Vladimir Putin thanks Ramzan Kadyrov for Chechnya

Vladimir Putin said today that the head of the Chechen government, Ramzan Kadyrov, “is working effectively.” At a conference of the All-Russia People's Front (a political movement Putin started in 2011), the president declared, “For the [Chechen] republic, [my] thanks to those who live there, thanks to its first president [Akhmad Kadyrov], and to its current leader [Ramzan Kadyrov].”

Putin's remarks came in response to a question from Chechen delegates, who thanked Putin for launching airstrikes against terrorists in Syria.

Ramzan Kadyrov is at the center of an ongoing public scandal, following comments he made earlier this month about Russia's liberal opposition leaders, whom he called “enemies of the people” and “traitors,” and threatened to lock up in psychiatric wards. 

On January 11, a mass rally took place in Grozny, Chechnya's capital, in support of Kadyrov. Demonstrators also carried signs attacking liberal oppositionists. Police say more than 1 million people attended, though independent estimates put the size of the crowd closer to 100,000.