Chechen president threatens to stop TV

GROZNY, Russia, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Television stations in Chechnya face being shut down unless they offer basic Islamic language courses.

Ramzan Kadyrov, who was elected as Chechnya's president when he was 30 years old after his father's assassination in February 2007, claims that failing to offer such TV courses could lead the Chechen youth to be persuaded by fundamentalist Islamic groups, the Moscow Times reported Friday.

The courses would "help to keep young people away from the destructive influence of various cults of Wahhabism and of other movements," Kadyrov reportedly said.

Wahhabism is a term used in the North Caucasus in reference to radical Islam.

Since the 1990s, when fundamental Islam beliefs spread through Chechnya, Kadyrov worked against its principals, but has incorporated some of its follower's beliefs into Chechen laws, such as placing limitations on alcohol and gambling, the report said.