Deletions from Putin's speech stress Kadyrov's desire to please Muslims

Ramzan Kadyrov has removed the approval of Judaists from Putin's speech so as not to cause discontent among Muslims amid the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, analysts have pointed out.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 29, Vladimir Putin, in his address to the Federal Assembly, listed several religions that are part of the Russian people. The head of Chechnya has censored his words, removing the mentioning of Jews from among the soldiers who "fight for their one common Motherland."

Kadyrov censored Putin's words due to anti-Israeli sentiments among Muslims, says Evgeny Minchenko, the president of the "Minchenko Consulting". "Kadyrov did this so as not to anger supporters of certain beliefs," he has stated.

Alexander Verkhovsky, the head of the SOVA Research Centre*, has also linked the Kadyrov's act with his desire to "remain friendly to significant Muslim groups."

Messrs Minchenko and Verkhovsky believe that Kadyrov's selective quotation of Putin would not receive support from other major officials, unlike the situation with correcting a paragraph in a history textbook.

*On August 17, 2023, the First Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction approved the decision taken earlier in April by the Moscow City Court to liquidate the SOVA Human Rights Centre.