Akhmad Kadyrov in the context of "Chechnya"

Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov (born 5 October 1976) is a Chechen and Russian politician who is currently serving as the head of the Chechen Republic. He was formerly affiliated with the Chechen independence movement through his father, who was the separatist-appointed mufti of Chechnya. He is a colonel general in the Russian military.

Kadyrov is the son of former Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov, who switched sides in the Second Chechen War by offering his service to Vladimir Putin's administration in Russia and became Chechen president in 2003. Akhmad Kadyrov was assassinated in May 2004. In February 2007, Ramzan Kadyrov replaced Alu Alkhanov as president, shortly after he had turned 30, which is the minimum age for the post. He was engaged in violent power struggles with Chechen commanders Sulim Yamadayev (d. 2009) and Said-Magomed Kakiyev for overall military authority, and with Alkhanov for political authority. Since November 2015, he has been a member of the Advisory Commission of the State Council of the Russian Federation.

Kadyrovites or Kadyrovtsy (Russian: Кадыровцы) or Akhmat (Russian: Ахмат) is an informal term of Chechnya-based detachments of National Guard of Russia ("Rosguard"), Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Russian Ministry of Defence. The name refers to Akhmad Kadyrov, 1st President of the Chechen Republic and father of Ramzan Kadyrov. While technically subordinated to Russian state agencies, they enjoy a special treatment and some describe them as "Kadyrov's private army". Some Kadyrovite units are in charge of guarding Chechnya oil fields and Tsentaroi, now Akhmat-Yurt, Kadyrov's home village.

In 2015 BBC reported that a considerable part of Kadyrovites were Chechen Republic of Ichkeria militants pardoned by Russian president Vladimir Putin under the word of Ramzan Kadyrov, with their numbers informally estimated in the range of 10,000–30,000.