Mezhidov - head of the northern regiment of the National Guard’s 141st Motorized Infantry - points to a sign on a guardhouse with the name of the base where he’s arrived. Kadyrov posts videos featuring one of his field commanders, Hussein Mezhidov, raising the Russian flag at a Ukrainian military base. Saturday, February 26: Day three of the war brings confirmation that Kadyrov’s forces are directly involved in the Russian invasion, and the first reports that his men are taking losses. But, above all, he presents himself as a man of war. He has constructed a cult of personality, portraying himself alternately as cruel, colorful and capricious (he once got into a slanging match with the comedian John Oliver over a lost cat and his predilection for Putin T-shirts).
Nicknamed “Putin’s attack dog,” Kadyrov has since shown unswerving loyalty to the Russian president, who has in return allowed him to rule Chechnya as his personal fiefdom. He was rewarded in 2007 when the Kremlin installed him as president of the Chechen Republic at the age of 30. In the second Chechen war of 1999, which helped propel Putin to the presidency, Kadyrov switched sides and fought with the Russians. His men may be readying to fight Putin’s battles, but Kadyrov himself started out as a Chechen rebel, part of a 1994 uprising that was put down by Russian forces with the brutal carpet bombing of Grozny.
He complains that people haven’t recognized his voice because he has a cold and a sore throat.įriday, February 25: Kadyrov’s war begins with a parade in front of his governor’s palace in the Chechen capital. Apparently, his mental state has not gone unnoticed, and some have questioned whether the recording was genuine. Twenty minutes after his message in the early hours of March 4, he posts again. Kadyrov’s posts - which frequently notch up more than a million views - also provide occasional moments of unintended comedy. Evidence of actual bravery on the battlefield is, however, lacking: Kadyrov’s sometimes clumsy attempts to shape the war narrative - especially amid unexpected early setbacks - give away clues that, for all the fighting talk, his top commanders have largely stayed out of the line of fire. The warlord’s digital diary brims with bravado typical of the thickset 45-year-old who has ruled with an iron fist for 15 years over the North Caucasus republic. Only that will save our state and people.”įeaturing tirades, reflections and cheerleading for his commanders in the field, Kadyrov’s musings offer a rare window into how one of the conflict’s chief protagonists has viewed the fighting as Russian troops waged a scorched-earth campaign across southern and eastern Ukraine and racked up heavy losses in a stalled effort to capture Kyiv. I appeal to you to close your eyes to everything, and to give the order to put an end to it all in one or two days. I am ready to give my life for you,” he says. “But I cannot bear to see how our fighters for the defense ministry, National Guard and other structures are dying. “Comrade President, comrade Supreme Commander in Chief, I have told you more than once that I am your infantryman. Slurring his words as he appeals directly to Putin, Kadyrov calls on the Russian president to complete the invasion as quickly as possible: “Give our fighters the chance to use all possible - and impossible - force to finish this off once and for all.” In a rambling voice message lasting nearly eight minutes, the Chechen strongman - one of Vladimir Putin’s most prominent allies - bemoans the losses Russian troops are suffering. Eight days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war, it seems, isn’t going to plan. It’s past midnight on March 4, and Ramzan Kadyrov sounds drunk and drugged, or maybe just depressed and angry.
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