Kadyrov said he had no reason to "settle the score" with Politkovskaya, as she was "not getting in his way."
Politkovskaya wrote extensively about atrocities committed in Chechnya, accusing a militia led by Kadyrov of a range of abuses. Colleagues and many politicians have linked her murder with her work.
"I don't kill women and I have never killed women," adding that "those people who ordered her killing did it to blacken Kadyrov's name again."
The German daily "Suddeutsche Zeitung" quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin today as saying that Politkvoskaya's articles did not hurt Kadyrov's "political career."
(RIA Novosti, AFP)