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Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov at odds with Russia as he calls for protests over killings of Rohingya Muslims
Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Russia's mostly Muslim Chechnya republic, has brought tens of thousands of his citizens to the streets to protest against violence toward the Rohingya and said he will oppose Moscow if it backs the Burmese government.
In a live Instagram video on Saturday, Mr Kadyrov said he wanted to send his security forces to Burma but couldn't because “that's the prerogative of the state”.
“If I had my way, if it was possible, I'd even carry out a nuclear strike on them, to destroy those people who are killing children, women, the elderly,” Mr Kadyrov said.
“Even if Russia will support those devils who are committing crimes today, I'm against the position of Russia,” he added, referring to reports that Moscow has prevented the United Nations Security Council from condemning the violence in Burma.
The suggestion he could oppose the Kremlin line was unusual for Mr Kadyrov, who has in the past declared himself Vladimir Putin's “foot soldier”.
Burma has in the past been a major purchaser of Russian weapons.
Hundreds of people have died and tens of thousands of Muslim Rohingya refugees have fled Burma as the military has cracked down on both insurgents and civilians.
Maria Zakharova, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, on Monday said Moscow had expressed its concern over the situation in Myanmar and denied Russia has blocked a UN security council resolution on the topic. But Russia and China did block a security council statement on Burma in March, according to diplomats involved.
Tens of thousands of people attended a rally on Monday in the regional capital Grozny where Mr Kadyrov, speaking Russian rather than Chechen, called for “punishment of the guilty and an international investigation of crimes against humanity” in Burma, accusing world leaders and the media of “looking on silently”.
The day before, hundreds of protestors chanted “Buddhists are terrorists” outside the Burmese embassy in Moscow following an Instagram post in which Mr Kadyrov called the violence there a “genocide”.
The ultraconservative strongman, who has been accused of human rights violations including a campaign of torture against gay men earlier this year, complained that the Burmese government was refusing to let journalists and human rights organisations into Rohingya areas.
On Monday, police detained 17 people outside the Burmese embassy in Moscow. Local media reported they had written a letter to the ambassador calling for an end to the “Muslim genocide”.