An older picture of Ramzan Kadyrov with his stallion Zazou.Image: Telegram / Kadyrov
Russia
“Do you remember the theft of Zazou, my horse, which suffered for the first time under European sanctions in 2014, was a victim of Western abuse and was locked up in one of the Czech stables for years?” Chechen commander Ramzan Kadyrov writes a long message on Telegram.
Apparently the Putin friend – also known as “Putin’s bloodhound” – has found his Zazou again. And how? He explains this via Telegram and at the same time questions the Ukrainian secret service.
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Zazou was apparently stolen from a stable in the Czech Republic in March. The racehorse has been there since 2014 because it was one of Kadyrov’s assets that was under EU sanctions. Kadyrov was sanctioned in 2014 because of his support for Putin’s illegal annexation of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.
Now the stallion should be back. And who was allegedly responsible for the theft, Kadyrov also freely tells on his Telegram channel. According to him, the Ukrainian secret service stole the horse. Namely, to help Kadyrov.
It is currently not possible to verify whether this story is true, the Ukrainian secret service has at least not yet commented on this matter.
Kadyrov ransoms horse for $18,000
But according to Kadyrov, the story went like this:
At the beginning of the year, representatives of the Ukrainian security services contacted Kadyrov through intermediaries. Allegedly, they offered him to buy Zazou to free him from the sanctions.
Kadyrov writes further:
“To be honest, I thought that somehow Zazou would be officially handed over, with sanctions lifted and things like that. But it turns out that the secret services had a bold plan – they had his theft from a stable in the Czech Republic simply staged in consultation with Czech police officers.”
Kadyrov only had to buy his stallion free. “And it took me… Warning: it cost me $18,000!” In March, this was actually roughly the value that the Czech authorities had estimated for Zazou.
Kadyrow’s Zazou 2013 with the German rider Alexander Pietsch after his victory in Düsseldorf.Image: imago / sport photo service
But Kadyrov has a completely different opinion: “Considering his real world value and fine pedigree, that’s peanuts!”
At the end of his text on Telegram, Kadyrov mocks Ukraine’s secret service. He writes:
“So, friends, if you need to bring something from Europe, contact Ukrainian special services. Fast, professional, inexpensive, without sanctions.”
The Kurds describe themselves as “the largest people without a country”. According to the Federal Agency for Civic Education (BPB), around 24 to 27 million Kurds live in five countries today. 13 million of them in Turkey.
