Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov accused three Russian lawmakers of plotting to kill him in a video posted on his Telegram account on Oct. 9 and warned he would call for a "blood feud" if they did not prove their innocence.
"There are witnesses, there are people from whom they tried to commission, whom they asked how much they would take for the order," Kadyrov said in Chechen to other officials from the North Caucasian republic.
Kadyrov named three lawmakers, Bekhan Barakhoyev, Suleiman Kerimov, and Rizvan Kurbanov, from neighboring Dagestan and Ingushetia, as potentially being behind the plot.
The accusation was in relation to a violent incident in September at the Moscow headquarters of Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, in which two people were killed and several others were arrested.
Wildberries' press service said that the fight broke out when Vladislav Bakalchuk, the estranged husband of the company's founder Tatiana Kim (formerly Bakalchuk), tried to "illegally" enter the building with his security guards.
Kim said that Bakalchuk had attempted to seize the offices together with another co-founder, Sergey Anufriev, and former chairman of the board of directors, Vladimir Bakin, Russian independent media outlet Meduza reported.
Several of those involved, including the two who were killed in the incident, come from the North Caucasus. Kadyrov has previously said that he supports Vladislav Bakalchuk's effort to stop the planned merger of Wildberries with another company.
Kadyrov's comments were his first public statements since the business dispute turned deadly.
In a post in Russian accompanying the video, the Chechen leader was less directly accusatory, but said that "if anyone has any complaints against Kadyrovites, they should come to me, as I am the main Kadyrovite." The term is typically used to describe Chechen soldiers fighting under Kadyrov's command.
"Anyone who thinks that it is possible to pit entire nations against each other on domestic grounds is deeply mistaken," Kadyrov said, referring to allegations that Chechens were behind the Wildberries dispute.
"If you have questions for me, then there are no problems. I am waiting!" he concluded.
Abbey Fenbert
