Facebook says it has blocked the social-media accounts of Ramzan Kadyrov because the Kremlin-backed Chechen leader had become subject to financial and travel sanctions imposed by the U.S. government.

The company said in a statement Thursday it had the "legal obligation" to disable Kadyrov’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram, which it also owns, after the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on December 20 hit the Chechen leader with sanctions.

It was not immediately clear if the social-media network was in the process of disabling accounts of others on the sanction lists.

Facebook declined requests from RFE/RL for further information.

臉書公司說，它關閉了卡德羅夫的賬戶是由于這位得到克里姆林宮支持的車臣領導人是美國政府予以金融和旅行制裁的目標。

臉書在星期四的一份聲明中說，它有關閉卡德羅夫在臉書和以及臉書擁有的Instagram賬戶的法律義務。美國財政部的海外資產辦公室12月20號宣布對車臣領導卡德羅夫制裁。

目前不清楚臉書公司是否也在關閉其他被列入制裁名單者的賬戶。

臉書公司拒絕了自由歐洲電臺和自由電臺的采訪要求。