Adam and Ramzan Kadyrov. Photo: Kadyrov 95 / Telegram
Adam Kadyrov, the 16-year-old son of Chechen autocrat Ramzan Kadyrov, has been awarded the republic’s highest award, Chechen National Policy Minister Akhmed Dudaev announced on Sunday.
Dudaev said the Order of Akhmad Kadyrov had been awarded in “well-deserved recognition of his high moral qualities and dedication. Adam is a true patriot of the homeland, who worthily represents his glorious family as a real Muslim and Chechen.”
The head of the Chechen government, Magomed Daudov, said Kadyrov showed “the highest patriotism,” while also seeking “to develop the most worthy qualities”.
Daudov noted that Adam Kadyrov was already head of his father’s security department and a curator at the Vladimir Putin Russian Special Forces University in the Chechen city of Gudermes.
Daudov also called Adam a worthy grandson of Chechnya’s first president and Hero of Russia, Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated while attending Victory Day celebrations at Grozny’s stadium in 2004. He said Adam stood out for his courage and integrity, and would become a true defender of his fatherland.
Kadyrov, who was quietly married off to the daughter of Chechen Senator Suleyman Geremeyev in June, is best-known for his 2023 assault of a 19-year-old in pretrial detention in Chechnya accused of burning a Quran, which was filmed and posted on his father’s Telegram channel.
Despite the video, Kadyrov has been given an unprecedented number of awards by Chechnya as well as by other Muslim-majority Russian republics. He was officially named Hero of Chechnya in October and was appointed an observer to Chechnya’s Sheikh Mansur Rifle Battalion in November.
Independent news outlet Meduza posted footage of Kadyrov firing a pair of gold-plated machine guns on Friday, having been filmed just two days earlier demonstrating his shooting skills to a visiting Vladimir Putin, despite the fact that Russian laws forbid minors from handling weapons.
