There is no truth to claims LGBT people are being persecuted in Chechnya, President Ramzan Kadyrov has said. The pro-Putin leader told the BBC that “not one person” in Chechnya has committed human rights violations. His comments come despite months of LGBT Chechens, their loved ones, journalists and diplomats from around the world reporting clear evidence of systemic abuse. Chechnya was condemned by world leaders in 2017 after news of “gay concentration camps” in the republic reached the international press, with urgent questions called in the UK Parliament.