Ramzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov was born on 5 October 1976 and is a Russian politician who currently serves as the Head of the Chechen Republic.
101 Facts About Ramzan Kadyrov
2.
Ramzan Kadyrov was formerly affiliated to the Chechen independence movement, through his father who was the separatist appointed mufti of Chechnya.
3.
Ramzan Kadyrov is a colonel general in the Russian military.
4.
In February 2007, Ramzan Kadyrov replaced Alu Alkhanov as president, shortly after he had turned 30, which is the minimum age for the post.
5.
Ramzan Kadyrov has been frequently accused of involvement in the kidnapping, assassination, and torture of human rights activists, critics, and their relatives, within both Chechnya and other regions of the Russian Federation, as well as abroad, through the political use of police and military forces.
6.
Ramzan Kadyrov has adopted a macho image where he frequently poses with guns and military garb, as well as displays his opulent wealth.
7.
The Ramzan Kadyrov family has enriched itself considerably during its rule of the Chechen Republic; the Russian Federation dispenses extensive funding to the Chechen government, while the distinction between the Chechen government and Ramzan Kadyrov is blurry.
8.
Ramzan Kadyrov was born in Tsentaroy, in the Checheno-Ingush ASSR, in the Russian SFSR, part of the Soviet Union.
9.
Ramzan Kadyrov was the second son in Akhmad and Aimani Kadyrov's family and their youngest child.
10.
Ramzan Kadyrov strove to gain the respect of his father, Akhmad Ramzan Kadyrov, who was an imam.
11.
Since then, Ramzan Kadyrov led his militia with support from Russia's Federal Security Service, including the provision of service ID cards, becoming the head of the Chechen Presidential Security Service.
12.
Ramzan Kadyrov claimed that Chechnya is the "most peaceful place in Russia" and in a few years it would be "the wealthiest and the most peaceful" place in the world.
13.
Ramzan Kadyrov said that the war was already over with only 150 "bandits" remaining, and that thanks to his father, 7,000 separatists had already defected to the Russian side since 1999.
14.
Ramzan Kadyrov thinks more about Chechnya than about any other republic [of the Russian Federation].
15.
Ramzan Kadyrov remained the First Deputy Prime Minister until November 2005.
16.
Ramzan Kadyrov immediately proceeded to implement elements of Sharia law, such as declaring a ban on gambling and alcohol production.
17.
Ramzan Kadyrov banned Danish citizens from entering Chechnya, effectively banning activity of the Danish Refugee Council, the largest non-governmental organisation working in the region.
18.
Ramzan Kadyrov was appointed as the Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic by Alkhanov on 4 March 2006.
19.
Shortly after taking office, Ramzan Kadyrov approved a project to erect a presidential palace on a 30-acre plot by the Sunzha River in ruined downtown Grozny.
20.
Later, Ramzan Kadyrov called for refugee camps scattered across Chechnya to be closed down, calling the refugees "international spies who are interested in stoking conflict between Chechnya and Russia, who are seeking to destabilise the situation in our region".
21.
Ramzan Kadyrov was elected as the Chair of the Chechen Peoples' Assembly in late-October 2006.
22.
On 6 December 2006, Ramzan Kadyrov said that he would seek the prosecution of the commanders of federal military units responsible for the death or disappearance of civilians in Chechnya.
23.
On 5 February 2007, Ramzan Kadyrov said he did not aspire to become the Chechen president; however, he criticised Alkhanov.
24.
Ramzan Kadyrov claimed the war in Chechnya was ultimately finished, with "all informal armed groups eliminated".
25.
Critics allege that Ramzan Kadyrov is actively building his own "vertical of power" in the republic, and encouraging nepotism by placing men of his own family in all the leading and important positions.
26.
On 14 March 2007, Ramzan Kadyrov said that human rights abuses were "a thing of the past" in his republic, rejecting new charges of torture made by the Council of Europe.
27.
On 19 March 2007, Ramzan Kadyrov vowed to put an end to all remaining guerilla activity in Chechnya within two months.
28.
On 5 April 2007, Ramzan Kadyrov was sworn in as President of Chechnya.
29.
In late December 2009, Ramzan Kadyrov claimed that remaining rebels were getting financed by "The West"; "I officially declare this: those who destroyed the Soviet Union, those who want to destroy the Russian Federation, they stand behind them".
30.
In early August 2010, Ramzan Kadyrov had claimed that there were only 70 Islamist militants left in Chechnya.
31.
Chechen Deputy interior minister Roman Edilov said the police shot dead the driver of a speeding car loaded with a 200-litre tank after firing warning shots shortly before Ramzan Kadyrov was to arrive at a construction site.
32.
