Ramzan Kadyrov wants his teenage son to succeed him when he dies.NewsWill Stewart Russia Correspondent, Chiara Fiorillo News Reporter and Rory Cassidy Reporter
19:29, 06 Apr 2025
Ramzan Kadyrov.(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images.)
A key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin is terminally ill, delivering a fresh blow to the country in the war against Ukraine, experts have claimed. Stricken Ramzan Kadyrov has strongly backed the war against Ukraine.
He even sent tens of thousands of troops to support the ongoing invasion and conflict. But sources say Kadyrov, the ailing warlord ruler of Chechnya, is close to death and that he wants his teenage son, 17-year-old Adam, to succeed him.
This allegedly resulted in a rift with Putin. The Chechen leader is understood to now have moved his assets abroad, fearing for his family when he dies or is incapacitated by health problems, The Mirror reports.
The 48-year-old has awarded his son multiple medals and appointed the teenager to a succession of posts, building him up as crown prince and heir apparent. Last week Adam – one of his 15 children – was made ‘curator’ of the Chechen interior ministry.
When just 16 he was put in charge of his father’s security apparatus and given a leadership role at the Vladimir Putin University of Russian Special Forces, in Chechnya.
Leading investigative journalist Andrey Kalitin said Kadyrov senior’s health is now “very poor” with “tough decisions” over the succession imminent. He said: “The Kremlin has two or three candidates. Ramzan Kadyrov has one. His name is Adam, he is 17 years old, he has more than 15 awards.”
Vladimir Putin and Ramzan Kadyrov.(Image: AP.)
Even if Putin appointed Adam, he would need a regency-style arrangement until he is 30 under Russian laws. The teen won his father’s backing after he assaulted a prisoner.
The crook was accused of burning the Quran. Kadyrov seems not to trust Putin to appoint Adam and has negotiated with Middle East rulers to accept his huge family in exile, already moving assets abroad, according to reports.
Opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky said: “He is negotiating with Arab sheikhs about the safe evacuation of his family and the safety of his assets. And we are not talking about some distant prospect – he is in a hurry. Why?
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“Because he is sick. Because he understands [that] as soon as he shows weakness, the jackals will start tearing him apart. And his own. They are not held together by respect, not by loyalty – only by fear.
“He knows: if tomorrow he falls into a coma, the day after tomorrow his structure will be torn apart by those whom he himself fed. That is why he is fussing. He is negotiating where the law works. This is not the end yet. But the beginning of the finale – for sure.”
Kadyrov is believed to have amassed a vast fortune as a reward for taming war-riven Chechnya since taking over from his assassinated father.
The FSB security service officers reportedly informed Putin, 72, about Kadyrov’s secret high-level negotiations in the Middle East. Putin likely sees this as a betrayal, despite Kadyrov’s previous backing.
The leader sent troops from his private army when the Russian leader faced a coup bid from now-dead Wagner private army chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in June 2023.
Accused of human rights abuses, Kadyrov has boasted that he has been sanctioned more than anyone by the West. He has openly criticised some Russian commanders.
Rumours have persisted that a bloated Kadyrov has “serious” pancreatic and kidney problems, with claims that recent photos are carefully edited and do not show him below the chest.