Chechen leader gives Egypt football star Salah honorary citizenship

24 Jun 2018 / 02:01 H.
    Chechen leader gives Egypt football star Salah honorary citizenship
    Egyptian national team football player and Liverpool's star striker Mohamed Salah (L) poses with head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov during a training at the Akhmat Arena stadium in Grozny on June 10, 2018, ahead of the Russia 2018 World Cup. Egypt's national football team will use the venue as their base camp training site. / AFP / KARIM JAAFAR
    Chechen leader gives Egypt football star Salah honorary citizenship
    TOPSHOT - A Egypt's fan holds a poster showing Egypt's forward Mohamed Salah before the Russia 2018 World Cup Group A football match between Russia and Egypt at the Saint Petersburg Stadium in Saint Petersburg on June 19, 2018. AFP / Giuseppe

Moscow (dpa) - The leader of southern Russia's predominantly Muslim region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has bestowed honorary citizenship upon Egyptian star forward Mohamed Salah, local media reported. The Liverpool star Salah scored Egypt's only goal at the World Cup so far in a 3-1 defeat to hosts Russia. With one game remaining, they have already been eliminated from Group A.
"Salah is an honorary citizen of the Chechen Republic. I signed the decree tonight ... for this great footballer," Kadyrov said in comments carried by the Interfax news agency on Friday. Kadyrov invited the Egyptian national team, which has been training for the World Cup in Chechnya, to play a friendly match against local football team Akhmat Grozny, the report said.
Salah was pictured with Kadyrov when Egypt trained in Grozny for the first time before the tournament started - a controversial action which raised eyebrows given western governments allege Chechen authorities are guilty of various human rights abuses. Kadyrov has denied those abuses and disputed he was using Salah for propaganda purposes. "We don't use this kind of thing for politics," he told the BBC.
"Our enemies are paid to write articles like that. I didn't invite Mohamed Salah or the Egyptian team. They chose us themselves."

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