"With Putin in his heart--and a Koran in his hands"

Last week, the restive Russian republic of Chechnya got a new president, Ramzan Kadyrov. The appointment, however, did not come as a surprise: Kadyrov has been the de-facto president since the assassination of his father, former Chechen president Akhmat Kadyrov, in May 2004. And contrary to Moscow's assertions, Alu Alkhahov's presidential appointment in 2004 was no more than a temporary measure--the Kremlin was waiting until Kadyrov Jr. turned 30, as required by Chechen law. This February, Alkhanov moved to Moscow to serve as the deputy minister of Justice, while Kadyrov assumed the role of "acting president" of the republic. Then last week President Putin summoned Kadyrov to the Kremlin and resolved the "power vacuum" in the republic. As reported by Izvestiya, Putin notified Kadyrov that he had "come to this decision stemming from the fact that you have done a great deal in recent years to restore Chechnya." Kadyrov's candidacy was nearly unanimously approved, with only one vote against, at an "emergency session" of the Chechen parliament the next day. Nezavisimaya Gazeta points out that Kadyrov's appointment marks the first "hereditary" transfer of power in Putin's Russia. Russian analysts are generally united in agreement that the situation in Chechnya has "stabilized" under Kadyrov--but there remains a great deal of disagreement about the methods used and their implications for the long-term. Prominent Russian journalist Mikhail Leontiev argues that under Kadyrov's rule, "Chechnya, notwithstanding occasional terrorist activities, [was] the most stable and manageable region in the North Caucasus." Moskovskiy Komsomolets puts forth a stronger argument, noting that "[Without Kadyrov], there will be no order in Chechnya. Instead, we'll have heck-knows-what: freedom--and, pardon, democracy. But here, we think that the Chechens will be better off without all of that." Other analysts and, particularly, human rights activists have expressed concern about Kadyrov's former ties to the rebels (whom the current Chechen president joined at the age of 17 and drafted en masse into his own paramilitary formations and Chechen police units) as well as his strong-arm methods of imposing "stability." The "Echo of Moscow" radio station reported on March 4, that one of the first acts of the Kadyrov presidency was to ask Moscow for another amnesty of former insurgents. Kadyrov's loyalties were perhaps best described best described by Lenta.ru: "Putin in his heart--and a Koran in his hands."

Above, a young Kadyrov with Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev (mastermind of the Moscow theatre siege in 2002 and the Beslan massacre in 2004). Below, Putin and Kadyrov at a meeting in the Kremlin in 2004.