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Charlie Hebdo cartoons have nothing to do with freedom of speech ― Kadyrov

French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo published several caricatures connected with Russia in its latest issue

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. By publishing cartoons on the Russian Tu-154 plane crash in the Black Sea and on the assassination of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov, the French weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo once again demonstrated what "democracy and freedom of speech" really is, Chechnya's head Ramzan Kadyrov said.

"I said it before and will say it once again now that the editorial policy of the magazine is immoral and inhuman. It has nothing to do with freedom of speech ― neither directly nor indirectly," Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram account.

He added that the assassination of Ambassador Andrei Karlov and Tu-154 crash "were taken as personal grief by millions of Russians and our friends across the world," while the magazine "mocks our national tragedy."

French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo published several caricatures connected with Russia in its latest issue. The last issue of this year that has hit the shops today contains caricatures of the Russian Defense Ministry's Tu-154 plane crash in Sochi and of the assassination of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov.

This is not the first time that Charlie Hebdo has published controversial caricatures connected with Russia. In November 2015, the magazine published drawings on the Russian Kogalymavia's A321 plane crash in Egypt that killed 224 people. The caricature drew sharp criticism from Russia. Reacting to the emerging debate on the matter, the French Foreign Ministry said that the country's leadership has nothing to do with the activities of the magazine and that the employees of the weekly are free to express their own opinions. In October 2016, the magazine published caricatures of the opening of the Russian Orthodox Cultural Center in Paris.