"I can be proud if I am not convenient for US special services. In fact, the US cannot forgive me for devoting my life to fighting foreign terrorists; the American special services' proteges were among them. There is peace and stability in Chechnya. And the US sheds blood all over the world!" Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on Instagram.
The United States has imposed sanctions against five Russian nationals including Ramzan Kadyrov under the Magnitsky Act, the US Department of the Treasury said in a release on Wednesday.
"The following individuals have been added to OFAC's SDN List: KADYROV, Ramzan Akhmatovich (a.k.a. KADYROW, Ramzan Achmatowisch); DOB 05 Oct 1976; POB Tsentoroi, Chechen Republic, Russia; nationality Russia; Gender Male (individual)," the release said, adding that the measures will take effect upon on December 21.
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The US Treasury claimed that Kadyrov was designated in the list "for being responsible for extrajudicial killing, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against individuals seeking to expose illegal activity carried out by officials of the Government of the Russian Federation."
A Russian senator, Andrei Klimov, told Sputnik that he was surprised to see Kadyrov in the sanctions list as "he was less than anyone else linked to the Magnitsky case."
In 2012, the United States adopted the Magnitsky Act, which was named after Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, imposing sanctions against Russian officials Washington believes are responsible for his death, allegations repeatedly denied by Moscow. In 2015, the US Senate adopted the Global Magnitsky Act, which expands the Russia-specific sanctions over alleged human rights violations and "corruption" to other countries.
In response to the Magnitsky Act, Russia issued its own blacklist that includes US officials linked to human rights violations, some of whom were involved in the construction and maintenance of the infamous detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, sanctions imposed by the Magnitsky Act amounted to an unjustified and politically motivated initiative, after the United States added five Russian individuals to its Specially Designated Nationals list for alleged violations of the legislation, including the Russian Investigative Committee's head.
Magnitsky was a lawyer at the London-based Hermitage Capital Management hedge fund. He was arrested in Moscow in 2008 on charges of tax evasion and later died of heart failure while in prison. An official investigation into his death was closed due to lack of criminal evidence.
