Yes, thank you very much for your question.
As you know, there have been two wars against Chechnya with the official goal of making it part of the Russian Federation. From a legal point of view, Ramzan Kadyrov's Chechnya is not part of the Russian Federation right now.
Under Vladimir Putin's regime, the human rights situation in Russia is quite terrible. There is media censorship, rigging of elections, violations of freedom of assembly, political prisoners and all the rest. However, in the case of Chechnya and Ramzan Kadyrov, it is as if we were on another planet. It is a medieval regime. People are tortured, murdered or abducted almost every day.
It's important to remember that Mr. Kadyrov's opponents are regularly killed, not only in Chechnya, but also in Moscow, Vienna, Dubai and almost everywhere in the world, because he acts with complete impunity. As we have already said today, Ramzan Kadyrov's relatives organized the murder of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. So it's very important that international action be taken against Mr. Kadyrov and his relatives.
As you know, he is already subject to Canadian sanctions under the Sergei Magnitsky law. He has already been sanctioned by the United States and a number of European Union countries. Sometimes he laughs about it, because he has no bank accounts, no interest or money in the west. Perhaps he's right. However, three months ago, on March 12 of this year, the United States House of Representatives passed resolution H. Res. 156, which mandates the U.S. government to investigate Mr. Kadyrov's assets in countries in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Mr. Kadyrov has many assets in those countries, and he did not laugh when that resolution was adopted.
It is therefore very important that western countries such as Canada talk about Mr. Kadyrov's interests abroad, even if they are not in the west. He has many interests in many countries, and I think the issue must be addressed.