Ramzan Kadyrov tightened his control over information coming from Tsentoroy by not allowing any of the village's 5,000 inhabitants to leave in the days after the attack.
33.
Ramzan Kadyrov, dressed in a parade uniform, attended a meeting that was held a few hours after all the buildings of the parliament were declared cleared by the special forces.
34.
Ramzan Kadyrov vowed to intensify the fight against militants in the republic, calling them "bandits".
35.
Ramzan Kadyrov was nominated to a second term as president by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on 28 February 2011 and was unanimously elected for a second term by the Chechen Parliament on 5 March 2011.
36.
Ramzan Kadyrov said that he had organised the match to show that Chechnya had recovered from years of separatist conflict.
37.
Ramzan Kadyrov said that the Brazilians weren't paid to appear but came out of goodwill and in return for a donation to flood victims in Brazil.
38.
Ramzan Kadyrov was sworn in as head of the republic on 5 April 2011.
39.
Ramzan Kadyrov had reportedly taken a disliking to the question asked by the reporter to Putin.
40.
Ramzan Kadyrov termed former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych's ouster as a "coup d'etat" and a deliberate attempt to exert pressure on Russia through Ukraine, however at the same time placed the blame on Yanukovych for the situation in Ukraine.
41.
Ramzan Kadyrov announced on 27 February 2016 that he would step down at the end of his second term, which was set to expire on 5 April.
42.
People from across Russia were invited by Ramzan Kadyrov to register for the contest.
43.
Ramzan Kadyrov visited the United Arab Emirates on the same day and met Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
44.
Ramzan Kadyrov stated that measures taken by Chechen authorities had been successful in bringing back many young recruits before they reached Syria.
45.
Ramzan Kadyrov announced on 5 December that no Chechen athletes will participate under a neutral flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
46.
Ramzan Kadyrov was given the rank of major general in July 2020, through an executive order of the Russian President.
47.
Ramzan Kadyrov added on his blog that he had been transferred from Ministry of Internal Affairs to the National Guard of Russia.
48.
Ramzan Kadyrov meanwhile denied that force was being used against those who defied the restrictions.
49.
Ramzan Kadyrov dismissed reports of using a catheter, stating he had a right to use it to boost his immunity.
50.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin had no information about whether Ramzan Kadyrov was in Ukraine.
51.
The Telegraph reported that on two occasions when Ramzan Kadyrov had said he was in Ukraine, he was proven not to be.
52.
Ramzan Kadyrov was apparently upset by the Polish supply of weapons to Ukraine.
53.
On 22 September 2022, Ramzan Kadyrov said that the 2022 Russian mobilization would not be implemented in the Chechen Republic.
54.
On 1 October 2022, Ramzan Kadyrov called on Russia to use low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine, in response to Russia losing the important Ukrainian town of Lyman.
55.
On 5 October 2022, Ramzan Kadyrov announced that President Putin had promoted him from lieutenant general to the rank of colonel general.
56.
On 5 March 2023, it was reported by Microsoft News that Ramzan Kadyrov was in a "serious condition" and that unspecified sources said he was poisoned by the GRU, according to the Kazakh journalist Azamat Martyanov, Ramzan Kadyrov is terminally unwell and has made several trips to the United Arab Emirates to meet doctors there who are treating him.
57.
Ramzan Kadyrov himself declares annual income of 4.84 million roubles, which is inconsistent with his lavish life-style, luxury vehicles, watches, race horses and mansions.
58.
Ramzan Kadyrov has been personally implicated in several instances of torture and murder.
59.
Ramzan Kadyrov stated in December 2009 that he had personally helped many of the murder victims and their families and was not their enemy.
60.
On 20 December 2017, the United States imposed sanctions under the Magnitsky Act on five Russian nationals including Ramzan Kadyrov, accusing him of personal involvement in repression, torture and murder.
61.
Ramzan Kadyrov was added to United States Department of the Treasury's blacklist which included a Chechen security official Ayub Kataev along with three other Russian individuals for their criminal involvement in a corruption case uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky.
62.
In 2004, Ramzan Kadyrov had a conversation with the Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
63.
On 13 April 2020, Ramzan Kadyrov threatened the journalist Elena Milashina on Instagram for her news article in Novaya Gazeta about Chechnya's coronavirus lockdown, stating it was "defamatory".
64.
Ramzan Kadyrov accused the Chechen authorities of orchestrating the attack.
65.
Georgian media and Gabunia's boss later claimed the assassin was sent by Ramzan Kadyrov, who denied the allegations and said that if he had sent someone to kill, they would have succeeded.
66.
Ramzan Kadyrov called Gabunia his enemy and said that he should beg for forgiveness by getting down on his knees, otherwise he would continue to remain one.
