Chechen PM in sauna sex scandal [Putin Crony]
belfast telegraph ^ | 03 April 2006 | Andrew Osborn
Posted on 04/03/2006 9:56:32 AM PDT by ncountylee

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1608336/posts

MOSCOW - His public image as a devout Muslim warrior
who frets about the morals of Chechnya's population as
much as he worries about separatist rebels has been
carefully constructed by spin-doctors.

But Chechnya's pro-Moscow Prime Minister Ramzan
Kadyrov has suffered a public relations reversal after
allegedly becoming ensnared in an embarrassing sex
scandal that has made his increasingly loud moral
preaching look rather hollow.

Though the scandal has received little play in the
Russian media, it is potentially embarrassing for
President Vladimir Putin since the Kremlin has chosen
Ramzan as its point man in the strife-torn republic.

Ramzan's aides have laughed off the scandal, which
involves grainy video footage of a man identical in
appearance and voice to Ramzan cavorting in a sauna
with two prostitutes, as a "provocation."

The Chechen government publicly dismissed the clip and
a criminal case into 'defamation of a government
official' has reportedly been opened.

True or not, the footage is damaging for Ramzan, 29,
since he is married with children and has made a name
for himself by criticising the media for broadcasting
"immoral programmes" and by urging Chechen women to
wear headscarves.

In recent months he has made much of his Muslim
credentials by outlawing gambling as a "corrupting
influence," clamping down on alcohol sales, promising
to build the biggest mosque in the region and by
partially introducing Shariah law.
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More about Chechnya at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/Persecution/Chechnya/