Akademik

(1976– )

   The son of Chechnya’s late grand mufti and former president Akhmad Kadyrov, Ramzan Kadyrov rose to prominence as a militia leader in the service of his father. His paramilitaries are popularly known as Kadyrovtsy (Kadyrov’s men), and have been accused of human rights violations within and outside Chechnya, including torture, extrajudicial killings, and other crimes. Vladimir Putin began grooming the younger Kadyrov after his father’s assassination in 2004. When Kadyrov attained the age of 30, the constitutional minimum for leadership of the republic, he replaced Alu Alkhanov as president under a decree issued by Putin. Kadyrov had previously served as Alkhanov’s prime minister; however, the two were bitter political rivals.

   As president, Kadyrov has overseen a period of increasing stability and the return of investment, particularly to the war-torn capital, Grozny. In addition to his role in human rights violations committed by his militia, Kadyrov has also been linked to the murders of rival warlords, the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, and the human rights activist Nataliya Estemirova, as well as illegal sales of Chechen oil and the construction of a vast personality cult. More recently, he has declared that Islamic law should reign in his republic and that the murder of women by their relatives for “loose morals” is socially acceptable.

   See also Counterterrorism.