Putin’s foot soldier stands up for Islam

RUSSIA: The warlord of Chechnya, who calls himself ‘‘Putin’s foot-soldier’’, has unnerved the Kremlin by reinventing himself as a leading advocate of Muslim causes on the world stage.

Ramzan Kadyrov, 40, clashed with the Russian government this month after organising a protest of hundreds of thousands of people in Grozny, the capital of his semiautonomous Russian region, against the treatment of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. That followed a prominent demonstration in Moscow.

Kadyrov harshly condemned Myanmar brutality, saying that he would like to drop a nuclear bomb on the perpetrators of violence.

‘‘If even Russia is going to support the devils who are today committing crimes, then I’m against the position of Russia, because I have my own perspective, my own position,’’ he said.

Alexei Malashenko, one of Russia’s leading experts on Islam and the North Caucasus, called Kadyrov’s initiative a ‘‘nasty surprise’’ for the Kremlin.

The Russian government has taken a cautious approach on Myanmar, blocking a UN Security Council statement in March that would have condemned the mass killings and rapes of Rohingya Muslims. Kadyrov’s intervention runs the risk of spoiling ties with Myanmar, a major buyer of Russian fighter aircraft and other weaponry.

Leaders of the Russian Federation’s 83 regions rarely dabble in external relations. The Chechen leader, however, has struck up his own contacts with leaders in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Bahrain. In July he said he was ready to go to Jerusalem to guard the al-Aqsa Mosque ‘‘for the rest of my life’’ after Israeli authorities restricted access to Temple Mount. - The Times