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West supporting insurgents: Chechnya

MOSCOW: The leader of Russia's volatile southern region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, on Sunday accused the West of backing insurgents who are waging a violent campaign against his Moscow-backed government.

"The war on the territory of the Chechen Republic is being carried out with the support of the West against the sovereignty of the Russian state," Kadyrov said in an interview with the Vesti-24 television channel. Referring to the insurgents, he said "They are not just kids who decided to go to war and became the 'Universal Soldier.' These are well-prepared people. They are supported by the West. Everybody knows this." Kadyrov was apparently alluding to the 1992 Jean-Claude Van Damme science-fiction action film "Universal Soldier."

"We are not afraid of the West, of America. We can bring order to any region of Russia ourselves," he declared. Kadyrov is a controversial figure who has been accused by human rights groups of using brutal tactics to suppress the insurgency and of running Chechnya as a personal fiefdom. afp

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