Kadyrov, Akhmad Abdulkhamidovich

(1951–2004)

   Religious leader and politician. Akhmad Kadyrov was born in Kazakhstan during the Chechen deportation; he later studied Islam in Uzbekistan. Kadyrov served as chief mufti of the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeriya during the 1990s, famously calling for an international jihad against Russian federal forces during the first Chechen War. However, he later switched his loyalty to Moscow, and condemned the rising influence of radical Islamists in his country, particularly Shamil Basayev’s attempts to create a caliphate across the North Caucasus. Backed by the Kremlin, Kadyrov administered the republic from 2000 until 2003, when he won the Chechen presidency. In 2004, after escaping several assassination attempts, he was killed in a bomb blast that ripped through a victory parade commemorating the Soviet victory in World War II. In 2007, his son, Ramzan Kadyrov, followed in his footsteps, becoming the Chechen president.

   See also Terrorism.