Protect the heir

Adam Kadyrov had an accident and was urgently taken to Moscow. The story of the road accident shows the place of the 18-year-old son in the plans of the head of Chechnya

On the evening of Friday, January 16, a traffic accident occurred in Grozny involving cars in the motorcade of the third son of the head of Chechnya, 18-year-old Adam Kadyrov. After providing first aid, he and his bodyguards were urgently evacuated to Moscow by a specialized medical board of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The Chechen telegram channel NYICO was the first to report a large-scale accident in the center of Grozny. Sources of Novaya Gazeta Europe confirm the fact of the accident and provide new details. So, the driver of the other car died, and the accident itself was not registered and will probably not lead to an investigation.

The very reaction of the Chechen authorities to what happened recalled the internal balance of power in the republic and the special status of Adam as the presumptive heir.

Accident and evacuation

In the afternoon, not far from the Safiya celebration house, Adam Kadyrov’s motorcade, driving at high speed along Staropromyslovskoye Highway, collided with a car entering the highway from Tasuev Street. In addition to the speed limits, an eyewitness to the incident told Novaya Gazeta Europe, the driver of the lead car of the motorcade also ignored the red traffic light at the intersection of Staropromyslovskoye Highway and Tasuev Street.

Several cars in the motorcade were damaged at once (they did not have time to brake and crashed into each other). However, the main car, in which Kadyrov’s son and his three bodyguards were located, was the most damaged. The car was driven by the head of security for 18-year-old Adam Kadyrov, Apti Iraskhanov, nephew of the Minister of Internal Affairs for the Chechen Republic Aslan Iraskhanov.

All four, including Kadyrov’s son, were hospitalized at the Republican Clinical Emergency Hospital named after U.I. Khanbiev.

The head of Kadyrov Jr.'s security, Apti Iraskhanov, was diagnosed with a fracture of the cervical vertebra; the rest, including Adam Kadyrov, had injuries that did not pose a threat to life (concussion, bruises, cuts to the face and hands, as well as minor blood loss).

However, the regional authorities decided to urgently evacuate Adam Kadyrov and his bodyguards to Moscow, for which a specialized medical board of the Republican Ministry of Emergency Situations was involved. This aircraft is called a “medical hospital” and is used to transport critically ill patients who need highly qualified medical care. Neither Adam Kadyrov nor his guards need such measures and treatment, according to our sources (who spoke directly with doctors at the Republican Clinical Hospital).

Dead driver

According to one of the doctors quoted by our source, “Kadyrov’s son and his guards suffered more from the airbags in their expensive foreign cars, but ordinary people in the car they crashed into were less fortunate.” According to Novaya Gazeta Europe, the driver who was in the car that Adam Kadyrov’s motorcade collided with died.

As a source of Novaya Gazeta Europe told the Investigative Committee of Chechnya, neither on Friday evening nor the next day the accident involving Adam Kadyrov was registered in the KUSP ( the book for recording statements of crimes, administrative offenses and incidents. - Ed. ). “Most likely, as always happens in such cases, no one will open a criminal case, that is, there will be no investigation and punishment of the perpetrators again,” our source believes.

Not the first accident involving elites and Kadyrov’s children

Accidents involving high-ranking officials in Chechnya occur regularly. Information about one such accident involving Kadyrov’s nephew, Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of Chechnya Yasin Zakriev, was widely circulated last summer. Then, through the fault of Zakriev, a married couple died and their two children were seriously injured. However, despite the publicity, Kadyrov’s nephew did not bear any responsibility, and no criminal case was opened into the accident.

In addition, yesterday’s traffic accident is not the first accident in which Kadyrov’s children have been involved. Thus, according to Novaya Gazeta Europe, in 2021, Kadyrov’s eldest son, 16-year-old Akhmat Kadyrov, ran over an old man, deciding to go for a ride in his ancestral village of Tsentaroi ( since 2019, renamed Akhmat-Yurt in honor of Akhmat Kadyrov; the position of the head of Chechnya contradicts the data of historians. - Ed. ) in a Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV. The Chechen authorities then immediately held a reconciliation ceremony (the family of the deceased was paid money) and did everything to ensure that the information did not leave the village.

