Chechnya is horrified by stories of gay torture, because it says there are no gays in Chechnya

Chechen state television promised over the weekend to produce a tell-all investigation into reports on the torture of gay men in that Russian republic - not into the question of torture itself, but into how the story saw the light of day.

It said that the existence of gays in Chechnya was “invented by opposition media”.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov on Sunday blamed “so-called human rights organisations” that, he wrote in a social media post, were “using the most unworthy methods, distorting reality, trying to blacken our society, lifestyle, traditions and customs.”

Chechnya has called on the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which first reported on the abuse and killings of gay men there, to recant its article.

“To finish this dangerous conflict between us once and for all, you have to fulfil just three conditions,” wrote Djambulat Umarov, the minister for social politics in the Chechen Republic. “First, you must apologise to the Chechen people for the disgusting nonsense that you spread.” He also demanded that reporters abandon using anonymous sources and stop complaining of threats received from Chechnya.

Elena Milashina, one of two Novaya Gazeta reporters who broke the story, has gone into hiding after threats on her life were sent to her.

Police and other law enforcement under Kadyrov, who fought against the Russian government during Chechnya’s civil war before changing sides, and who was named leader of Chechnya by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2007, have been accused of torture and collective punishment before. But the details of what appear to be the systematic imprisonment and torture of gay men in the republic, who Kadyrov insists do not exist, were particularly hair-raising.