Chechnya leader's aides laugh off sauna sex video

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.

Indeed, so concerned is he to uphold the honour of Chechnya's women that he was recently reported to have issued an order for women's mobile phones to be monitored to ensure that young wives are not in contact with ex-boyfriends.

The offending sauna footage was shot on a mobile phone and first appeared on a Chechen rebel website.

The rebels regard Ramzan as a 'phoney Muslim' who is trying to hijack their religious beliefs to quell separatist sentiment.

Anna Politkovskaya, a veteran Russian reporter who specialises in Chechnya, has added credibility to the clip's authenticity by claiming that she, too, has been sent video footage of a man identical in appearance to Ramzan.

Her claims go beyond debauched infidelity.

"On them (the clips)," she told a website, "were the murders of federal servicemen by Kadyrovtsy (Ramzan's private army), and also kidnappings directed by Kadyrov.

These are very serious things; on the basis of them, a criminal case and investigation should follow.

This could allow this person to be brought to justice, something he has long richly deserved." However Ramzan has become too powerful for the Kremlin to remove easily and is expected in time to become the republic's president, a job his father did before he was assassinated.

Yesterday he was back on state TV - ironically he was talking about a beauty contest he is organising for 200 Chechen girls.

- INDEPENDENT