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Chechen Leader to Stay Despite Saying He'll Go, Kremlin Says

Kadyrov remains in post, will do as Putin directs, Peskov says
Chechen head won a second five-year term in September 2016

Ramzan Kadyrov — Ramzan Kadyrov
Photographer: Elena Fitkulina/AFP via Getty Images

By

Henry Meyer and

Stepan Kravchenko

November 26, 2017, 5:14 PM UTCUpdated onNovember 27, 2017, 10:05 AM UTC

Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who won a new five-year term last year, said it’s time for him to step aside and let the Kremlin choose a successor. The Kremlin said Kadyrov is staying in his post.

“There was a time when people like me were needed -- to fight, to bring order,” Kadyrov, 41, said in an interview broadcast Sunday on state-run Rossiya 1 TV, adding that it would be up to the Kremlin to decide on his successor. “Now we have order.”