It was to be expected that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's entourage would defend him against the implication by journalist Ksenia Sobchak that his orders to raze the homes of the families of Chechen fighters who kill police officers were unconstitutional. Less expected was the number of Russian State Duma deputies who have likewise sought to exonerate Kadyrov, while denouncing what they called Sobchak's failure to understand the nature of the antiterrorism campaign underway in Chechnya.Sobchak raised the issue during Putin's annual press conference, asking him to comment in his capacity as a lawyer on the constitutionality of Kadyrov's demand two weeks earlier for a more intense crackdown on anyone suspected of links to the Islamic insurgency. Sobchak took Kadyrov's words to be "a de facto declaration that the laws of the Russian Federation and the Russian Constitution are not enforced on the territory of the Chechen Republic."
In response, Putin said that, "in Russia, everyone must abide by the laws of the country. No one is considered guilty until he has been sentenced by a court." But he then proceeded to say that "in the overwhelming majority of cases," the relatives of "terrorists" have advance knowledge of their plans. That does not, Putin continued, "give anyone, including the leader of Chechnya, the right to engage in extrajudicial reprisals."
Putin stated that an investigation is underway to establish the identity of the masked men who torched the homes of fighters' relatives. Putin further acknowledged that Kadyrov's "emotional" reaction was understandable in light of police casualties incurred during the fighting, and that it was possibly made in response to the public mood at a mass meeting Kadyrov convened to denounce terrorism. That rally, however, took place on the day after Kadyrov announced that the principle of collective responsibility was to be applied to fighters' relatives.