President Vladimir Putin addressed unrest in Myanmar on Monday following a series of demonstrations in solidarity with the Asian country’s Muslim population.
On the sidelines of the BRICS summit in China Monday, Putin condemned violence in Myanmar, “including violence against Muslims,” and called on its government to seize control of the situation.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who called on Russians to protest in videos posted to social media this week, thanked Putin on Monday for condemning the violence against the Muslim minority.
“I have repeatedly stated that I am our president’s loyal foot soldier, ready to carry out the supreme commander-in-chief’s order of any complexity and to sacrifice my life,” he wrote.
Amid demonstrations in support of the Rohingya this week, Kadyrov had pledged to “oppose Russia’s position” if it “supports the devils who commit crimes” in Myanmar.
The Chechen leader spoke on the second day of spontaneous unsanctioned rallies outside the Myanmar Embassy in Moscow, where authorities detained 20 people.
Kadyrov described the treatment of the Rohingya as a “genocide” in televised remarks to a mass demonstration in the Chechen capital of Grozny on Monday.
The UN estimates nearly 90,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh in less than two weeks.