The Treasury Department on Wednesday announced it had sanctioned the head of the Chechen Republic, in addition to four other individuals, for human rights abuses under the Magnitsky Act.

The department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov was responsible for torture, extrajudicial killing and other violations of international law.

Ayub Kataev, Yulia Mayorova, Andrei Pavlov and Alexei Sheshenya were also among those targeted by the sanctions.

Kadyrov is considered an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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“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,” OFAC Director John Smith said in a statement.

The Magnitsky Act is aimed at sanctioning Russians for human rights abuses and has been a subject of focus in the congressional and federal probes into alleged ties between the Trump administration and Russian meddling in the presidential election.

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