Russia’s Justice Ministry has listed Anzor Maskhadov, the son of Ichkeria’s third president, as a foreign agent.
The ministry updated its register of foreign agents on 28 November.
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria was an independent Chechen state crushed by the Russian Federation over the course of the First and Second Chechen Wars in the 1990s and early 2000s.
In 1997, Aslan Maskhadov, who had previously been a field commander and chief of the general staff of the republic’s armed forces, was elected president of Ichkeria. He was killed in 2005 during an Federal Security Service (FSB) special operation.
In recent years, his son Anzor Maskhadov has repeatedly expressed criticism of the Russian leadership, including over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and documented evidence of violations of Chechens' rights during the Chechen wars. He is currently residing in Norway.
The ministry said it added Anzor Maskhadov to the register for spreading ‘false information’ about the actions of the Russian authorities and armed forces, and for taking part ‘in the activities of an undesirable organisation’ in Russia.
On the same day, the list of ‘foreign agents’ also included the student outlet DOXA, human rights activist Aigul Gimranova-Lyon, journalist and anthropologist Vasilina Orlova, and former deputy head of the presidential administration and Russian presidential candidate Evgeny Savostyanov.
In March, Anzor Maskhadov was added to the register of terrorists and extremists maintained by the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of Russia (Rosfinmonitoring) with a note indicating his ‘involvement in terrorism’.
In July 2022, Maskhadov and Islam Belokiev, the spokesperson of the Chechen Sheikh Mansur Battalion fighting on the Ukrainian side, publicly stated that they were preparing an underground movement among the population of the republic. After that, supporters of the unrecognised Republic of Ichkeria declared jihad on the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, and his regime. The first step towards achieving the goal of ‘de-occupying Ichkeria occupied by Russia’ was described by the battalion as Ukraine’s victory in the war.
Legislative measures restrict ‘foreign agents’ from receiving income and require them to label all publications with a special notice and report on finances and connections.
Nate Ostiller
