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Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov has said he is ready to die for Vladimir Putin, as hardliners seek to dispel any doubts about their allegiance to the Russian president following the demise of the Wagner paramilitary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
A day after Prigozhin’s private funeral in St Petersburg, Kadyrov wrote on social media that as “a foot soldier” of Putin, he belonged to Russia and its interests. He accompanied the post with a months-old selfie of himself and the president.
“I am ready to fulfil any order of Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin], even if the result will be my death,” he added.
Kadyrov and Prigozhin fulfilled similar roles in the early months of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Both men recruited private armies and deployed them on the battlefield. The two men were also openly critical of the way that the Russian defence ministry and top army generals were handling the war.
But after the Wagner warlord’s mutiny against the Russian army’s top brass in June, Kadyrov distanced himself from Prigozhin, stressing his loyalty to Putin.
Kadyrov’s close circle appears to have been rewarded since, with some of his allies scooping up recent distributions of foreign assets by the Kremlin, including of French yoghurt maker Danone.
Since the insurrection, the Kremlin has amplified its crackdown on dissent among hardliners.
General Sergei Surovikin, known to be close to Prigozhin, was detained by the security services immediately after the mutiny, and has since been removed from his top-ranking job in the regular army.
Igor Girkin, a former FSB intelligence officer, also a supporter of the war in principle but a critic of the way it was handled in practice, was accused of extremism and jailed in mid-July.
Since then, many other outspoken ultra-nationalists have toned down their critique against Russia’s lack of success in Ukraine, with Prigozhin’s death sending another clear signal about the need for demonstrating loyalty to the Kremlin and sticking to the official line.
Russia has said it is conducting its own investigation into the private jet crash, which western officials believe to have been ordered by Putin. The Kremlin has denied any involvement.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday did not rule out “foul play” but said to wait for the results of the investigation.
He also said Russia would not be allowing any other countries to help conduct the investigation — a courtesy that would typically be extended to Brazil, which manufactured the aircraft involved in the crash.
“An investigation is under way, this is being done by the [Russian] investigative committee. And this is namely our Russian investigation, so in this case there can be no talk of any international dimension,” Peskov said.
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