article_snippet: But Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov is also a former warlord accused of running the Russian republic 'like a medieval tyrant'.
article_snippet: The 38-year-old came to power in 2007 after a vicious armed struggle with a number of other Chechen strongmen and a political battle with the man he succeeded as leader, Alu Alkhanov.
article_snippet: Yet the brutal reality of how Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov maintains Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov grip on power has been glossed over by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov social media skills and voracious appetite for posting on Instagram.
article_snippet: Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov in medieval garb.
article_snippet: Kadyrov in medieval garb has posted on Kadyrov in medieval garb Instagram account
article_snippet: And yet this is the man whose widely feared 'Kadyrovtsy' militia several thousand-strong, are accused by human rights groups of involvement in kidnappings, assassinations and torture throughout their patron's rise to power.
article_snippet: their were formed during the first Chechen war for independence between 1994 and 1995 when Kadyrov's father, Chechnya's Grand Mufti or highest Islamic official, declared jihad against Russia.
article_snippet: Kadyrov rules the once restive Russian republic with an iron fist .
article_snippet: But Kadyrov switched Kadyrov allegiance to Moscow at the beginning of the second Chechen war in 1999, since when continued insurgents against the Kremlin have been ruthlessly dealt with by his own 'Kadyrovtsy' militia  .
article_snippet: The paramilitary clashed with forces loyal to fellow warlord Sulmin Yamadayev in March 2008 and a year later Kadyrov's rival was dead, assassinated in Dubai in a hit reputedly ordered by one of Kadyrov's cousins.
article_snippet: Kadyrov's rival also prevailed in Kadyrov's rival fight with paramilitary leader Said-Magomed Kakiyev, while Kadyrov successfully angled for Russian President Vladimir Putin to dismiss Alkhanov and appoint Russian President Vladimir Putin leader instead.
article_snippet: Since then it is widely accepted that Russian President Vladimir Putin has given Kadyrov carte blanche to run Chechnya as Russian President Vladimir Putin own personal fiefdom, provided Russian President Vladimir Putin keeps the separatist forces which temporarily ripped Chechnya from the Kremlin's grasp in the 1990s are kept in check.
article_snippet: Kadyrov hugs a man in a bear suit in front of the neon backdrop of the Chechen capital Grozny's skyline .
article_snippet: A month later Movladi Baisarov, a former commander of the Chechen presidential security services turned Kadyrov opponent, was also shot dead in Moscow.
article_snippet: Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya had branded Kadyrov 'a medieval tyrant', adding: 'If someone tells the truth about what is going on, it's like signing one's own death warrant. '
article_snippet: And In a remarkable statement posted on Instagram, Kadyrov praised one of the men charged with the murder of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in Moscow as a 'fearless and brave' 'patriot of Russia' who was 'ready to give Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov life for the Motherland'.
highlights_snippet: Ramzan Kadyrov is burly former warlord accused of being 'medieval tyrant'
  Came to power after vicious armed struggle with other Chechen strongmen .
  