Putin Has a Kadyrov Problem

Ramzan Kadyrov has opposed the Russian state-approved narrative in a schoolbook about the history of the Caucasus republic he rules, in the latest instance of the Chechen leader posing a potential problem for the Kremlin.

Kadyrov was among leaders and public figures in the North Caucasus who have reportedly been angered by a newly released schoolbook for Russian pupils that says people from nations in the region were deported during World War II because they were Nazi collaborators.

Historians have said that some partisans in the region did support Nazi Germany, but they were few and not influential. Some prominent figures in the Caucasus have condemned the story of the deportations, even though the book does acknowledge the unfairness of the forced exile.

The book's author is a former Russian culture minister, Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Putin who is said to be his "ghost writer," preparing texts that carry the Russian president's name, according to The New York Times.

Under the heading "abettors of the occupiers," the book describes how Nazi collaboration was why Soviet leader Joseph Stalin deported an estimated 600,000 Chechens, Ingush, Balkars and Karachays to Siberia and Central Asia in 1943 and 1944, with thousands dying on the way, or after they arrived.

The Times of London reported that Kadyrov had ordered copies of the book to be seized in Chechnya, according to Magomed Daudov, chairman of the Chechen parliament who later deleted the part of his Instagram post that said copies of the book had been confiscated. He has also called for Medinsky to change the book's text.

Ali Totorkulov, chairman of the Russian Congress of the Peoples of the Caucasus, said his group would try to get the textbook for 16 year-olds banned.

Newsweek has emailed the Kremlin for comment.

The spat comes as Kadyrov sparked concern among those affiliated with the Russian state by sharing a video praising his teenage son for beating up a prisoner accused of burning the Quran and saying that "he did the right thing."

Kadyrov posted the comments next to a clip on Telegram in which a young man in khaki clothing punches another man cowering in a chair before wrestling him to the floor and slapping him on the head.

The prisoner, 19-year-old Nikita Zhuravel, was arrested in May accused of setting fire to a copy of the Quran outside a mosque in Volgograd and then sent to predominantly Muslim Chechnya to be prosecuted, according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, which has expressed concerns about his safety.

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova in August said there would be an investigation into the incident after Zhuravel submitted a complaint.

State Duma deputy Yevgeny Popov said on the propaganda program 60 Minutes that he hosts on the Russia-1 channel: "You can't beat up people. It is illegal. The punishment for the criminal is determined by the court. And only the court."

Vladislav Davankov, deputy speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, said the law protecting the feelings of religious believers "does not say anything about beatings in a pre-trial detention center being an acceptable punishment."

The X (formerly Twitter) account of War is Translated posted that Russian troops who used to wear t-shirts of Kadyrov "are now attacking him."

Meanwhile, rumors have swirled in recent weeks about the health of Kadyrov, amid reports that he was seriously ill or even dead, with Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov saying he had "systemic health problems."

However, Kadyrov posted on Telegram a video of himself saying that he is "alive and well" and that he had been going to Moscow Central Clinical Hospital to visit his uncle Khas-Magomed Kadyrov, who was undergoing treatment there. The video was purportedly made on September 20.

Kadyrov, who has been accused by international groups of overseeing human-rights abuses, has often been critical of Russia's conduct in Putin's invasion of Ukraine without mentioning the Russian president directly, and his units have been crucial in fighting for Moscow in Ukraine.

The demise of the leader who has ruled Chechnya since 2007 with an iron fist, could complicate the role of Chechen troops fighting alongside Putin's forces.