67.
In May 2015, Ramzan Kadyrov gave a stern televised lecture to a group of Chechen men and women who were accused of using the WhatsApp messaging service to comment on the impending marriage of a local police chief to a teenage girl some three decades younger than him.
68.
In May 2016, Ramzan Kadyrov engaged in a brief Instagram dispute with US television host John Oliver.
69.
Ramzan Kadyrov had posted a message on Instagram asking for help in finding his lost cat.
70.
Ramzan Kadyrov stated that he found his Russian-language Instagram and Facebook accounts were not working on 23 December 2017, and he never received a response from Instagram after sending a request for service support.
71.
Ramzan Kadyrov accused them of bowing to pressure from United States after he was sanctioned.
72.
On 3 November 2009, a horse owned by Ramzan Kadyrov, Mourilyan, came third in the Melbourne Cup winning about US$380,000 in prize money.
73.
In 2009, Ramzan Kadyrov stated his approval of honor killings of seven women, based on the belief that they were engaging in adultery.
74.
Ramzan Kadyrov criticized French society for provoking Muslims and stated that the country must have a state institution focusing on inter-ethnic and inter-faith relations.
75.
Ramzan Kadyrov denied reports that polygamy would be legalised in Chechnya.
76.
Ramzan Kadyrov suggested that the suspects were products of American upbringing.
77.
Ramzan Kadyrov accused the CIA of framing Dzokhar Tsarnaev on 18 March 2015, after he was handed a death sentence for the Boston Marathon Bombing and said that they could not have conducted the bombing without CIA's knowledge.
78.
On 31 January 2016, Ramzan Kadyrov posted a video of Russian opposition politicians Mikhail Kasyanov and Vladimir Vladimirovich Kara-Murza in the crosshairs of a gun on his Instagram blog.
79.
Russian opposition leader Ilya Yashin authored a report against Ramzan Kadyrov released on 23 February 2016 during a press conference which was repeatedly interrupted by police and hecklers.
80.
The report titled A National Security Threat claimed that Ramzan Kadyrov poses a threat to Russia.
81.
Ramzan Kadyrov dismissed the report calling it "nothing but idle chatter" and posted it on his social network accounts before its release.
82.
Ramzan Kadyrov's spokesman filed a request with the Russian Prosecutor General and the Investigative Committee for Yashin to be arrested for the report saying it contained slander and insults against Kadyrov.
83.
Ramzan Kadyrov added that the fatwa failed to take into account the crucial differences between Russia's Muslims, specifically that some Muslim communities did not follow Sufism.
84.
In 2015, Ramzan Kadyrov ordered Chechen security forces to "shoot to kill" if they encountered police officers from other parts of Russia on the territory of the Chechen Republic.
85.
Ramzan Kadyrov posted images of the bouts on his Instagram account.
86.
The event caused an outcry especially against Ramzan Kadyrov allowing his children to compete in the tournament.
87.
Ramzan Kadyrov commented about Russia's nuclear arsenal and tensions between the United States and Russia.
88.
In September 2017, Ramzan Kadyrov condemned the persecution of Muslims in Myanmar and organized a rally in Grozny in support of persecuted Rohingya people.
89.
Ramzan Kadyrov pledged to oppose the Russian Federation's position if it supported Aung San Suu Kyi's government in Myanmar.
90.
Ramzan Kadyrov warned people to remove any such comments, otherwise they would have to answer to Chechen law enforcement agencies.
91.
Russian diplomat Dmitry Peskov stated that Ramzan Kadyrov's remarks would not be investigated by the Russian government as it was a police matter.
92.
Ramzan Kadyrov graduated with a degree in law from the Makhachkala Institute of Business and Law in 2004.
93.
Ramzan Kadyrov has adopted a macho image where he frequently poses with guns and military garb, and associates with mixed martial artists.
94.
Ramzan Kadyrov was appointed the first deputy culture minister of Chechnya in September 2020 by her father.
95.
Ramzan Kadyrov reportedly met Khazuyeva when she was fourteen years old at a 2006 beauty pageant.
96.
Ramzan Kadyrov reportedly has a third wife, a singer and dancer named Aminat Akhmadova.
97.
Ramzan Kadyrov enjoys boxing and is the owner of Fight Club Akhmat, a professional sports club that focuses on boxing and mixed martial arts.
98.
Ramzan Kadyrov owns a Lamborghini Reventon, one of only 20 sold.
99.
Ramzan Kadyrov is known for his extensive collection of Chechen daggers.
100.
Ramzan Kadyrov has been linked to the ownership of a private jet.
101.
Two of his wives own property valued at $8 million in total, which is more than twice Ramzan Kadyrov's declared salary since 2008.