Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov informed about the return to Grozny of his horse Zazu – since 2014 the stallion has been kept in a Czech stable, since he was included in the list of property of the head of the region, frozen under anti-Russian sanctions. According to Kadyrov, he did not pay a ransom to Ukrainian special services for a horse they allegedly stole in the Czech Republic.
In early March, Czech authorities reported that a 16-year-old thoroughbred English stallion named Zazu had been kidnapped from a stable in the village of Krabcice, at a cost of around 400,000 crowns (around €17,000).
Police say that on the night of March 4, the attacker removed a safety chain with a rifle from the sliding stable door and took the horse away. The publication Jezdci.cz noted that the stolen horse belongs to the leader of Chechnya. This information was confirmed by the press officer of the Czech Ministry of Finance Mikaela Lagronova.
On May 15, the head of Chechnya said that at the beginning of the year, representatives of Ukrainian special services approached him through intermediaries, who offered to buy Zaza for $18,000 .
“They knew my attachment to the horse and lost nothing: of course, I accepted. To be honest, I thought that Zazu would be handed over one way or another officially, with the lifting of the sanctions of his share, etc. But it turned out that the secret services had a daring plan: they simply staged his theft from a stable in the Czech Republic in collusion with the Czech police,” he wrote.
Kadyrov noted that the ransom listed for the stallion – $18,000 – is the amount at which Czech law enforcement assessed his horse.
“So, my friends, if you need to bring something from Europe, contact the Ukrainian special services. Quickly, professionally, inexpensively, bypassing sanctions,” the region’s head quips.
As a result, according to Kadyrov, “his people” would have “simply taken the horse without returning the money”.
“At the last moment of the transfer of the horse to the border, the Ukrainian side either devised something out of the plan or did not share anything between them. While the representatives of the special services of Ukraine settled relations with each other in the presence of my people, the latter simply took the horse without returning the money. And they did it well! SBU horse thieves are great, but negotiators are not,” he wrote on May 17 on his Telegram channel.
The Chechnya leader also noted that Zazu “was one of the best horses, a true champion, the best of the best”, but Western politicians ruined the horse’s career by banning him from competing due to the sanctions.
“Of course he still has a pedigree, a subtle, majestic grace to become a purebred, but my poor Zazu will no longer become a champion,” Kadyrov said.
He added that a “professional look” shows that the animal has not been well cared for and spared on its maintenance: “The tread is no longer the same, the sides and back do not shine and do not don’t play in the light. And these are only the first visible signs that are not related to the age of the horse. Penalties are penalties, but why should the animal suffer, Europe?
The head of the republic added that the veterinarians would now take care of Zazu and that he could live “a happy life as a horse in good conditions”.
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