Experts on Caucasus treat links of LGBT activists with Chechen militants as absurd

The version of Chechen law enforcers that LGBT people, Salekh Magamadov, and his underage brother supplied militants, who treat same-sex relations as a sin, is unrealistic, Alexei Malashenko believes. The resonant detention of Chechen residents in another region has forced authorities to fabricate a case, but by doing so they equated LGBT people to terrorists, said Mikhail Roschin, an Orientalist.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that law enforcers had convoyed two natives of Chechnya from Nizhniy Novgorod to Chechnya. In February, the Chechen Supreme Court (SC) upheld the decision to arrest the brothers for two months.

According to Alexei Malashenko, an Orientalist, the version of Chechen authorities is illogical. "I've never heard LGBT people and IS** militants cooperating," he has explained.

Chechen authorities are negative to the people whom they treat as their opponents – to those who are treated as militants or homosexuals, Mr Malashenko has added.

Mikhail Roschin, his colleague, has also pointed to the geographical inconsistency. "It's very doubtful that people from Nizhniy Novgorod could help Butukaev's grouping in Chechnya," he said, noting that these young people belong to a generation that is not ready to live under Kadyrov's regime.

**The "Islamic State" (IS) is recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia.