EU Ambassador to Russian Federation calls on investigation into Kadyrov

The video posted on Instagram on Sunday showed Mikhail Kasyanov, a former prime minister turned opposition party leader, with another journalist and critic of President Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Kadyrov, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most loyal allies, stirred fear among Kremlin critics on Monday by releasing a video showing opposition leader Kasyanov in the cross-hairs of a sniper’s rifle. “Those who have failed to understand before will understand now”.

“Kasyanov came to Strasbourg to get cash for the Russian opposition”, said a message on Kadyrov’s Instagram with the video.

Mr Kadyrov has criticised social network Instagram for removing it.

She said the group asked security guards at the restaurant to investigate further, but when they went outside the cameras had disappeared.

“I assess Kadyrov’s move as incitement to murder a state or civil society leader”, Mr Kasyanov, who is chairman of the opposition PARNAS party, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

The video appeared as the anniversary approaches of the February 2015 murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, who was gunned down near the Kremlin.

Kara-Murza claims he was a victim of an Alexander Litvinenko-style poisoning last May, when he was on the point of death before miraculously surviving.

Mr Kasyanov told Sky News’ Moscow Correspondent John Sparks: “This is unacceptable”.

This is not the first time that Kadyrov has courted controversy for his statement or actions.

After Akhmad was killed in a bombing in 2004 Chechen separatists, Ramzan, who led his father’s militia, emerged as the chosen successor in 2007, with strong backing from Putin.

The Law Enforcement System. He should react to threats like this one.

The British Embassy in Russia also chipped in on Tuesday, tweeting that threats “should be strongly condemned by Russian authorities”. “It is a threat against Russians who think differently”.

Mr Kadyrov, 39, has said the idea that he is a suspect in the Nemtsov killing is nonsense.

Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin “does not monitor Kadyrov’s Instagram account” but would look into the matter.

The Chechen strongman ramped up his campaign against Russian opposition leaders last month by calling for them to be prosecuted as traitors and “enemies of the people” who are working to destroy Russia as paid agents of a hostile West.

He was branded “Russia’s disgrace” by Siberian politician Konstantin Senchenko, who later apologised and publicly retracted his comments following a conversation with “representatives of the Chechen people”. Fighters from one of Kadyrov’s battalions were arrested over the murder and opposition activists have alleged that Kadyrov played an active role in the assassination.