Chechnya's leader and his security forces have been widely accused by human rights groups of extrajudicial arrests, torture and killings at home. Now they are threatening Chechens who fled abroad, warning they will pay dearly for their criticisms if they ever return home.
In a chilling video that has been watched by 2 million people, Magomed Daudov, the right-hand man of Chechnya's strongman, apparently contacted blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov through WhatsApp, pressuring and threatening him.
Abdurakhmanov's case highlights the growing dangers for those from mostly Muslim Chechnya who try to seek asylum in Europe, where authorities have become increasingly reluctant to allow them in amid terrorism fears and a growing political backlash against all migrants.
In this photo taken on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, the 32-year-old Chechen video blogger, is photographed during an interview with The Associated Press somewhere in Poland. Abdurakhmanov, a critic of the Chechen ruler, faces deportation from Poland as European nations become increasingly wary of sheltering refugees from Chechnya. (AP PhotoFrancesca Ebel)
Abdurakhmanov, who's in danger of being deported from Poland, says he will be killed if he is sent back to Chechnya.
FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016 file photo, Chechen regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov smiles prior to President Vladimir Putin's annual state of the nation address in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. Kadyrov and his security forces have been widely accused by international human rights groups of extrajudicial arrests, torture and killings. (AP PhotoPavel Golovkin, file)
In this photo taken on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, the 32-year-old Chechen video blogger, is photographed during an interview with The Associated Press somewhere in Poland. Abdurakhmanov, a critic of the Chechen ruler, faces deportation from Poland as European nations become increasingly wary of sheltering refugees from Chechnya. (AP PhotoFrancesca Ebel)
FILE - In this Saturday, May 16, 2015 file photo, head of the Chechen leader's administration Magomed Daudov attends a wedding registry office in Chechnya's provincial capital Grozny, Russia. Magomed Daudov, the right-hand man of the provincial leader Ramzan Kadyrov, is one the most feared men in the Russian province of Chechnya. (AP PhotoFile)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will skip a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the leading rich and developing nations that starts on Thursday after criticizing host South Africa's policies as anti-American.
Instead, Rubio was headed back to the United States on Wednesday from his first trip to the Middle East as America’s chief diplomat, and after leading a U.S. delegation in talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia over the war in Ukraine.
Rubio spoke with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the European Union's foreign policy chief to brief them immediately after Tuesday's meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the State Department said.
Top European diplomats, as well as Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are all expected at the Group of 20 meeting in Johannesburg while the U.S. will be represented by a lower-level delegation.
A G20 meeting would normally be an opportunity for a U.S. secretary of state to push for support on U.S. positions, especially at the start of a new administration.
Analysts say Rubio's absence reflects the Trump administration's indifference to organizations promoting international cooperation, but Rubio has also directly rejected South Africa's priorities for its G20 presidency. The hosts have picked “solidarity, equality, sustainability” as the theme of the G20 this year.
South Africa, the first African nation to hold the group's presidency, says it will try to advance the interests of poor countries, especially with debt refinancing and helping them mitigate the impacts of climate change, where the developing world is asking rich countries to pay more.
Rubio posted on X this month that he would also not attend the main G20 summit in Johannesburg in November, saying South Africa was using the gathering to promote diversity, equality and inclusion frameworks, "In other words: DEI and climate change."
“My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism,” Rubio wrote.
Rubio's decision to skip the G20 meeting also underscores a major deterioration in U.S. relations with South Africa, one of its key trade partners in Africa.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month stopping U.S. aid and assistance to South Africa over a land law that he says discriminates against some of the country's white minority. The order also called South Africa's foreign policy anti-American and criticized its ongoing case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza at the United Nations' top court, and what it said was the country's closeness to the Communist Party in China.
South Africa is due to hand over the presidency of the G20 to the U.S. at the end of this year, and the two countries are expected to work together under G20 protocols.
South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said on Wednesday that the U.S. would be represented in Johannesburg this week “in one form or shape or another” and stressed that Rubio's decision was “not a complete boycott of South Africa's G20” by the U.S.
Analysts in Africa say they still see a way for the G20 to make progress under South Africa's presidency, even with limited U.S. interest. The EU, Russia and China have expressed support for South Africa's G20 leadership.
“No one wants to be on the wrong side of the United States," said Oscar van Heerden, senior researcher at the University of Johannesburg’s Centre of African Diplomacy and Leadership. “But I think everyone also realizes that what drives the foreign policy of the United States is not necessarily what drives the foreign policy of the European Union or the other members of the G20.”
European allies have their own concerns over future cooperation with the Trump administration after they were sidelined by its move to hold bilateral talks this week with Russia.
"Multilateralism is under threat right now,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in South Africa, “We also need to use this opportunity to develop the international system further to be more inclusive for all countries in the world.”
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg and Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, contributed to this report.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio disembarks from an aircraft, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff attend an interview after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
A G20 poster calling for Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability adorns the site where the foreign ministers meeting of the G20 will take place without The U.S. Secretary of State Feb. 20 and 21, 2025, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends an interview after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, , U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)