Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has now published a second video in which he appears together with a blogger parodying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Once again, Kadyrov is portrayed as a powerful leader and Zelensky as a capitulated weakling. There are also allusions to drug-taking.
In the new footage, Zelensky, with his nose soiled with white powder and in handcuffs, is led before Kadyrov. He asks him to join the Achmat battalion as a ‘sentry’. The Chechen refuses and says that “NATO recruits’ people like you. Go there with your white flour, that’s where you belong, traitors,” says Kadyrov.
Kadyrov then tells “Zelensky” to say “Akhmat is strength” and “Glory to Russia”. After all this, ‘Zelensky’ is led away, still asking “and will there be flour?”. Then the words “there will be no more flour, Zelia” appear on the screen.
The ‘flour’ theme is, of course, a reference to Russian propaganda material that Volodymyr Zelensky was taking drugs. The footage and photographs were pasted with, among other things, powder, or the Ukrainian president’s face was altered to look as if he was ‘under the influence.’
Medusa points out that the use of the word ‘flour’ may also refer to Ukrainian grain – Kyiv accuses Russia of stealing grain from occupied territories and obstructing exports by sea.
This is most likely not the last ‘Zelensky’ video made by comedians. Max Kamikaze, playing the role of the Ukrainian president, announced “two more episodes” after the publication of the first video.
Kadyrov is one of the biggest supporters of the invasion of Ukraine. He has repeatedly published threats against the Ukrainian authorities and army, as well as NATO states including Poland, and constantly praises the Chechen soldiers who are fighting on the frontline. The ‘Kadyrovists’ themselves are also active on social media, with some calling them a ‘TikTok troop’. Among other things, they publish footage of them shelling empty buildings.