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| Tears and hashtags as Chechens beg leader Ramzan Kadyrov not to quit | Tears and hashtags as Chechens beg leader Ramzan Kadyrov not to quit |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Hundreds of videos have been posted on social media begging the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, to stay in power after he threatened to stand down when his term ends in April. | Hundreds of videos have been posted on social media begging the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, to stay in power after he threatened to stand down when his term ends in April. |
| Related: Chechnya leader Kadyrov says he will quit at end of term | Related: Chechnya leader Kadyrov says he will quit at end of term |
| Speaking to a Russian TV channel the 39-year-old said he had no desire to continue as leader and that “the nation’s leadership needs to find another person so that my name isn’t used against my people.” | Speaking to a Russian TV channel the 39-year-old said he had no desire to continue as leader and that “the nation’s leadership needs to find another person so that my name isn’t used against my people.” |
| Since he made the announcement, a public campaign voicing support and adoration for the leader has gained momentum, with many posts featuring crying children. | |
| On Instagram – which Kadyrov uses as a platform to issue various edicts and announcements – a Russian-language hashtag that translates as “Ramzan don’t go” had been used on more than 7,000 posts as of 1 March. | On Instagram – which Kadyrov uses as a platform to issue various edicts and announcements – a Russian-language hashtag that translates as “Ramzan don’t go” had been used on more than 7,000 posts as of 1 March. |
| The day after Kadyrov’s announcement, a group calling itself the Civic Forum of the Chechen Republic released a statement saying “society sees no alternative to [Kadyrov] and there can be no talk of successors.” | The day after Kadyrov’s announcement, a group calling itself the Civic Forum of the Chechen Republic released a statement saying “society sees no alternative to [Kadyrov] and there can be no talk of successors.” |
| The statement was published on the official website of the Chechen administration, stoking speculation the announcement could be a PR stunt to rally support. | |
| Kadyrov all but inherited his post as leader following the assassination of his father, Akhmad, in 2004. He also inherited a Kremlin strategy that came to be known as “Chechenisation”, which encouraged Chechen paramilitaries to fight against the separatist rebels and Islamic radicals in the second Chechen war. | |
| ‘Putin’s man’ | ‘Putin’s man’ |
| Kadyrov’s resignation interview came on the same day that tens of thousands of people marched through Moscow’s streets to mark the anniversary of the killing of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down just meters from the Kremlin. One of the men now under arrest in connection with the killing is a top commander in a paramilitary unit close to Kadyrov. | Kadyrov’s resignation interview came on the same day that tens of thousands of people marched through Moscow’s streets to mark the anniversary of the killing of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down just meters from the Kremlin. One of the men now under arrest in connection with the killing is a top commander in a paramilitary unit close to Kadyrov. |
| “There isn’t a clear replacement for him. There is international pressure that points to him as an obvious bad guy, the links to the Nemtsov murders, so maybe there’s an effort to distance the Putin regime from all that, and have him step down,” said Olga Oliker, director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. | “There isn’t a clear replacement for him. There is international pressure that points to him as an obvious bad guy, the links to the Nemtsov murders, so maybe there’s an effort to distance the Putin regime from all that, and have him step down,” said Olga Oliker, director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. |
| “On the other hand, Kadyrov has been Putin’s guy in Chechnya,” added Oliker, author of Russia’s Chechen Wars 1994-2000: Lessons From Urban Combat. “Who replaces him? What credibility he has, comes from his dad. So who comes next? Does it fall apart?” Oliker asked. “Does anyone in Moscow really know what’s going on in Chechnya?” | “On the other hand, Kadyrov has been Putin’s guy in Chechnya,” added Oliker, author of Russia’s Chechen Wars 1994-2000: Lessons From Urban Combat. “Who replaces him? What credibility he has, comes from his dad. So who comes next? Does it fall apart?” Oliker asked. “Does anyone in Moscow really know what’s going on in Chechnya?” |
| A version of this article first appeared on RFE/RL | A version of this article first appeared on RFE/RL |