Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen warlord who is one of the biggest supporters of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, has said that he wants to quit.
In a video on his Telegram channel, Mr Kadyrov said that he had been president of Chechnya in Russia’s North Caucasus for 15 years and didn’t want to “outstay” his welcome.
“We have a proverb among Caucasians, Chechens. No matter how respected and long-awaited a guest is, if he leaves on time, then it is even more pleasant,” he said in the video shot in his luxurious palace in Grozny.
“I think that my time has also come.” Mr Kadyrov is a keen social media user and in typical fashion laughed and grinned throughout the short video.
He was promoted as Chechnya’s leader by Mr Putin in 2007 and has been a vocal supporter of the Russian president ever since, backing the initial invasion of Ukraine in February with his fighters.
Mr Kadyrov’s father, Akhmat, had fought Russian forces in the first Chechen war in the mid-1990s but switched sides for the second war a few years later.
He was made leader of Chechnya by Mr Putin in 2000 but was killed by a bomb in 2004.
(FILE) Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov. EPA-EFE/ALEXEY NIKOLSKY / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL
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