Chechnya is a highly conservative Islamic society in which homophobia is widespread and homosexuality is taboo. Following two separatist armed conflicts in the 1990s—the First Chechen War and the Second Chechen War—Chechnya "became increasingly conservative" under the leadership of President Akhmad Kadyrov and his son Ramzan Kadyrov, who is the head of the Chechen Republic. In Chechnya, as in other southern Russia regions, Russian President Vladimir Putin "has empowered local leaders to enforce their interpretation of traditional Muslim values." Human Rights Watch reported in 2017 that "[i]t is difficult to overstate just how vulnerable LGBT people are in Chechnya, where homophobia is intense and rampant. LGBT people are in danger not only of persecution by the authorities but also of falling victim to 'honour killings' by their own relatives for tarnishing family honor." An activist for the Russian LGBT Network stated that people are sometimes released from prisons due to the authorities knowing that they would be killed by their family. Kadyrov has even argued that there are no gay people in Chechnya and that even if there are any, then "take them to Canada, praise Allah, to cleanse the blood".