MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. Chechnya’s head Ramzan Kadyrov lives in constant danger, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at his annual news conference in Moscow on Thursday.
"The incumbent [Chechen] president’s life is in danger every day," Putin noted. "Besides, he personally takes part in various combat operations," he added.
When explaining his reasons for awarding the Hero of Russia title to Ramzan Kadyrov, Putin said that one day, he had received a FSB report about an operation to eradicate an illegal armed group. "I said: ‘Nominate your people for state awards.’ And he [FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov] responded: ‘We didn’t do it, it was Kadyrov and his people.’ I pointed out that I had prohibited him from doing it but he cannot be stopped, he still continues walking into the line of fire," Putin pointed out. "I don’t sign decrees awarding the Hero of Russia title for no reason," he noted.
The Russian leader emphasized the Ramzan Kadyrov’s father Akhmat Kadyrov "came to me himself but he did not come to surrender." "He came to build relations with Russia," Putin said. According to him, Akhmat Kadyrov said then that he had thought it would be better for Chechnya to build a union with Muslim countries but he came to realize later that it was not so because they sought to impose their will on Chechnya. And since Russia never suppressed religious freedom in Chechnya and the Chechen people’s way of life, the choice was clear for Kadyrov, Putin noted. "He made his own choice. And you know what happened to him: he was killed by terrorists. What did he die for? For Chechnya, the Chechen people and Russia," Putin emphasized.