Kadyrov, a key Kremlin ally, says he has sent thousands of fighters to help the Kremlin launch an offensive in Ukraine.
In May, Putin said he planned to visit Chechnya at Kadyrov’s invitation, saying: “I will do everything possible to make this trip happen.”
Footage released by the RIA Novosti news agency and Kadyrov shows Putin shaking hands with Kadyrov and other officials after stepping out of a helicopter in the main city of Grozny.
Putin put his arm around Kadyrov’s shoulders before they got into the limousine together.
R. Kadyrov wrote in “Telegram” that he was waiting for “a rich program” of events. “Vladimir Vladimirovich, despite a hard day’s work, is full of energy and ready to visit several places in Chechnya,” he wrote.
Earlier on Tuesday, Putin visited other regions of the North Caucasus, including Kabardino-Balkaria and North Ossetia.
In North Ossetia, he visited the school in Beslan, where more than 330 people were killed when Chechen rebels surrounded it in 2004, and knelt at the memorial.
Putin also met with mothers who lost their children and compared the attackers to Ukrainians who are now planning an invasion of Russia’s Kursk region.
Although Putin has rarely visited Chechnya in recent years, the region has shaped him as a politician.
While still prime minister in 1999, he launched the second Chechen war, which added to his reputation as a strong leader and made him popular among many Russians.
Mr. Kadyrov, loyal to Putin, rules Chechnya with an iron fist, trying to quell the ongoing Islamist resistance and any opposition, as well as rebuilding Grozny on a large scale.
Putin appointed Kadyrov as leader in 2007, when he was just 30 years old, after his father Akhmat Kadyrov was killed in a stadium bomb in 2004.
On Tuesday, V. Putin began his visit by laying flowers at A. Kadyrov’s grave, Interfax news agency reported.
2024-08-21 13:01:31