Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechen President, Suggests Boston Bombing Suspects Products Of American Upbringing

Chechen Leader Reacts To Boston Bombing, Suggests Evil Rooted In America

In the wake of a national manhunt for suspects in the Boston bombings, law enforcement have identified Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, brothers with ties to a Russian region near Chechnya. Now Chechnya's pro-Russian president, Ramzan Kadyrov, has spoken out about the suspects' backgrounds.

In a statement on his Instagram, Kadyrov expressed sadness for the victims of the bombings but denied that the brothers have any ties to his region.

"We have previously expressed our condolences to the people of the city and the people of America," Kadyrov wrote in Russian, according to a translation obtained by The Huffington Post.

He also expressed the hope that suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev would be captured alive.

However, any attempt to connect the brothers to Chechnya is in vain, Kadyrov continued. The boys were raised in the United States, and therefore their beliefs were formed there and not in Chechnya, he said.

"It is necessary to seek the roots of evil in America," Kadyrov wrote, according to a translation from Foreign Policy.

The president, who leads a region that in the past has been torn apart by violence and civil wars of its own, added that the fight against terrorism is a global one and said he wished the victims of the events a swift recovery.

In a separate report, this one published in Russian publication Lenta, Kadyrov apparently struck a harsher note, making a vague pronouncement that seemed to blame the suspects' actions on U.S. intelligence. This report has not been confirmed however.

Speaking to reporters Friday, the suspects' uncle Ruslan Tsarni maintained that his nephews' alleged behavior does not reflect the values of Chechnya.

"Chechens are different, Chechens are peaceful people," Tsarni said, adding that the suspects have brought "shame on the entire Chechen ethnicity."

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