Russia

Putin Crony Says His Stolen Horse Is a Victim of Democracy

‘WHERE IS THE SECURITY?’

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” says Ramzan Kadyrov.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in September 2022.
Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/Pool via Reuters

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov thinks there may be some nefarious conspiracy against him that allowed “horse thieves” in the Czech Republic to kidnap his treasured stallion.

The warmonger on Wednesday took time out from gushing over Russian President Vladimir Putin and calling for death to “satanists” in Ukraine to set the record straight on Zazou, the horse that Czech police say was snatched from a stable over the weekend.

In a post on Telegram, Kadyrov lamented that his poor horse had now been victimized twice—first in 2014, when Zazou “took the first heinous blow from the democratic West upon himself” when he was added to a list of sanctioned assets.

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The “beautiful and noble animal” has now suffered a second time, he said, due to a suspicious plot by unknown forces.

“Today it turns out that Zazou was stolen by unknown people. How is that possible? Was he being kept on some remote farm so they could take him so easily? Where is the security? Where are the gallant police with democratically efficient and advanced investigative methods?” he whined.

He went on to dispute reports that Zazou was worth about $18,000, insisting the prized horse is actually worth no less than $10 million.

“I don’t believe in coincidences. The horse thieves are unique somehow: stupid enough to steal a sanctioned horse and cunning enough so that the police do not find them. I do not believe it,” he said, fretting over the stallion “falling into the wrong hands.”

Kadyrov’s concerns over his horse come amid growing speculation that his 17-year-old son is being groomed to eventually replace him. News broke earlier this week that Akhmat Kadyrov met personally with Putin for the first time, a meeting that in many ways mimicked the elder Kadyrov’s own first meeting with Putin before he was appointed first deputy prime minister of Chechnya.

Kadyrov said Putin told his son about his grandfather Akhmad Kadyrov, Ramzan Kadyrov’s predecessor who was assassinated in 2004. The Russian leader is said to have told the teen Kadyrov to “be proud of his grandfather” and to “continue on the path that he had begun.”

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