On January 7, Ramzan Kadyrov, the Head of Chechnya, responded to a request by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, urging the US to detain him in a manner similar to the alleged operation against Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela. Kadyrov remarked that Zelenskyy had suggested US authorities should kidnap him, mocking the proposal by saying, "The buffoon is suggesting that the US authorities kidnap me," while adding that Zelenskyy had not even attempted to threaten him personally but instead hinted at watching from a safe distance as others acted on his behalf. He asserted that Zelenskyy lacked the courage to confront him directly and sarcastically referred to himself as Zelenskyy’s "formidable uncle," emphasizing that such indirect appeals reflected cowardice rather than resolve.

Kadyrov noted that Zelenskyy had previously placed him on a wanted list and supported sanctions against him, and now, in his words, was appealing to Washington by implying, "They didn’t help with the weapons, but at least kidnap Ramzan," which he described as humiliating. Calling on Zelenskyy to "try to be a man," Kadyrov emphasized that such statements only exposed attempts to undermine peace efforts, stating, "If you had a shred of manhood, you would understand how humiliating your words and requests sound". He further emphasized that any enemy might enter Chechnya but would not be able to leave, directly addressing Zelenskyy with the question, "Will you take the risk yourself, you expired man?".

Notably, Zelenskyy had previously commented on what he described as a US military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro and stated that Washington should deploy troops to Chechnya to seize Ramzan Kadyrov, adding that "if this is how they treat dictators," then the US allegedly knew what the next step should be. Zelenskyy stated that the operation against Maduro had been carried out swiftly and suggested that a similar action against Kadyrov might influence Vladimir Putin’s thinking, emphasizing that if this was how "dictators can be treated," the United States would know how to proceed.