KADYROV JR. APPOINTED FIRST DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

If Alu Alkhanov, the new president of Chechnya’s pro-Moscow administration, plans gradually to squeeze Ramzan Kadyrov out of power, that is not evident from his recent personnel appointments. Alkhanov has now appointed his predecessor’s son as first deputy prime minister, according to an October 16 report in Rossiskaya gazeta. The younger Kadyrov will formally be in charge of the pro-Moscow administration’s security organs and will oversee cooperation with the federal police and military; this of course simply confirms what Ramzan has already been doing de facto.

Sergei Abramov, the pro-Moscow administration’s prime minister and Ramzan Kadyrov’s nominal boss, told a press conference on October 15 that most of his cabinet ministers will be people who held high positions under Ramzan’s late father.