In September 2022, according to Novaya Gazeta Europe, 15-year-old Adam Kadyrov was involved in an accident in which two people died due to his fault. “Kadyrov’s son himself was driving the car,” our source said. “To hide this fact, he was transferred to the guard’s car. When Adam Kadyrov tried to drive away from the scene of the incident in a security guard’s car at high speed, he killed another person at a pedestrian crossing.”

Chechnya consistently demonstrates high mortality rates in road accidents, and representatives of the local elites and their children make a significant contribution to these statistics. Death as a result of an accident is the most common reason for the death of high-ranking Chechens, who have the money and opportunities to be treated for serious illnesses, but who cannot protect themselves and their offspring from recklessness, coupled with impunity.

The heir problem

The reaction to the accident with Adam Kadyrov (when, immediately after first aid was provided, Kadyrov’s son and his guards were sent on a plane of the Ministry of Emergency Situations to Moscow), in fact, betrays the fear of the head of Chechnya of losing his most valuable heir, on whom he, apparently, is really placing his main bet in the beginning of the transition of power in the republic.

Kadyrov, whose healthhas deteriorated so much over the past year alone that he has, by and large, ceased to lead the region, currently has three adult sons. But neither the eldest son, 20-year-old Akhmat, who was recently made in Chechnya and. O. Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya, nor his second son, 19-year-old Zelimkhan, for some reason are perceived by his father as “heirs to the throne.”

Our sources, both from the circle of the head of Chechnya and from the FSB Directorate of Chechnya, consider Akhmat, Kadyrov’s eldest son, “the most intelligent and humane” of all the sons.

“People often say he has developmental delays or even mental illness, but that’s not true,” our source says. — Akhmat is terribly afraid of public speaking, but in terms of mental development he is superior to his brothers. For example, he plays chess very well, he has a very good memory, he studied well and, it seems, is the only one of Kadyrov’s sons who actually graduated from school, and not just received a certificate of secondary education. But where he really differs from all of them is his lack of cruelty and ambition. For example, he was unable to prove himself in reprisals against people, although Kadyrov’s children, as well as the children of his closest associates, are taught such things from childhood.”

19-year-old Zelimkhan Kadyrov, whose mother is Fatima Khazueva (she is called the second wife of the head of Chechnya), is characterized in a completely opposite way. “This is a real scoundrel, capable of anything to achieve power,” said our source, who knows the Khazuev family closely. “In this regard, Zelimkhan is very similar to his uncle, Khamzat Kadyrov, Ramzan’s completely uncontrollable nephew. By the way, this year, because of their behavior, Kadyrov was forced to essentially expel both of them from the family and even from the country. Now both live in the Emirates and have no right to return to Chechnya without Kadyrov’s permission.”

Well, 18-year-old Adam Kadyrov is considered not just the beloved son of the head of Chechnya, but “an obedient instrument in the hands of his father, who is simply pleased to see his reflection in him.”

“But in general, to be honest,” our source continues, “Kadyrov was more fortunate with his daughters than with his sons. His daughters are much more mature, perceptive, calculating and developed. Less infantile. However, this is a typical story for today’s Chechnya, in which boys are pampered and get away with it more than girls.”

Balance unchanged

In this sense, the recent appointment of Akhmat Kadyrov as acting Deputy Chairman of the Government of Chechnya, according to our interlocutors, does not indicate changes in Kadyrov’s plans in terms of leadership transit.

The main “heir” is still 18-year-old Adam Kadyrov.

And the high appointment of the eldest son is explained by a completely pragmatic reason. The fact is that since the beginning of last year, after the resignation of the eldest daughter Aishat Kadyrova and the dismissal of Khasan Khakimov, who was close to her, the positions of two deputy prime ministers remained vacant in the Chechen government. The Kadyrov family decided to reserve one place for themselves, and the only suitable candidate was appointed to this position - the eldest son of the head of Chechnya. Second place went to Kadyrov’s most beloved official and his loyal propagandist Akhmed Dudayev. These formal and essentially meaningless appointments had no effect on the existing balance of power in Chechnya.