Ramzan Kadyrov Biography

Ramzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov was born on 5 October 1976 in Tsentaroy, in the Checheno-Ingush ASSR, in the Russian SFSR (part of the Soviet Union). His father, Akhmad Kadyrov, was a politician and revolutionary. His mother’s name was Ayman Nisievna Kadyrova. He had one elder brother (now deceased) and two elder sisters.

He always idolized his father and wanted to gain his admiration and respect. During the First Chechen War, his father called for jihad against Russians. However, he later changed his stance. He declared allegiance to Russia when the Second Chechen War commenced.

As a young man, Ramzan Kadyrov fought in the First Chechen War alongside his father. His father called for jihad against Russians and the Kadyrovite militia was formed. After the war, his father became the separatist mufti of Chechnya and Ramzan served as his bodyguard and personal driver.

At the beginning of the Second Chechen War, his father defected to the Russian side. Since 1999, he led his militia with the support of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). Akhmad Kadyrov became Chechen president in 2003 and was assassinated in 2004.

Following the death of his father, Ramzan Kadyrov was made the deputy prime minister of the Chechen Republic on 10 May 2004. He began demonstrating ruthless behaviour soon after taking the office. He held this position until November 2005.

In November 2005, Chechnya's prime minister Sergey Abramov got injured in an accident. Following this, Ramzan Kadyrov was appointed as the acting prime minister. He immediately proceeded to ban alcohol production and gambling. He also banned the activities of the Danish Refugee Council, an NGO working in the region.

In March 2006, Sergey Abramov resigned as prime minister and Ramzan Kadyrov succeeded him. Shortly after assuming office, he began implementing regressive laws such as forcing women to wear headscarves. He also called for refugee camps across the country to be closed down.

On 15 February 2007, he was made Chechen’s acting president. He quickly encouraged nepotism by appointing men from his own family to powerful positions. His administration was ruthless and strife with human rights violations.

On 28 February 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev nominated Ramzan Kadyrov for a second term as president; this post was now referred to as “Head of the Chechen Republic.” He was re-elected on 18 September 2016.

Ramzan Kadyrov has been accused of several accounts of human rights violations, including torture, kidnapping, and murder. Several Chechens who opposed him were killed brutally. International NGO Human Rights Watch published a paper detailing his acts of brutality.

He has been accused of homophobia as he encouraged the extrajudicial killings of homosexual men by their own relatives. International media has reported that he supported the detention and torture of homosexual men as part of a region-wide pogrom. He allegedly had plans to eliminate Chechnya’s entire gay community.

It is suspected that he was behind the murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya. A human rights activist, she refused to give up reporting on the atrocities committed under the Kadyrov administration despite receiving numerous threats. She was murdered in 2006.

He has received much criticism for his sexist and misogynistic policies. He publicly reprimanded women for using Whatsapp and commanded men to keep women away from the instant messaging service.

He supports honour killing and gave his approval to the honor killings of seven women in 2009. These women were allegedly involved in adultery, a punishable offense under Islamic laws.

He was been accused of having a hand in the murder of Boris Nemtsov, a Russian physicist, and liberal politician. Nemtsov was an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin and published detailed reports on the corruption in Putin’s administration. He was killed on 27 February 2015.

He supports polygamy and has claimed that Muslims who oppose the practice are not true adherents to their faith. He feels that men marrying multiple wives would help resolve Russia’s demographic problem. He stated that Allah has permitted all Muslim men to have four wives.

Ramzan Kadyrov’s family has accumulated considerable wealth from various unnamed sources. It is believed that the Russian Federation funnels money to his family; the family received around 57 billion roubles a year from Moscow in 2015.

His family also gets money from the Akhmad Kadyrov Fund, a foundation headed by Ramzan’s mother. The foundation funded his lavish 35th birthday party in 2011. The party had an extensive celebrity guest list, including Seal, Hilary Swank, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Vanessa Mae.

He has a large collection of sports cars and owns a Lamborghini Reventón. His family has luxurious real estate in Moscow and it is believed that they also have a private jet.

Ramzan Kadyrov married Medni Musaevna Kadyrova in 1996. They have 12 children. He met a teenage girl named Fatima Khazuyeva at a beauty pageant in 2006 and married her. He also has a third wife, a woman named Aminat Akhmadova, who is a singer and dancer.