Chechen Leader Kadyrov Hospitalized With Coronavirus In Moscow

The 43-year-old Kadyrov calls himself the Kremlin's "foot soldier" but is widely thought to enjoy carte blanche from Moscow. Yelena Afonina / TASS

Moscow Times: Chechen Leader Kadyrov Hospitalized With Coronavirus in Moscow – Reports

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been hospitalized in Moscow with a suspected coronavirus infection, Interfax reported Thursday, citing an anonymous source in Moscow's medical services.

Kadyrov, 43, was reportedly flown to the Russian capital Wednesday, a few days after reporting flu-like symptoms, the Baza Telegram channel reported earlier Thursday. Chechen doctors recommended that Kadyrov seek treatment there after his “condition began deteriorating rapidly,” Baza said.

The Telegram channel cited medical data as saying that Kadyrov has been diagnosed with lung damage and a suspected Covid-19 infection.

"He is under doctors' supervision," Interfax cited its source as saying.

A well-known transport tracker said Thursday that a private jet linked to Kadyrov arrived at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport from the Chechen capital of Grozny.

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More News On Chechen Leader Kadyrov Hospitalized With Coronavirus In Moscow

Chechen leader Kadyrov transferred to Moscow with suspected coronavirus - source -- TASS
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov hospitalised in Moscow with suspected coronavirus - reports -- RT
Coronavirus: Chechnya's Ramzan Kadyrov 'flown to Moscow hospital' -- BBC
Chechen leader Kadyrov in Moscow hospital with suspected coronavirus: Russian news agencies -- Reuters
Ramzan Kadyrov not seen publicly since reports he has coronavirus -- The Guardian
Whereabouts of Chechen leader Kadyrov unclear after reports of COVID-19 -- UPI
Ramzan Kadyrov: Head of Chechen Republic ‘hospitalised’ with suspected coronavirus -- The Independent
Questions Surround Chechen Leader After Reported Hospitalization For Coronavirus -- RFE

Chechen Leader Kadyrov Says He Is Ready To Resign

Ramzan Kadyrov has led Chechnya since 2007 Photograph: Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Reuters: Russia's Chechnya leader says he is ready to resign, Kremlin to pick successor

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ramzan Kadyrov, the outspoken leader of Russia’s Chechnya republic, said he was ready to step down, leaving it for the Kremlin to choose his successor.

Kadyrov, a 41-year-old father of 12 whose interests vary from thoroughbred horses to wrestling and boxing, has been accused by human rights bodies of arbitrary arrests and torture of opponents, zero tolerance of sexual minorities and tough political declarations that have embarrassed the Kremlin.

A former Islamist rebel who had led Chechnya since 2007, he was endorsed by President Vladimir Putin in March last year to carry on in the job, while being warned that Russian law must be strictly enforced in the majority-Muslim region.

Asked in a TV interview if he was prepared to resign, Kadyrov replied: “It is possible to say that it is my dream.”

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Update #1: Chechen Leader Says Time Has Come for Him to Step Aside (Bloomberg)
Update #2: Chechnya's Kadyrov Says Time Has Come For Him To Step Aside (RFE)
Update #3: Chechen leader Kadyrov says it’s time to change republic’s head (TASS)

WNU Editor:I have to see it to believe it.

Russian President Putin Appoints Kadyrov As Acting Head Of The Chechen Republic

Ramzan Kadyrov. © Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian president's press service/TASS

The Guardian: Putin nominates Ramzan Kadyrov to remain Chechen leader

Russian president backs former rebel fighter despite claims he is linked to murder of opposition figure Boris Nemtsov

Vladimir Putin has nominated Chechnya’s controversial leader Ramzan Kadyrov for a new term in office, despite claims that the Chechen had links to the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov last year.

Kadyrov, whose term as leader runs out next month, was appointed acting leader by Putin and is expected to stand in elections in September. He had previously said he planned to step down, but most analysts saw this as a ploy to force the Kremlin to back him publicly, after a year in which he has faced criticism from many quarters.

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WNU Editor: Many are not happy with this endorsement .... Putin Backs Chechnya Chief Kadyrov for New Term Amid Threats Row (Bloomberg).

