The Kadyrovs’ nest

New investigation ties condos in high-end Moscow complex to Chechen leader’s relatives

The investigative outlet IStories has released a new investigation linking several pieces of high-end Moscow real estate to relatives of Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov. What’s more, these relatives — or their spouses — occupy prominent positions in the Chechen leadership. And they’ve failed to include their Moscow properties in their asset declarations.

Data from Russia’s property registry (Rosreestr) obtained by IStories has revealed that Ramzan Kadyrov’s relatives are the owners of multiple units in the premium-class “Sokolinoye Gnezdo” (Falcon’s Nest) condominium complex located on Moscow’s Leningradsky Avenue.

Kadyrov’s sister, Zargan Kadyrova, has owned a 1,400-square-foot apartment in the complex since 2004.. Her husband, Chechnya’s Transport and Communications Minister Ramzan Cherkhigov, didn’t include his wife’s property on any of his asset declarations from 2012 to 2019. Moreover, since 2011, an apartment in the same complex has been registered to Zarema Ramzanova Cherkhigova; IStories believes that this is Zargan Kadyrov and Ramzan Cherkhigov’s underage daughter. If that’s the case, the minister should have included any property in her name in his declarations (needless to say, he did not).

In the same condo complex there’s an 1,800-square-foot apartment owned by Zulay Kadyrova — another one of Ramzan Kadyrov’s sisters, who is also a government official herself. IStories estimates the apartment’s value at 60 million rubles (about $791,000). However, in her 2019 declaration, Kadyrova didn’t mention owning any real estate at all. At the same time, her husband — the Chechen Parliament’s First Deputy Chairman Salman Zakriyev — listed the apartment as his wife’s property, albeit only in his 2018 asset declaration.

Yet another apartment in the Sokolinoye Gnezdo complex is owned by Kadyrova and Zakriyev’s 30-year-old son, Yakub Zakriyev. In recent years, Zakriyev junior has occupied a number of high-level posts in the Chechen leadership, including serving as mayor of the regional capital, Grozny, from 2018 to 2020. Currently, he’s deputy prime minister of the Chechen government. Yakub Zakriyev has never declared the apartment among his assets during his tenure in high-level positions.

Ramzan Kadyrov’s cousin Turpal-Ali Ibragimov, who heads the administration of Chechnya’s Shalinsky district, also owns an apartment in the same complex. He acquired the property in 2005, but has also never included it in his declarations.

As IStories underscores, Ramzan Kadyrov has a history of hiding his real estate holdings. Until 2010, he was part-owner of an apartment on Veyernaya Street in Moscow. He inherited the property from his father, former Chechen leader Akhmat Kadyrov, after he was killed during a terrorist attack in 2004. Kadyrov junior never mentioned the apartment in his asset declarations.

Russia adopted a law “On Combating Corruption” in 2008, obliging government officials to report on their property holdings annually. The law provides for the dismissal of officials who report false information — typically, they’re fired from their posts due to “loss of confidence.” Dismissed government officials are also added to a special registry on the civil service’s online portal.