The head of Russia's Muslim-majority Chechnyan republic said on Tuesday that French President Emmanuel Macron was encouraging acts of terrorism by justifying cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad as protected by free speech rights.
Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, made the comments after France warned its citizens living or travelling in several Muslim countries to take extra security precautions because of anger over the cartoons.
The row has its roots in a knife attack outside a French school on Oct. 16 in which a man of Chechen origin beheaded Samuel Paty, a teacher who had shown pupils cartoons of Prophet Mohammad.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Kadyrov said Macron was wrong to characterise the display of such cartoons as free speech.
"You are forcing people into terrorism, pushing people towards it, not leaving them any choice, creating the conditions for the growth of extremism in young people's heads. You can boldly call yourself the leader and inspiration of terrorism in your country," Kadyrov wrote, addressing Macron.
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