Head of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov has awarded Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic, a medal for “Fidelity to Duty.”
According to Aksyonov, Kadyrov has earned this honor through his “courage, patriotism, active political stance, and personal contributions to strengthening the unity, development and prosperity of the Republic of Crimea.”
Among those awarded were deputy prime minister of Russia Dmitry Kozak, Russian parliament members Viktor Vodolatsky, Alexei Zhuravlev and Gleb Khor, as well as the president of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, Ruslan Minnikhanov.
Ramzan Kadyrov has been the head of the Chechen Republic since 2007. He is a former Chechen rebel who fought against Russian federal troops in the region, but defected to the Russian side in 1999. He is also the son of the former Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in 2004. Putin has relied on Kadyrov to secure Moscow’s power in Chechnya. Kadyrov has come under criticism from the international community for widespread corruption and human rights violations in the region.
On February 27, 2014, after armed men captured two government buildings in Crimea and raised Russian flags over them, the Crimean parliament appointed Sergei Aksyonov as Prime Minister of Crimea. Aksyonov was a member of the political movement Russkoe Edinstvo (Russian Unity).
In March 2014, residents of Crimea voted in a referendum to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. The referendum took place as Russian soldiers captured Crimean government buildings. The international community and Kiev have not recognized the results of the referendum, but the Kremlin has insisted on the legality of the annexation.
According to the press office of the government of the Chechen Republic, in June 2014, the government of Crimea awarded Kadyrov a medal “For Liberating Crimea.”