Chechen leader and Putin crony Ramzan Kadyrov has released a bizarre propaganda video that shows him shooting a rifle into the sky and struggling to run as he appears to cheer on Russia’s war against Ukraine. Accompanied by a poem in which he suggests “fearless” Russia is ready to take back a part of Switzerland captured by the Imperial Russian army in 1799, the 30-second video features no actual scenes from the war. Instead, with what seems like a soundtrack from a teenager’s homemade reenactment of Rambo, Kadyrov, in sunglasses and ammo strapped around his chest, is shown running clumsily near a mountain range while he’s flanked by security vehicles. He then fires a Kalashnikov straight up into the air while the vehicles drive in circles around him. It’s not clear when exactly the video was made, or how much money he put into making it, but it does seem to perfectly illustrate why the Chechen leader who boasts of his own ruthlessness has been widely mocked for his PR efforts during the war.
