MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin flew into Chechnya on Tuesday and met its leader Ramzan Kadyrov on his first visit to the North Caucasus region since 2011.
Kadyrov, a key Kremlin ally, says he has deployed thousands of fighters to help the Kremlin with its Ukraine offensive.
Putin in May said that he planned to visit Chechnya on Kadyrov’s invitation, saying “I will do everything possible for this trip to take place.”
Footage posted by RIA Novosti news agency and Kadyrov showed Putin shaking hands with Kadyrov and other officials after alighting from his helicopter in the main city of Grozny.
Putin then put an arm round Kadyrov’s shoulder and hugged him before they got into a limousine together.
Kadyrov wrote on Telegram that there would be a “packed program” of events.
“Vladimir Vladimirovich despite the hard working day is full of energy and ready to visit several places in Chechnya,” he wrote.
Putin earlier Tuesday visited other North Caucausus regions including Kabardino-Balkaria and North Ossetia.
In North Ossetia, he visited the Beslan school where more than 330 people died in a 2004 siege by Chechen rebels and knelt at a memorial.
Putin also met mothers who lost their children and likened the attackers to Ukrainians now mounting an incursion in Russia’s Kursk region.
While Putin has rarely visited Chechnya in recent years, the region has shaped him as a politician.
He launched the second Chechen war in 1999 while still prime minister, which helped define his strongman reputation and made him popular with many Russians.
Putin-loyalist Kadyrov has ruled Chechnya with an iron fist, seeking to stamp out a lingering rebellion and any forms of dissent, and massively reconstructing Grozny.
Putin appointed Kadyrov as leader in 2007 when he was aged just 30, after his father Akhmat Kadyrov was assassinated by a bomb at a stadium in 2004.
On Tuesday, Putin began his visit by laying flowers at Akhmat Kadyrov’s grave, Interfax news agency reported.
Putin visits Chechnya for first time since 2011
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Putin visits Chechnya for first time since 2011
- Ramzan Kadyrov: ‘Vladimir Vladimirovich despite the hard working day is full of energy and ready to visit several places in Chechnya’
- Putin appointed Kadyrov as leader in 2007 when he was aged just 30, after his father Akhmat Kadyrov was assassinated by a bomb at a stadium in 2004
Zelensky wants to replace Ukraine’s defense minister
- President has offered the position to his current minister of digital transformation, who is aged just 34
- No explanation was given for his decision to replace Denys Shmygal
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said he intended to replace his defense minister and had offered the position to his current minister of digital transformation, who is aged just 34.
“I have decided to change the structure of the Ukrainian ministry of defense,” Zelensky said in his daily address broadcast on social media. “I have offered Mikhailo Fedorov the position of new Ukrainian defense minister.”
Fedorov, who has been digital transformation minister since 2019, is a relative political novice little-known to the Ukrainian public.
“Mykhailo is deeply involved in issues related to drones and is very effective in the digitalization of state services and processes,” Zelensky added.
Without explaining his decision to replace Denys Shmygal, the Ukrainian leader said he had proposed the incumbent “head another area of government work that is no less important for our stability.”
Zelensky had tapped Shmygal as defense minister just half a year ago, in July 2025.
Besides the turnover at the defense ministry, Zelensky also named Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov to head his presidential office.
Budanov replaces Andriy Yermak, who was among Ukraine’s most powerful people before being engulfed in a corruption scandal dogging some of Zelensky’s former allies.
