Ramzan Kadyrov rages over US sanctions against his mother
Vladimir Putin could soon face the wrath of one of his closest allies after he threatened to cut off funds amid the growing economic pressure the war in Ukraine is fuelling.
Putin is believed to be working on a new government decree ordering eight Moscow-controlled territories to cut the budget deficit if they want the Kremlin to keep funding them.
Among the eight territories is Chechnya, led by Putin loyalist Ramzan Kadyrov – who deployed his troops to Ukraine to support the Russian Army in the war effort.
Kadyrov admitted in the past that Moscow’s handouts were vital to keep the Caucasus republic standing.
Chechnya received an estimated 300 billion rubles in January 2022, the equivalent of $3.4 million (£2.6 million) today.
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Kadyrov said at the time: “I swear to the almighty Allah, we won’t be able to last three months—not even a month.”
But while Russia continues to push forward with its invasion of Ukraine, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has signalled the tap will be shut unless drastic cash-saving measures are taken.
Russia has pledged to invest more in defence next year but last month doubts began to emerge on whether Moscow could hit its revenue targets in 2024.
A miss would leave the Kremlin facing the prospect of increasing business taxes at the same time as the first doubts about the war begin to break through Putin’s well-crafted propaganda machine.
Russian newspaper Kommersant, whose team first reported about the draft decree, said Ingushetia and Dagestan have also been ordered to tighten the gap between income and expenditure.
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The Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – which Putin unilaterally annexed to Russia via a sham referendum – were also named in the paper.
The Finance Ministry said the territories were being specifically targeted because “during two of the last three reporting financial years, it exceeded 40 percent of its own income.”
The Russian newspaper however questioned whether Kadyrov and his Dagestan counterpart, Sergey Melikov, would easily bow to Moscow’s demands.
The governors of the eight territories will have until December 18 to sign an agreement promising to restrict inflation-linked pay rises for public workers and to outline how much income will be collected.
The Government will then be required to apply “disciplinary measures… to government officials whose actions (inaction) led to a violation of these obligations.”
Moscow State University Prof Natalya Zubarevich said: “The Ministry of Finance is trying to restore at least some order.
“This is another attempt, but they cannot cancel the personal subsidyChechnya, which in different years reached from 13 billion to 15 billion rubles.”
The news comes as Kadyrov announced he was ready to send more men to Ukraine to help push back against the advance of Kyiv’s defence forces.
On Tuesday morning, the Chechen leader announced he could send up to 3,000 new fighters to the combat zone.
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