More News On Russian President Putin Appointing Kadyrov As Acting Head Of The Chechen Republic

Kadyrov regards his appointment as Chechnya’s acting head as unlimited responsibility -- TASS
Kadyrov Gets Putin's Support, Will Run in Elections -- Moscow Times
Putin Appoints Kadyrov as Acting Head of Chechen Republic -- Sputnik
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/20160325/1036962898/putin-appoints-kadyrov.html#ixzz43xrjNUvT
Putin endorses Chechnya leader, but says must respect Russian laws -- Reuters
Putin backs Kadyrov to stay on as Chechen leader -- AFP
Putin Appoints Kadyrov As Chechnya’s Acting Head -- RFE
Putin Endorses Chechen Leader -- WSJ

Tense Times Between Russian President Putin And Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) meets with Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, in this December 10, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin/Files

Reuters: Russia's Putin reminds wayward Chechnya leader: I'm the boss

President Vladimir Putin has imposed the Kremlin's writ on every corner of Russia except one: the Chechnya region whose leader Ramzan Kadyrov often pays little heed to the rules that govern the rest of the country.

Putin is now trying to rein Kadyrov in and reminding him who is boss, though alienating him would risk re-igniting an Islamist insurgency that he helped the Kremlin leader defeat.

A former Islamist rebel who has ruled the turbulent, mainly Muslim region in Russia's North Caucasus since 2007, Kadyrov swears loyalty to Putin.

Those public expressions have helped Putin turn a blind eye to Kadyrov's idiosyncrasies, which include enforcing a strict Islamic "code of virtue" and embarrassing the Kremlin with verbal attacks on opposition politicians, and methods against insurgents human rights groups see as rights abuses.

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WNU Editor: Chechnya is totally dependent on money transfers from Moscow .... that is the real power that Putin has over Ramzan Kadyrov. Keep the peace and know your place .... the money will continue to flow. But with money in short supply in Moscow .... and Ramzan Kadyrov not being liked by many in Moscow .... the writing is on the wall.

Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov Says He Is Ready To Step Down

WSJ: Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov Says He’s Ready to Step Down

Announcement comes as thousands march to mark first anniversary of Boris Nemtsov murder

MOSCOW—The Kremlin-backed leader of Russia’s southern Chechnya region announced that he wants to step down, as Russians commemorated the first anniversary of the murder of a prominent opposition leader, allegedly killed by a group of Chechens.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the 39-year-old leader of Chechnya, said in an interview with the Russian television network NTV that the time had come for the Russian government to find his replacement.

The announcement came as thousands of Russians marched in the capital to honor Boris Nemtsov, the former deputy prime minister and opposition leader, whom assassins gunned down a year ago on a bridge next to the Kremlin.

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WNU Editor: I have one simple rule when it comes to Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov .... do not believe anthing that he says. This sums up who he is .... Kadyrov a ‘threat to Russia’s national security’ (FT).

More News On Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov Saying He Is Ready To Step Down

Ramzan Kadyrov says his day as Chechen leader is gone -- TASS
Chechnya's strongman says he is willing to step down -- AP
Russian leadership should find another leader for Chechnya - Kadyrov -- RBTH
Kadyrov Says He's Ready To Step Down -- RFE

Is The Ruler Of Chechnya Out Of Control?

President Putin meets with Chechnya's leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, at the Kremlin, December 4, 2014. REUTERS/Alexei Druzhinin/RIA

Joshua Yaffa, New Yorker: Putin's Dragon

Is the ruler of Chechnya out of control?

The center of Grozny, the capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, is unrecognizable to anyone who saw it during the country’s two most recent wars against Russia. The First Chechen War, which began in 1994, was a war of nationalist resistance—Chechnya had declared independence from Russia when the Soviet Union disintegrated—and ended two years later, after a Russian bombing campaign killed thousands of civilians and left the city in ruins. The Second Chechen War, which the Russians launched in 1999, in an effort to curb not only Chechen separatism but the threat of militant Islam, wound down a decade later, with special operations carried out deep in the craggy, wooded hills of the Caucasus. These days, the rubble is gone. The city’s skyline is punctuated by the glass towers of Grozny-City, a collection of skyscrapers that house offices, luxury apartments, and a five-star hotel. Grozny is quiet and bland, with well-paved boulevards running through its center; there is still a faint air of menace—men in black uniforms stand with automatic rifles on many street corners—but the city’s flashier attractions, like a man-made lake with a light show, seem whimsical and family-friendly.

