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Kremlin spokesman says no evidence of retaliation against gay people in Chechnya

At a meeting with Russian president Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov said that any threats to journalists for publications about the situation in his republic were ruled out, Peskov added

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Reports about the retaliation against gay people in Chechnya have not been confirmed, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

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Ramzan Kadyrov: “…And I really mean it!”

He added that law enforcement agencies and Human Rights Ombudsperson Tatyana Moskalkova had been conducting a probe into these reports.

"We have not yet received evidence to prove these allegations," Peskov said.

At a meeting with Russian president Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov said that any threats to journalists for publications about the situation in his republic were ruled out, Peskov told the media.

He said Kadyrov pointed out that the public opinion in Chechnya was "very irreconcilable" to slander in the mass media about alleged persecution for non-traditional sexual orientation.

"At the same time he confirmed there were absolutely no grounds to say that somebody might threaten journalists who write about that or threaten their safety in the republic. This is out of the question," Peskov said.

"The confirmation that everything proceeds within the legal framework, the assurances the Chechen leader made, were naturally approved by the president," he added.

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