Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov has claimed to have tricked Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) into giving him back his horse, Zazu, which he says was ‘stolen’ from him by the SBU in Czechia in 2023.
Kadyrov spoke about how he returned his stallion in an interview with RIA Novosti.
Zazu was included in the list of Kadyrov’s assets frozen in Czechia as part of sanctions against Russia.
He claimed the horse was stolen from stables in the village of Krabčice, Czechia, in March 2023, by unknown individuals. It is unclear why Zazu was in Czechia in the first place.
In May 2023, Kadyrov said that intermediaries acting on his behalf reached an agreement with the SBU on Zazu’s return, promising to pay in cash. According to Kadyrov, the SBU carried out its part of the deal quickly, giving him Zazu back, but no payment was made.
‘They [the SBU] have good relations with Europeans. How they came to terms with Europe, I don’t know. Perhaps they are just talented horse thieves, but we came to an agreement with the SBU very easily’, Kadyrov said.
Kadyrov added that Zazu had been poorly cared for in Europe, but now the stallion is ‘in very good shape’, fully healthy, and already being used for breeding. He also noted that the Akhmat stable complex is acquiring stallions sired by Zazu, including those bred outside Chechnya while the horse was in Europe.
According to the Czech side, Zazu was valued at nearly 400,000 Czech crowns ($19,000). However, Kadyrov stated that Czechia had undervalued his horse, claiming that it was actually worth no less than $10 million.
Kadyrov did not say what Ukraine received in exchange for the stallion. It appears this may have been Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Chechnya.
At the beginning of 2024, Kadyrov openly proposed exchanging captured Ukrainian soldiers held in prisons in his region for the lifting of sanctions on his family members and horses kept in European stables.
Ukrainian authorities have said that Chechen fighters buy captured Ukrainian soldiers from various Russian units, then transfer them to Grozny to exchange for their own men, and also use them as ‘human shields’. Last year, these facts were reported by Petro Yatsenko, a representative of Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
The exact number of Ukrainian prisoners taken to Chechnya has not been named. The Russian Defence Ministry and the Chechen leadership have not commented on the situation with the Ukrainian captives.
Elizaveta Chukharova
