry, the Russian National Guard, and for his attempts to realize his personal political ambitions.
“Kadyrov was forced to sit in the gallery during the ceremony of annexation of the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, punishing him for his latest statements and attempts to occupy top ministerial positions such as the head of the Russian National Guard,” Davydiuk said.
“Kadyrov has long been playing his own presidential campaign or the game of Chechnya’s independence to be able to leave Russia.”
The political scientist sees in Kadyrov’s actions an attempt to avoid responsibility for participation in Russian military aggression against Ukraine:
“He’s one of the first to start this game, and the Kremlin understands it,” Davydiuk said.
“They couldn’t not invite him, because these are ‘TikTok troops’ (Chechen troops earned such a derisive nickname after they were mainly seen in staged videos simulating battle in Ukraine), but they didn’t want to seat him in the first row either… (They wanted to) demonstrate his marginality.”
Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine