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Fashion

28th Feb 2022

Chechen leader wears $1,500 Prada boots to address special forces amid Ukraine conflict

Kieran Galpin

The ‘devil indeed wears Prada’ one commenter said of Ramzan Kadyrov’s choice of footwear

The leader of the Chechen Republic is being simultaneously ridiculed and criticised on social media for addressing the Ukrainian crisis while wearing $1,500 (£1100) Prada boots.

The leader of the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation, Ramzan Kadyrov, was seen wearing the designer boots while announcing his support for Russia and pledging to send Putin 70,000 soldiers. Kadyrov directly addressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urging him to “apologise to Russian President Vladimir Putin to save Kyiv.”

He did all this while wearing $1,500 Prada Monolith boots which are worn by the likes of Bella Hadid, Selena Gomez, and the UK’s very own, Molly-Mae Hague.

Journalist Ragıp Soylu shared the images on Twitter, where he wrote: “Devil indeed wears Prada.”

https://twitter.com/_principi_/status/1498084868395352064

Another person wrote: “Literally how are you one of the most homophobic authorities in the entire world wearing Prada monolith boots????” Echoing previous statements, another wrote: “Torturing gay people while wearing Prada must open a new portal in hell.”

Kadyrov has a past almost as checkered as Putin’s, with most of his public statements being branded as barbaric. For instance, in 2009, Kadyrov said he approved of the “honour killings” of seven women seen to commit adultery, despite supporting polygamy for men.

https://twitter.com/BlondeAdonis_/status/1497747076867760128

Almost a decade later, Kadyrov once again showed his support for “honour killings”, this time for LGBTQ+ people. He said: “If we have [gay] people here, I’m telling you officially their relatives won’t let them be because of our faith, our mentality, customs, traditions. Even if it’s punishable under the law, we would still condone it.”

Kadyrov has also been accused of kidnapping, torture, war crimes, and assassinations – all of which he denies – and has his own private militia, named the “Kadyrovtsy”. It has also been accused of numerous war crimes.

Kadyrov’s support of the Russian invasion was to be expected, as his relationship with Putin is decades old. Though both Kadyrov and his father opposed Russian rule in the early 90s, they switched sides during the second Chechen war in 1999.

While they share a mutual love of martial arts, Putin also values Kadyrov’s political mind – so much so he named him Chechen president in 2007.

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