Kremlin seeks successor to ‘terminally ill’ Chechen tyrant

Putin disciple Ramzan Kadyrov is deteriorating with pancreatic necrosis, forcing the Kremlin to search for a successor.

Ramzan Kadyrov uploaded a video to social media of him in the gym.

The ruthless leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, is suffering from a potentially fatal health condition that has prompted the Kremlin to search for a successor to hold together the volatile ­region, a Russian opposition media outlet has said.

Kadyrov, a former separatist fighter, has ruled Chechnya on behalf of President Vladimir Putin since 2007, when he turned 30, the minimum age for the post.

Ramzan Kadyrov meets with Vladimir Putin in 2019. Picture: AFP

He has been accused by Russian rights groups and Western countries human rights abuses including personally torturing his critics and ordering a violent purge of LGBTI people in Chechnya. He is also one of the most vocal supporters of Russia’s ­invasion of Ukraine.

Medical sources cited by ­Novaya Gazeta Europe said that Kadyrov, 47, was diagnosed with acute pancreatic necrosis in 2019 but that his condition had deteriorated sharply in recent months. He is believed to have developed severe kidney failure and fluid build-up in his lungs.

Ramzan Kadyrov, centre, and officers of his paramilitary force standing next the body claimed to be that of the Chechen rebel 'president' Abdul-Khalim Saidullayev in 2006.

In an apparent attempt to disprove the report, on Monday Kadyrov’s Telegram channel posted a video of him heading a meeting of officials in Grozny, the Chechen capital. Kadyrov looks gaunt, his speech is slurred and he appears to have trouble moving his body. An ally later published a video of Kadyrov working out in a gym, although it is unclear when it was filmed. Social media users also noted that he was lifting relatively light 7kg and 14kg weights.

Speculation about Kadyrov’s health mounted in February when he failed to attend Putin’s state of the nation address in Moscow, one of the most important events in the Russian political calendar.

Chechen rebels search for Russian snipers in the capital Grozny in 1995.

Opposition critics say that Putin allows Kadyrov to run Chechnya, a region of 1.4 million people, as his personal fiefdom in exchange for maintaining a shaky stability in the mainly Muslim ­republic. Chechnya has had two devastating wars for independence against Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. If Kadyrov were to become incapacitated, analysts say there is the danger that secessionist violence could sweep the land again.

In 2008, Kadyrov, who ­describes himself as Putin’s “footsoldier”, renamed Grozny’s main street in honour of the Russian dictator. “My idol is Putin. I want him to be the president as long as he lives. I love him very much, as a man loves a man,” Kadyrov later told Newsweek.

Chechen officials announced plans last week to rename a district of Grozny as Putinsky.

A medical source at Moscow’s Central Clinic Hospital, where Russian officials are treated, also told Novaya Gazeta Europe that an MRI scan in September had revealed that Kadyrov was suffering from an unspecified new health condition.

A Russian soldier in front of destroyed President's Palace in Grozny in 1995

Another source, this one close to a prominent Chechen MP, said that Kadyrov’s family believed there was little chance of a positive outcome. The source paraphrased the family’s reaction to the results of the MRI scan as: “The leader as we knew him will be gone; (the new) illness will have a serious effect on him. Even if he recovers right now, he’ll no longer be alive or dead.”

Kadyrov came to power after his father, Akhmad, was killed during a terrorist attack in ­Grozny in 2004.

The Chechen leader’s 18-year-old son, also named Akhmad, met Putin in the Kremlin in February following his appointment as Minister for Youth Affairs in Chechnya. It led to speculation that Moscow might be grooming him for power. However, reports say that the Kremlin is likely to appoint Apti Alaudinov, a prominent Chechen battalion commander, as Kadyrov’s immediate successor if he is unable to serve.

Despite the carpet bombing of Chechnya under Putin, officials claimed that 99 per cent of the ­republic voted for him at last month’s rubber-stamp presidential election. Independent analysts later said that about half of all the ballots reported to have been cast for Putin across Russia were fraudulent.

The Times