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The head of Russia's Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov on Friday imposed local sanctions on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after the latter blacklisted Kadyrov and his family.
"I announce that Pompeo will be included in all the sanctions that we have in the Republic, up to the blocking of all his bank accounts," Kadyrov said at a televised meeting with members of the Chechen government.
Kadyrov said he does not understand why the United States blacklisted his daughters and wife as well, as they are not involved in any politics.
Pompeo said in a statement Monday that the U.S. Department of State blacklisted Kadyrov for his "involvement in gross violations of human rights in the Chechen Republic," including torture and extrajudicial killings.
Kadyrov has retorted by posting on social networks his photo with two machine guns, signed "Pompeo, we accept the fight!"
On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called the U.S. sanctions against Kadyrov an attempt to justify the allocation of budgetary funds to the State Department to pay a multitude of experts who seek out negative information about Russia.
(XINHUA)
