U.S. imposes sanctions on Kadyrov’s foundation and soccer club over rights violations in Chechnya

The United States has imposed Magnitsky Act sanctions on a number of individuals and legal entities linked to Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov, the U.S. Treasury Department announced on Thursday, December 10.

Among the organizations added to the sanctions list are the soccer club FC Akhmat Grozny and the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation (named after the former Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov’s father), as well as the promotion company Absolute Championship Akhmat, the Akhmat MMA fight club, and the company Chechen Mineral Waters. 

Individual sanctions have also been imposed upon several Russian citizens, who the U.S. Treasury Department has linked to Kadyrov.

The United States imposes sanctions under the Magnitsky Act upon individuals and organizations considered responsible for involvement in human rights violations.

Also on December 10, the UK announced sanctions against Chechnya’s “Terek” special forces detachment, as well as the Chechen Interior Ministry’s deputy head, Apty Alaudinov, and former Argun Chief of Police Ayub Katayev. London maintains that they are responsible for violent repressions against LGBTQ+ people in Chechnya.

Magnitsky Act sanctions were imposed on Ramzan Kadyrov in 2017. Washington considers him personally responsible for human rights violations in Russia’s Chechnya. In July 2020, Kadyrov and his family were banned from travelling to the United States.