Heads butt in Chechnya

(Media Credit/Itar-Tass)

The Moscow Times reports today about the increasing tension between Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and  Sulim Yamadaev, leader of the Defense Ministry’s Vostok battalion. The two factions have gone at eachother since Monday, when Kadyrov’s motorcade collided with transport vehicles from the battalion, resulting in an undetermined amount of casualties. As the Times reports, it’s a crucial situation because Yamadaev doesn’t seem to be standing down, and it’s showing Kadyrov that he may have less absolute power over the branches of government than he thought he did. As with everything in Chechnya, it seems, there are deeper, more significant consequences here. For one, Kadyrov is trying to solidify himself as an “irreplacable” leader – a.k.a showing off to Putin and to Medvedev, who will soon have ultimate authority over regional leaders. It also plays into the bigger picture, and prolongs the seemingly endless debate over who should control Chechnya:  pro-Moscow loyalists or ethnic Chechen ex-rebels? The quagmire continues, and it’s highly unlikely that a situation like this will resolve itself at all, nevermind peacefully.