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WNU editor: When you do this .... Putin ally issues video of opposition leader in sniper's cross-hairs (Reuters) .... and this.... Menacing Video Posted by Chechen Leader Alarms Critics of Putin in Russia (New York Times) .... you know that this person has a problem.  What I do not understand is that Chechnya .... and Chechens like Ramzon Kadyrov .... are a liability to Russian President Putin. Russians do not like Chechens .... and for as long as I can remember there has always been this level of distrust, prejudice, and hostility. It also does not take a genius to figure out that Ramzon Kadyrov is out of control .... and heaven help him if something does happen to the Russian opposition leaders that he is threatening.

Putin's Favorite Muslim Is Insane

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) met with Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov at the Kremlin in Moscow, Dec. 4, 2014. Reuters

Anna Nemtsova, The Daily Beast: The Kremlin’s Favorite Muslim, Kadyrov, Goes Too Far

Putin’s most ambitious and ruthless supporter in Chechnya appears to be spinning out of control, with deadly consequences.

MOSCOW — Earlier this month, the leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, informed his more than one million followers on social networks that he had become “the happiest man in this land.” Something had come to pass that he never could have dreamed of, he said. He had had a transfusion, he said, from a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, so now he has the Prophet’s blood flowing through his veins.

In a not-for-attribution conversation last week, a Russian government official told The Daily Beast that the blood transfusion was seen in Moscow, as “something totally insane and wild,” but that it hardly the worst of the bad news about Kadyrov.

The Russian opposition has taken to accusing the Chechen leader, publicly, of murder.

WNU Editor: I have never been a fan of this lunatic .... and Anna Nemtsova nails it in her post. Unfortunately .... he is one of many in Chechnya .... and he is not the worse.

Chechnya's President Is An Instagram Addict

Chechen Leader 'Has 1,000 Wedding Guests Questioned After Losing Phone' -- The Guardian

Human rights group says Ramzan Kadyrov, who often posts to Instagram several times a day, mislaid phone at feast

Blame it on Ramzan Kadyrov's well-known Instagram addiction; the strongman leader of Russia's Chechen Republic was apparently so worried when he lost his mobile phone at a wedding that police questioned more than a thousand people into the early hours of the morning in an attempt to find it.

The human rights organisation Memorial, which has documented numerous abuses in the mountainous region of Chechnya including the murder of its own activist there in 2009, said in a statement that the loss of Kadyrov's phone occurred on Saturday at the opening ceremony for the Shira-Yurt museum constructed in the form of a medieval Chechen village. According to his hugely popular Instagram account, the "grandiose holiday" attended by "thousands of residents of the republic" saw Kadyrov meet and dance with elders, size up a shotgun and a cannon and preside over a lavish feast. The event was capped off with a traditional Chechen wedding at which Memorial said Kadyrov gave the young couple 1m rubles (£17,000).

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My Comment: This guy has waaaayyyy too much time on his hand. His Instagram account is here.

The Brutal Biography Of Chechnya's Ramzan Kadyrov

The young president has silenced dissent, pacified the Russian republic and embarked on a massive reconstruction campaign. His critics are hard to find, because they have a habit of disappearing.

Ramzan Kadyrov

From The L.A. Times:

The president of Chechnya looks out at the menagerie of birds, floating on the murky man-made lake in his backyard: black swans, pelicans and ducks. Ostriches roam the opposite bank. Deep grunts of laughter shake his thick chest, jolting his barrel arms. Then Ramzan Kadyrov stops laughing. "Bring me the tiger!" he barks to his camouflage-clad servants. "Bring me bread!"

Two former guerrilla fighters wrestle a chained tiger down the muddy slope. The tiger rears up on its hind legs, fangs bared, and swats at the guards with splayed paws. They yell and beat the tiger about the head until the animal is low to the ground. Meanwhile, Kadyrov is tossing chunks of bread into the water for his fancy birds, imported here from all corners of the Earth. He hopes to draw them close enough to shore to get scared by the tiger. He still wants to hear them scream.

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My Comment: He is symbolic of Russia's distant past .... my fear is that he may also be symbolic of its future.