After French teacher Samuel Paty was murdered by a man of Chechen descent for showing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons in his class, Kadyrov criticized the attack, but also told people to not provoke the religious sentiments of Muslims. He also criticized the French society for provoking Muslims and stated that the country must have a state institution focusing on inter-ethnic and inter-faith relations. After France's President Emmanuel Macron defended Paty's actions under right to free speech, Kadyrov on Instagram accused him of forcing people to resort to terrorism by doing so.