There was an unusual protest this past weekend in Moscow, when several hundred men from Russia’s Caucasus region and various former-Soviet Muslim republics demonstrated outside the embassy of Myanmar.

Chanting “Allahu akbar!” and “Buddhists are terrorists,” they denounced what they called Myanmar’s genocidal treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority - even offering themselves as volunteers to wage “jihad” on behalf of the tens of thousands now affected by the crisis. It was also an explicit challenge to the Kremlin, which has tried to block any outside intervention.

The protesters had no permit either. Yet, as several opposition activists - used to rough treatment for far lesser infringements - noted bitterly, no one was detained. The police were even quite friendly.

PUTIN’S FOOT SOLDIERS

But what made the protest most unusual was its driving force - a man seen as one of Vladimir Putin’s most loyal supporters, Chechnya’s autocratic, bombastic leader Ramzan Kadyrov. He has previously called himself and other Chechens “foot soldiers in Putin’s army” — but now he is openly defying Russia’s foreign policy. And so far at least, he is meeting almost no resistance from a befuddled Moscow: unthinkable by normal Russian political standards. And the next day, Kadyrov turned up the pressure - addressing a massive rally in Grozny, Chechnya’s capital. “If Russia is supporting these shaytans [devils] who are committing crimes, then I’m against Russia’s position,” said Ramzan Kadyrov in an Instagram post.