It is an incredible alliance dating back to the late 1990s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the brutal wars in Chechnya, Kadyrov’s father, Ahmad, abandoned the fight for the separatists and formed an alliance instead. Putin as he came to power.
It was a grand deal that gave him full power over Chechnya and to exterminate separatist and Islamist fighters as well as enormous wealth. In return for all this power, Putin demanded absolute allegiance: and a promise to remove Chechnya’s autonomy as a living issue for the Russian Federation.
When Ahmad Kadyrov was killed in a trapped car, Ramzan’s son took over the leadership of Chechnya, where he has remained ever since.
As Julius Strauss tells Nosheen Iqbal, Ramzan Kadyrov does not hide his enormous wealth and enjoyment of violence. Now that Russian negotiators have said they are withdrawing their military operation from Kyiv, Kadyrov told his Telegram supporters that he wanted to “finish what he started.”
Photo: Chingis Kondarov / Reuters
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