The head of Chechnya promised to burn Akhmed Zakayev, who lives in Great Britain. Kadyrov said that Zakayev promised to return to Chechnya but did not keep his word.

At the end of January, after Zakayev's appeal in support of those killed by the security forces in Qatar-Yurt, the State Duma deputy from Chechnya Shamsail Saraliev demanded Zakayev’s extradition. In March, investigators in Chechnya opened a criminal case against Zakayev under the article on justifying terrorism. Great Britain has already refused to extradite Zakayev, who has been granted political asylum, and is unlikely to agree to extradition on charges of justifying terrorism, a claim that is dubious for the British legal system.

On January 20, Ramzan Kadyrov announced the murder of a group of militants led by Aslan Byutukayev in Qatar-Yurt. Byutukaev was a prominent figure in the Caucasus Emirate terrorist movement, but on June 12, 2015, as the commander of the Riyad al-Salihiin suicide battalion, he took the oath to the leader of the Islamic State on behalf of all Chechen militants. According to security officials, Byutukaev was involved in the terrorist attack at Domodedovo airport in 2011 and the attack of Chechen militants on Grozny on December 4, 2014.

Kadyrov accused Zakayev of not keeping his promise to return to Chechnya with his comrades.

He also called Zakayev a traitor, citing the opinion of Aslan Maskhadov.

Then Kadyrov said that he was not going to kill his critics, who "receive political asylum in different countries" after the threats. "We need you alive, healthy. We will bring you home and bring you to your knees in front of people. Do not die yet, beware of the coronavirus there," he said.

Akhmed Zakayev was a participant of the first and second Chechen wars, special representative of Aslan Maskhadov in the West (2001) and Prime Minister of Ichkeria (2007-2009). He was put on the international wanted list on terrorism charges and received political asylum in the UK. In February 2009, Ramzan Kadyrov invited Zakayev to return to Chechnya. On February 6, Chechen State Duma deputy Adam Delimkhanov indicated that attempts to extradite Zakayev would continue despite UK refusals. "We are not going to retreat and believe that he must be judged to the fullest extent of the law, therefore we call on European organisations to assist in extraditing the criminal. He must be held accountable for publicly supporting the militants and promoting terrorist actions in the Russian Federation," Delimkhanov said on February 6.

The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria is an unrecognised separatist state entity (1991-2000), created after the collapse of the USSR on part of the territory of the former Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and liquidated by federal troops during the second Chechen campaign. The authorities of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria should not be confused with the organisation "Congress of the Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan" banned by the Russian court, which has been recognised as a terrorist.