Vladimir Putin has promoted his feared comrade Ramzan Kadyrov to colonel general amid rumors of a new senior war role for the brutal Chechen leader.
The Kremlin loyalist boasted on video that he had been ‘personally congratulated’ by the Russian despot, amid fears the warlord could be ready for even greater responsibilities in Ukraine.
Kadyrov, who has been one of the biggest cheerleaders of Putin’s invasion, has claimed he is the West’s top bogeyman, with more sanctions than even North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
In recent days, his security agents have been revealed to have ordered the men of anti-war women protesters to beat them as punishment.
Male relatives were sent to the conflict in Ukraine as revenge.
Previously, Kadyrov was a lieutenant general in the Russian National Guard, one of the military forces involved in Putin’s Ukrainian invasion
Vladimir Putin has promoted his feared comrade Ramzan Kadyrov to colonel general amid rumors of a new senior war role for the brutal Chechen leader
Kremlin loyalist bragged in video that he had been ‘personally congratulated’ by Russian despot
He also claimed that he sent three of his minor sons – Akhmat, Eli and Adam, aged 16, 15 and 14 respectively – to fight on the front lines in Ukraine.
Rumors say he wants to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and take the job or play another commanding role.
“Putin’s foot soldier today became a colonel general – order number 709,” he said.
‘The president congratulated me personally.
‘I give my word, I will honor this trust.
“This is progress for me.”
Previously, Kadyrov was a lieutenant general in the Russian National Guard, one of the military forces involved in Putin’s Ukrainian invasion.
In recent days, his security agents have been revealed to have ordered the men of anti-war women protesters to beat them as punishment
Rumors say he wants to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and take the job or play another commanding role
Kadyrov has been ultra-critical of the Defense Ministry’s war strategy and apparently believes that Putin is now listening.
He has also personally recruited tens of thousands of ‘volunteers’ to fight in Putin’s war.
“We will do everything very quickly to finish the special operation,” he said.
‘There is no war without casualties. This is war.
‘What are men born to…?’
He wrote: ‘Your Ramzan is now a colonel-general – for the malice of his enemies and the joy of his friends.
‘We will destroy terrorism, satanism and the like.’
Following protests in Chechnya last month, a man, Adam Muradov, who was ‘forced to beat his wife’ and whose son Valid, 18, was subsequently sent to the war, is reported to have died of a heart attack.
Up to 130 men were told that if they did not carry their wives, Kadyrov’s police would.
Kadyrov has been ultra-critical of the Defense Ministry’s war strategy and apparently believes that Putin is now listening
He brags about Western sanctions, claiming that he has more than President Alexander Lukashenko and Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad, he said that neither of them had been sanctioned so much by the West.
“I even left the North Korean leader behind while they made movies about him in Hollywood,” Kadyrov said.
He is suspected in the West of having ordered a series of extrajudicial killings outside Russia, allegations he vehemently denies.
He is also accused of human rights abuses and torture against his political opponents and homosexual activists.
Apart from Russian and international law, he said his three sons Akhmat, Eli and Adam were ready to use their skills in [war] zone.
‘And I’m not kidding.
‘It is time to show in a real fight and I only welcome their wish.
‘Soon they will go to the front line and will be on the hardest parts of the contact line.’
Kadyrov, 45, has 14 children – two of them adopted – and is in a polygamous relationship with three wives.