Chingiz Akhmadov, head of Grozny State Television and Radio Company, admitted that security forces in Chechnya detain people unlawfully and keep them in so-called ‘basements’.
In a dispute with opposition members, Akhmadov acknowledged the use of abductions and basement detentions. His words were circulated on Tuesday by the podcast Svoboda (ne) za gorami (Freedom (not) beyond the mountains), which noted that the audio message had already been deleted.
Akhmadov claimed that ‘the security forces catch atheists and enemies of the homeland’, put them in car boots and basements, and then 'send them to court'.
“We [the security forces], at least, catch them, put them in the boot, the basement, and then send them to court”, Akhmadov said in the audio message.
During the exchange with members of the opposition movement NIYSO, Akhmadov accused them of inaction towards atheists living in Europe. He explained how such people are dealt with in Chechnya and suggested the same should be done to those living outside the region.
These statements prompted a reaction from Chechen blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov, who lives in Sweden and has been designated a foreign agent in Russia. He recalled the numerous people who have disappeared in the republic and demanded that their fate be disclosed. Among those he mentioned were the father and two brothers of Hasan Khalitov, who went missing in 2024 after being summoned to Grozny, and the former police officer Yasin Khalidov, detained in May 2023.
‘I understand that you cannot stand him, that in your eyes he is a traitor, that is all clear. But you keep claiming that Russian legislation applies, that you act strictly within the law […] Where is Yasin Khalidov? Since he was abducted in May 2023, two years and four months have passed, and there has been no information about this man’, Abdurakhmanov stressed.
Akhmadov has repeatedly engaged in disputes with opponents abroad and has publicly supported the actions of the Chechen authorities. In 2023, he justified the beating in a detention facility of Nikita Zhuravel, accused of burning a Quran, and received a flat from Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov in return.
Cases of disappearances in Chechnya are regularly documented by human rights organisations.
The Grozny broadcaster is known for reports in which people deliver public apologies for criticising officials, for ‘sorcery’, or for traffic violations. The channel has also shown women forcibly returned to Chechnya after fleeing domestic violence, presenting them as not needing help from human rights defenders. One such report featured Khalimat Taramova, who fled her family in 2021 due to beatings and threats. Chechen security forces abducted her from a shelter in Daghestan’s capital Makhachkala and returned her to her relatives. Later, Grozny aired a report claiming that she was ‘happy’ to be back with her family. In the same broadcast, Chechen Minister for National Policy Akhmed Dudaev accused human rights defenders of abducting Taramova.
Elizaveta Chukharova
