GROZNY, May 16. /TASS/: US sanctions against Chechnya's Terek Special Rapid Response Team mean that the United States is afraid of Chechnya, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Thursday.
The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) earlier added Chechnya's Terek Special Rapid Response Team and five Russian nationals, including Terek's commander Abuzayed Vismuradov, to the Magnitsky Act.
"If they discuss the issues of Terek and commander Abuzayed Vismuradov at the highest level in the US, then this represents convincing evidence that the US is afraid of us - small Chechnya, which is located so far from big America. This means we are on the right path, that are acting efficiently, effectively, promptly. The leadership [of Chechnya] made a unanimous decision to ask the US to add every single one of us to the sanctions list," Kadyrov wrote on his official Telegram account.
Abuzayed Vismuradov, who was added to the US sanctions list, said he considers it an honor. "If this list consists of America's enemies, then I consider it an honor to be part of it. I have long been among those on whom their ridiculous sanctions had been imposed. For me, this represents recognition by the US authorities that I am a true patriot of Russia, a Muslim, a Chechen. Being added to this list is one of the happiest moments of my life," Vismuradov wrote on his official Instagram account.
