Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov walks before a meeting of the state council at the Kremlin in Moscow, September 18, 2014.© Maxim Shemetov / Reuters
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has confirmed that a native of his Russian republic was beheaded by the Islamic State group and has called for revenge.
IS on Wednesday released a video in which a Russian-speaking man confesses to spying for Russia and then is shown apparently being beheaded by another Russian-speaking man. The authenticity of the video was not immediately clear.
Kadyrov said Thursday the man was Chechen. In remarks carried by Russian news agencies, he didn't comment on the the "spy" claim but said he didn't believe he had joined the Islamic State group.
The Chechen strongman said: "Those who beheaded our citizen and threaten the security of our state will not live long. We will send them to the next world on a one-way ticket."
In the video, the man identifies himself as Magomed Khasayev and says he was sent to IS-held territories with orders from Russian intelligence to identify fighters who seek to return to the Caucasus region to carry out attacks.
Thousands of Russian citizens from Chechnya, Dagestan and elsewhere have joined the Islamic State group in Syria.