VSFor more than fifteen years, a million and a half Chechens have been subjected to the despotism of Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of this constituent republic of the Russian Federation. Vladimir Putin ensured that his Chechen protege succeeded his father, Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in 2004, first as head of the local government, then, once the age limit of 30 was reached, as full-time president.
The parallel is striking with the dictatorial dynasty of Assad in Syria, where Bashar literally inherited, in 2000, absolute power from his father, Hafez. But, where Syria constitutes an essential resource for the Kremlin beyond the Russian space, the Chechen autocracy remains a major cog in the Putin system, including in the offensive launched almost a year ago against Ukraine.
The Akhmad Federation
With barely more than 1% of the Russian population, the satrapy of Ramzan Kadyrov exercises an influence disproportionate to its real weight within Putin’s Russia. This is because Chechen absolutism is distinguished by its militaristic, clan-based and mafia-like functioning, again in tune with the fundamental springs of the Assad regime. Ramzan Kadyrov can thus overtake in arbitrariness and brutality his Moscow mentor, who in return accommodates a client with such a sinister reputation. The comparison between the two systems in the field of combat sports is in this respect enlightening, as this subject, far from being a minor entertainment, reveals dynamics of internal mobilization and external legitimation. This process is so prized by dictatorships that it has justified the English term sport washing. Vladimir Putin has thus placed one of his loyal followers, Umar Kremlev, at the head of the international amateur boxing federation, the IBA, the last of these federations to admit Russian athletes in their competitions under their own colors.
Ramzan Kadyrov launched in 2015 the Akhmad federation of freestyle wrestling, a long marginal discipline, referred to by the English acronym MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and organized on an international scale by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), based in Las Vegas. The father of the Chechen dictator is celebrated during tournaments at the Colosseum in Grozny where crowds of supporters chant ” Akhmad Sila (“the power of Akhmad”) and wear T-shirts with the double effigy of Akhmad Kadyrov and Vladimir Putin.
Boxing legends like Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather have been invited to Chechnya, which has also hosted half a dozen past or reigning UFC champions for training sessions. But the thousands of young people enrolled by the Akhmad federation are only a handful to become professional sportsmen, the overwhelming majority joining the shock troops of the regime: the personal guard of the dictator, the very dreaded “Kadyrovtsy”, and the units allegedly “anti-terrorists” Terek, in charge of the regime’s base works and repeatedly denounced by human rights defenders. The Akhmad federation is moreover led by the former commander of Terek Abuzayed Vismuradov, a childhood friend of Ramzan Kadyrov, who even promoted him, in 2020, number two in the government.
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