The hard-line Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, is notorious for his authoritarianism, on which he has based his 18-year local hegemony. The other \u201cpillar\u201d is the support he provides obediently to the Russian president and his political benefactor, Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In reality, the relationship between the two men resembles that of \u201cpatron-client\u201d. On the one hand, the Kremlin maintains the Muslim political dynasty of the Kadyrovs in power in Grozny as a mechanism for suppressing the Salafist separatists of the North Caucasus, the soft underbelly of Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Kadyrovs manage Chechnya as their family \u201cfiefdom\u201d. However, it remains \u201con loan\u201d. That said, Adam Kadyrov\u2019s meteoric rise began amid the war in Ukraine, a flurry of rumors about his father\u2019s health, and a hazy landscape in relations between Moscow and Grozny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2023, shortly before his 16th birthday, he was appointed head of security for the Chechen leader and his father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was even listed in the Russian \u201cBook of Records\u201d as the youngest person to hold such a position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since then, he has also been appointed administrator of the Chechen Special Forces University, where \u201cvolunteers\u201d are trained for the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has held positions as the supervisor of two battalions and, since early April, in the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs, responsible for security forces, counterterrorism, and \u201criot control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few days ago he was also appointed secretary of the Chechen Security Council. Now, however, he has started to get annoying\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe kingdom is a family affair\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Even for the Kremlin \u2013 or especially for it \u2013 Adam Kadyrov has been a controversial figure, since his early teens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The third of six sons born to the Chechen leader by his three wives (he also has six daughters), he is presented in Grozny as a brave young man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His father claims that Adam, although a minor, fought on the fronts of Ukraine. Legend has it that he captured a Ukrainian soldier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was, however, another Ukrainian who initially made him famous, when he first appeared on the scene in September 2023 as a \u201cmacho\u201d quasi-heir to the Kadyrov political dynasty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was made through a video on social media, posted by his father, of the then 15-year-old Adam beating a 19-year-old Ukrainian, who was being held in Grozny on charges of burning the Quran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, 17-year-old Adam holds almost as many honorary distinctions as his years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He is considered one of the holders of the most in all of Russia – in Chechnya he is even praised as an “excellent ambulance driver”\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Practically because of “dad”, he has an entire collection of awards, medals and decorations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And not only from Chechnya, where it is an open secret that in the total of six posts he holds, he essentially plays a decorative role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many decorations have been awarded to him by other states of the Russian Federation. But his grace has now reached the Arab world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Caucasian \u201cscythe\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Last February, Ramzan Kadyrov proudly announced on his Telegram channel that his son Adam had received the Medal of Honorary Guest of Libya, as well as a seat on the Chechen branch of the Arab Arbitration Court, during an official visit to Egypt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Responsible for resolving trade, economic and investment disputes between legal entities at the interstate level, it was established four years ago by the Council of Arab Economic Unity, one of the most important economic bodies of the Arab League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the Chechen leader, the distinction of his son and his intended successor shows \u201ca high level of trust and recognition for his contribution to the development of international cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the independent Russian investigative journalism website Vazhnyye Istorii (based in Latvia), however, there is a rich background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Citing current and former officers of Russia\u2019s Federal Security Service (FSB), a journalist in the North Caucasus, and human rights activists, it reports that Ramzan Kadyrov is secretly negotiating from the Kremlin \u201cwith representatives of Muslim monarchies in the Middle East regarding the future of his assets and the safety of his family members.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amidst his deteriorating health, the Chechen leader is said to have sought \u201cguarantees\u201d from Muslim countries in the Middle East \u201cwith whose leaders he maintains long-standing friendly relations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Chechen leader “knows well how power works in his region,” the Russian media writes, “and what can await his family members” in the event that he himself is no longer in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disastrous relationships<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ramzan Kadyrov has already removed members of his family from many government posts in Grozny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the scenarios that he is preparing the teenager Adam as his successor, he is far from the age of 30 – like the other Kadyrov sons – which is the legal minimum for someone to take over as head of the Chechen Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The scenario of finding someone “chosen” to keep the position “warm” in the meantime – as had happened until 2007, especially for Ramzan Kadyrov – no longer seems likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rumors about the poor health of the current leader of Chechnya are said to have already sparked an underground power struggle in Grozny, even raising fears of civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the Kremlin is not going to let the situation get out of hand, the FSB revelation of Ramzan Kadyrov\u2019s behind-the-scenes contacts has led to a deterioration in his relations with Russian President Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fact that – after a long absence from the spotlight – the Chechen leader appeared in the Kremlin shortly after mid-April, participating outside diplomatic protocol in Putin\u2019s meeting with the Emir of Qatar, did little to quell the rumors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But in this role, Kadyrov is not considered irreplaceable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The hard-line Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, is notorious for his authoritarianism, on which he has based his 18-year local hegemony. The other \u201cpillar\u201d is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[821,390],"tags":[1975,6845,6844,6843,58],"class_list":["post-23987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia","category-politics","tag-caucasus","tag-chechnya","tag-grozny","tag-ramzan-kadyrov","tag-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23989,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23987\/revisions\/23989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}