An investigative reporter concerned for her safety flees Russia following threats made by the head of the Chechen Republic

• A Russian journalist was forced to flee the country after officials made public threats against her.
• Ramzan Kadyrov, Head of the Chechen Republic, called her a "terrorist" and demanded her arrest.

An official in the Chechen region of Russia called investigative reporter Elena Milashina a "terrorist" and made public threats against her. Concerned for her safety, the Russian journalist was forced to flee the country in search of refuge.

Ramzan Kadyrov, Head of the Chechen Republic, demanded that Milashina and Igor Kalyapin, head of the Committee Against Torture, be arrested adding that Chechen authorities "always destroy terrorists," according to a Telegram post in late January.

He also accused Milashina, who reports on human rights abuses in Chechnya, of "making money off the subject of the Chechen Republic and the Chechens."

"I take all these threats really, of course, seriously, I understand that the danger is high," Milashina said in a February 4 interview.

At least five reporters at the independent newspaper where Milashina works, Novaya Gazeta, have been killed since 1992. Kadyrov had also denounced the publication and another independent outlet, Dozhd TV, in his post.

Milashina had previously been forced to flee Russia for other coverage including reporting on the gay purge in Chechnya in 2017 and again in 2020.

In another instance, Milashina, alongside a human rights lawyer named Marina Dubrovina, was assaulted in the Chechen capital, Grozny, last year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The committee urged Russian authorities to guarantee Milashina's safety back in February.

"We call on federal authorities in Russia to take threats made by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov against journalist Elena Milashina seriously and hold him and other Chechen officials accountable," CPJ's Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York Gulnoza Said in a February 8 statement.

"Milashina, Novaya Gazeta, and Dozhd TV do the crucial work of shedding light on Chechnya, and should not be hindered, let alone threatened. Russian authorities must ensure Milashina's safe return."