I would even (not literally) go to battle for Putin: Ramzan Kadyrov.Image: www.imago-images.de
In Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the world is watching Vladimir Putin. But behind the Kremlin chief is a prominent henchman. And according to Ukrainian information, he is in a coma.
September 15, 2023, 9:28 pm
Marianne Max, Patrick Diekmann / t-online
An article by
Ramzan Kadyrov earned the nickname “Putin’s Hound” even before Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine began. The Chechen leader is considered extremely brutal and at the same time, as Prime Minister of Vladimir Putin’s Chechnya, he pacified the Russian Caucasian Republic – he is loyally on the side of the Kremlin chief.
But now the Ukrainian secret services report that Kadyrov is in a coma and that his health is critical. These reports cannot be verified. But it would be a serious setback for Putin if he lost one of his most loyal henchmen.
Who is the man so loyal to Putin?
Head for the grace of Putin
Ramzan Kadyrov is the president of the Russian republic of Chechnya. His father, Akhmat, was appointed head of Chechnya by Putin – as a reward for turning his back on his army in the second Chechen war in 1999 and instead fighting on the Russian side. In the ten-year war, which claimed many victims among the civilian population, he conquered the region that was previously considered independent.
In gratitude, Vladimir Putin brought Akhmat Kadyrov to power until he was assassinated by Islamic rebels in 2004. Alu Alkhanov then officially assumed the role of president. Unofficially, however, Kadyrov’s son Ramzan had long been in charge. In 2007, at age 30, he officially followed in his father’s footsteps. In 2021, he would have achieved an election result of 99.6 percent. However, human rights activists criticize the fact that legitimate and free elections have not been held in Chechnya for a long time.
Pomp and ostentation through our own foundation
In addition to electoral manipulation, Kadyrov apparently does not shy away from other crimes: the suspicion is that Kadyrov is financing his luxurious lifestyle through corruption. The 45-year-old is the father of a total of 12 children and the husband of two women. Each of them is said to have built a palace in the Chechen capital, Grozny, and, according to media reports, a third serve as the seat of government.
But it is not only in Grozny that Kadyrov must live like a lord. He will also fly regularly to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with his $80 million Airbus, Ukrainska Pravda reports. Photos on social media prove this: he owns a villa in Dubai – on the famous Palm Islands. A journalist asked in 2011 where Kadyrov got the money: “Allah gives. I don’t know,” he replied.
But the truth probably lies elsewhere: as the “Projek” research team and the MBCh communication portal discovered, citizens of Chechnya are obliged to pay mandatory contributions to the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation. With the equivalent of 69 million francs, she was the richest in Russia in 2019.
Kadyrov’s “missing” critics
There is currently no solid evidence of corruption. Because critics, opposition members or journalists who stand in Kadyrov’s way have to fear for their lives. Three examples:
► January 2022: Sarema Musayeva is forcibly abducted by security forces from her apartment in Nizhny Novgorod and taken to the Chechen capital Grozny, the BBC reports. There she is imprisoned for alleged fraud. Dissident Telegram channel “1ADAT” said on Wednesday that Musayeva was currently in hospital because her health had deteriorated enormously in captivity. This information cannot be independently verified.
Musayeva is the mother of Chechen dissident Abubakar Yangulbaev. He now lives abroad and had told the BBC just a month earlier that dozens of his Chechen relatives had disappeared. Kadyrov holds him responsible for founding “1ADAT” together with his brother Ibrahim Yangulbaev. At the beginning of the year, the head of state stated on Telegram that “either prison or an underground location” awaited “the clan”. Yangulbaev takes the threat seriously – and expressed to the BBC his suspicion that Kadyrov wanted to lure the family back to Chechnya by arresting his mother.
► September 2020: “1ADAT” presenter Salman Tepsurkaev “disappears”. A day later, a video appeared on social media showing the 19-year-old being forced to inflict sexual violence on himself. In a second video, he explains that he regrets his statements critical of the regime. As the human rights organization “Amnesty International” reports in its 2021 report on Russia, there has been no trace of Tepsurkaev since then.
Memorial to Anna Politkovskaya, murdered investigative journalist: she was shot in front of her house. Image: imago stock&people
► October 2006: Anna Politkovskaya is shot dead in front of her home in Moscow. The Kremlin-critical journalist from the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta made enemies with reports on serious crimes against human rights in Chechnya. It was only years later that five Chechens were convicted. Who gave the order is unknown.
Murders and “honor crimes” against LGBTQ+ people
Kadyrov is not just taking action against critics: parts of the civilian population in Chechnya also have to fear their ruler – such as members of the LGBTQ+ community or people who are mistaken for such by the police and their families. For example, Kadyrov has repeatedly persecuted, arrested or even killed homosexuals.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) announced in 2018 that there was “overwhelming evidence” of this. In some cases, Kadyrov is even said to have personally tortured those affected, reports the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECHR). In 2019, the human rights organization Amnesty International documented a wave of persecution of LGBTQ+ people, as a result of which at least two people were allegedly tortured to death in a secret prison in Argun. Dozens of others were mistreated.
Troops form a line in front of Ramzan Kadyrov: he portrays himself on social media as Putin’s “hound dog”.Image: imago-images
Veronika Lapina, head of the North Caucasus department of the NGO “Russian LGBT Network”, reported to the “Tagesschau” cases in which Chechen police threatened the families of those affected for so long that they committed “honor crimes” against their homosexual relatives .
The Kremlin, which also discriminates against the LGBTQ+ community, did not act on the reports despite international pressure.
The “Bloodhound” and his “Master”
Why does Kadyrov use so much violence? Political scientist Miriam Katharina Hess of the German Council on Foreign Relations saw this as the only way for “Putin’s hound” to stay on top of Chechnya. “Their only ‘legitimation of power’ is support from Moscow. This also explains his loyalty to Putin personally, because ultimately he owes his political position only to him,” Hess told t-online in April 2022.
On the other hand, the head of the Kremlin is also loyal: he remains silent when the international community demands that he answer for Kadyrov’s bloody acts.
Putin in conversation with Kadyrov: The latter describes the president as “commander in chief”. Image: keystone
On his Telegram channel, Kadyrov always guaranteed his “commander-in-chief” Vladimir Putin full support in the war in Ukraine. Last year he even wanted to take Kiev. “In this way, he successfully presents himself as Putin’s ‘hound’, who is ready to attack as soon as his ‘master’ gives the order,” said political scientist Hess.
At the same time, Kadyrov uses the “intrepid, religious and warm-hearted war hero” narrative on his channel: he entertains his followers with propaganda videos showing his army’s marches in Chechnya and alleged acts of war in Ukraine. The content is often accompanied by traditional Islamic chants. These include recordings showing Kadyrov praying in a mosque or visiting a hospital.
Kadyrov, who describes himself as Muslim and a follower of Sunni Sufism, plays up his faith and tries to reach out to the predominantly Muslim Chechen population. But this theatrics also benefits Putin: he protects himself from the danger that the Arab world will turn against him, Hess explained. Through Islam, which Kadyrov stages in his propaganda, a kind of connection can be created at this point that Putin cannot achieve.
Sources used:
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