Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, said on Saturday he would ban entry to and freeze any bank accounts of President Barack Obama and top European Union officials for bringing "tragedy" to Ukraine, in a gesture of defiance after being hit by sanctions, according to The Associated Press
After the European Union imposed sanctions over Ukraine that for the first time included the Chechen leader, Kadyrov repeated Russian statements that Washington and Brussels were responsible for plunging Ukraine into turmoil, the AP reported.
The president of the small Russian republic that was the scene of two devastating separatist wars in the past 20 years on Saturday said he was placing Obama on a list of people banned from visiting, the AP reported.
Also on the list are European Union figures Jose Manuel Barroso, Herbert Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton, according to the AP.
Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram account Saturday that the ban is in response to U.S. and EU actions in Ukraine, Libya, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, which he called "state terrorism," the AP reported. Kadyrov was a separatist rebel in the first Chechen war, but switched sides in the second.
"The whole world has witnessed the tragedy of Libyan, Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan nations. And the Ukrainian one recently," Kadyrov said on his Instagram feed, according to the AP. "Under the pretext of exporting democracy, civilians are being killed in these countries and cities and religious ties are being destroyed. The United States and the European Union bear direct responsibility for all that is happening."
Washington and Brussels have stepped up sanctions on officials close to Putin and accuse Russia of supporting rebels fighting Kiev troops in eastern Ukraine, the AP reported.
Moscow denies arming or financing the rebels and says the West is guilty of encouraging Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to press ahead with a military campaign against the rebels in the Russian-speaking east, according to the AP.
Kadyrov said that as well as Obama, the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and European Council head Herman van Rompuy were banned from traveling to Chechnya as of Sunday, the AP reported.
