kadyrov

A statement from Chechen President Kadyrov said the remaining people inside the building had been freed in a 20-minute security operation.

So numerous are his portraits, driving through Chechnya feels a bit like travelling through a giant version of Kadyrov's family photo album.

He would be the fourth well-known opponent of Mr Kadyrov's to be killed since September.

In the run-up to her murder, Estemirova received threats from senior aides of Kadyrov.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman president of Chechnya, and his kind do not work by the Kremlin's post-modern rules.

Critics acknowledge that Kadyrov has presided over the republic's spectacular reconstruction, with much of war-smashed Grozny rebuilt.

Before Ms Estemirova died, she was investigating abuses by Chechen security agencies under Mr Kadyrov's de facto control.

Another Grozny resident says gratefully that Mr Kadyrov's men repaired all the battle-smashed windows in his neighbourhood.

Mr Putin's man in Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, treats his republic like a fief.

The war in Chechnya was over and the republic appeared relatively calm under its strongman president, Ramzan Kadyrov.

Mr Putin's Russia has become a sort of tamer version of Mr Kadyrov's Chechnya.

Mr Kadyrov replied, using Mr Putin's patronymic, the respectful form of address.

Inevitably, this led to confrontation with Kadyrov, Chechnya's thuggish tsar.

His younger brother, Sulim, is now a fierce rival of Chechnya's strongman president, Ramzan Kadyrov.

Mr Kadyrov has been expanding his personal power, acting more as a Kremlin ally than as a subject and state employee.

The Council of Europe has repeatedly rebuked Mr Kadyrov and Russia over persistent torture and illegal detention.

Here he stands before a portrait of his father, Akhmad Kadyrov, who was president of Chechnya until his assassination in 2004.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the authoritarian Chechen president, considered her an enemy.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the authoritarian Chechen president, considered her an enemy. And she died as one.

Mr Kadyrov bears much responsibility for the climate of impunity and terror in Chechnya.

Now, especially after Kremlin-backed strongman Ramzan Kadyrov took over in 2007, Chechnya is a potential menace to Georgia again.

In Grozny's Kadyrov Square a young man complains that there is no work outside the government and security services.

Among those fighters were Ramzan Kadyrov and Ms Estemirova's husband, who was later killed.

"Everything is great with the Finance Ministry now, " Mr Kadyrov said.

As peace was established in Chechnya, Mr. Yamadayev became a rival to the Kremlin-backed Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov.

The biggest risk, however, may be Mr Kadyrov himself.

The so-called peace in Chechnya has been won by handing control of the republic to a former rebel, Ramzan Kadyrov;