Kadyrov, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, had been widely believed to have already been on a classified list of U.S. sanctions targets. Until Wednesday, the U.S. had not publicly disclosed his presence on any sanctions list.
The Treasury Department also said it was targeting a Chechen law enforcement official, Ayub Kataev, for alleged involvement in abuses this year against gay men. The United Nations and human rights groups have decried reports that men suspected of homosexuality have been rounded up and tortured in Chechnya and in some instances killed. The newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which first reported the abuses, said the men were held in a secret prison in the town of Argun, where Kataev was the head of the police force. A spokesman for Kadyrov denied the reports and insisted there were no gay people in Chechnya.
"We will continue to use the Magnitsky Act to aggressively target gross violators of human rights in Russia, including individuals responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture and other despicable acts," said John Smith, a top sanctions official at the Treasury Department.
Jessica Stern, executive director of OutRight Action International, an LGBTQ human rights group that has been urging the international community to condemn Chechnya's alleged anti-gay purge and hold those responsible accountable, applauded the sanctions.
"Punishing Kadyrov and Kataev through the Magnitsky Act is the right thing to do," she said in a statement emailed to NBC News. "Of course two people responsible for the arbitrary arrests, mass detention, and torture of gay men should be held accountable."
However, Stern said the sanctions alone are not enough."Both men still walk freely," she said, "but it's an important step." Sky more