For almost two decades, Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov has played an unsavoury but necessary role for the Kremlin, ruling the republic with an iron fist and keeping regional tensions at bay.
Now, both Kadyrov and his heir apparent are facing health crises, highlighting the regime’s precarious succession and underscoring the fragility of this crucial mainstay of Vladimir Putin’s quarter-of-a-century rule.
Putin has allowed Kadyrov to run Chechnya as a criminal state, overseeing a vast array of human rights abuses including assassinations, torture, disappearances and crimes against the LGBT community, and enriching himself and family members in the process.
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