Although it’s undeniably happening, as 26 gay people to date have been brutally murdered and over 100 others detained in a concentration camp against their will, often with the aid of their families, Chechnya’s head Ramzan Kadyrov says the ongoing gay purge is merely a “distraction”.

He claims the purge has been cooked up by European press and fed to Europe’s biggest leaders. Instead, he writes on social media, they should focus on their own issues. “It’s funny that the European community is not interested in the war in the East, global warming or problems in their own countries,” Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram, an unpopular social media platform. “But the tales of the Chechen Republic are very, very attractive.”

“The media, both Russian and foreign, are confused,” he continued, throwing accusations at the press of “not understanding where the truth is”. He then invited anyone willing to see for themselves to Chechnya, writing, “Every day in our republic is the Day of Open Doors. Come over. Write the truth.”

The downside to that suggestion, obviously, is the reports of journalists who have valiantly covered the gay purge and who have had to go into hiding due to death threats from local mosques.

“It was like a chain. They get one person, go through his phone, torture him, make him name some others, get those others, and so it goes…” – Anonymous torture victim

The gay purge has been confirmed by both the Russian LGBT Network and Human Rights Watch, whose latest report details politican Magomed Daudov being present during the torture sessions of gay men.

Human Rights Watch spoke to victims who were forced to give up names of other gay men that could then be hunted down and detained. “It was like a chain. They get one person, go through his phone, torture him, make him name some others, get those others, and so it goes…”

Kadyrov challenged German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday to see for themselves what was happening in Chechnya. (In his mind, nothing of import). In the same breath, the diplomat accused the pair “and all who sympathise with them” of generating “pathetic nausea on the side of a stranger.”