There has been serious speculation about Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov being in some kind of war with the Federal Security Service (FSB) — as exhibited by the murder of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov and the subsequent investigation.

As we reported, Novaya Gazeta as well as blogger Oleg Kashin believe the FSB’s chief Aleksandr Bortnikov is clashing with Kadyrov’s forces over the Chechen suspects in the murder who were arrested within a week, two of whom were in Kadyrov’s forces in the Chechen Interior Ministry. Kadyrov said Zaur was decorated and called him a “brave warrior” while conceding that murder was a crime. Dadayev was found to have taken leave on January 27 for 30 days before the murder, and submitted his resignation, which went into effect the day before the assassination on February 27.

Dadayev is currently in Lefortovo prison, and some members of the Public Observation Commission active in prisoners’ rights said he was tortured after a visit yesterday, and published their interview with Zaur and the Gubashev brothers, two other suspects. Then the head of the Public Observation Commission, who heads an organization defending military men under investigation then denied there was torture, as did Dadayev’s lawyer. Subsequently the first human rights activists got a late-night visit from investigators and have been threatened with prosecutor for “obstructing justice.”

The other suspect whom Kadyrov called “a brave warrior” was Beslan Shavanov who either blew himself or missed when he threw a grenade at police who came knocking on his door March 7.

Initially, Kadyrov made a statement Nemtsov’s murder — first blaming “Western intelligence services” on February 28, and ignoring the claim by Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin that fury over the Charlie Hebdo journalists’ murder by terrorists in Paris was the motive. He published a fake meme supposedly said by Edward Snowden which claimed the State Department “removed” those they had been “feeding for many years” who “wouldn’t fulfill their plans and knew their secrets.”

“The State Department won’t stop at Nemtsov, they will go further,” said the fake quote from Snowden — who is not on the record as having ever made such a statement from Moscow.

Then on March 8, Kadyrov praised Dadayev, noting that he was a “devout believer.” Apparently he has not made any other statements about the investigation or the suspects since then.

Meanwhile, on March 4, Kadyrov published a picture of himself arm-in-arm with Putin, as if they were best buddies, and rapped US Secretary of State John Kerry for thinking sanctions could affect Putin.

Kadyrov has been busy with his presidential duties and visits to the mosque, where the homily was about how the ISIS extremists had nothing in common with Islam. He did take a day off — a rare one, he said, on March 9 to go to a virtual firing range and hold a competition, but “nobody won.” He says that he and his friends agree that it is good to look in on a firing range now and then.

Yesterday, March 11, Kadyrov reported that Russia’s Security

Council had a field meeting in the southern city of Pyatigorsk in the North Caucasus Federal District which he attended, which was

chaired by security council head Nikolai Patrushev. (This is not uncommon; the Security Council went to the Urals last month for a meeting.)

Kadyrov included a clip of Patrushev’s speech in which he said work against religious extremism had a “positive dynamic” and due to the Chechen Republic’s investigative work, the “bandit underground” has been “nearly crushed.” The president of Dagestan also reported this meeting, saying Patrushev was concerned to oppose extremist activities of those returning from fighting in Syria and Iraq.

Former Kremlin advisor Andrei Illarionov believes this meeting in fact represented the “capitulation” of Kadyrov; he doesn’t explain why, and links to an RT.com article which is basically Kadyrov’s own Instagram text. The meeting could just as easily be read as approval of Kadyrov.

Is this meeting suspicious, i.e. could coup-plotters be getting together in the south to move against Putin? But Patrushev himself, a former KGB office from St. Petersburg was director of the FSB from 1999-2008; he replaced Putin when Putin was made first deputy prime minister and remained through the first eight years of Putin’s rule before being moved to head the Security Council. If the FSB and Kadyrov are clashing, this meeting where Patrushev praises the Chechen Republic for its work against extremism and terrorism hardly seems to indicate it — unless it’s for show.

Later on March 11, Kadyrov visited a mosque in Nazran about 200 miles further to the south.

He was back in Grozny today for the opening of a cultural palace and time with his family.

Kadyrov’s last celebration of his loyalty to Putin came yesterday

March 11, when he showed a picture of Putin with the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, apparently from a meeting in October 2014. The picture is accompanied by a message in Arabic which is (badly) Google translated here. A better Russian translation which we saw there for a time from a reader was deleted for some reason.

In the picture, Kadyrov seems to be smiling admiringly at Putin, who almost seems to be instruction the Crown Prince in something. This is the very same picture that Kadyrov’s fan club posted on VKontakte on October 29, 2014 with a gushing message from him (excerpt translated by The Interpreter):

Vladimir Vladimirovich opposes the USA and the West, and also their vassals who think that sanctions can put Russia on its knees. How far are they from the truth! Russia has always been, is, and shall be, as long as it has such sons as Vladimir Putin! And in these photo we see that the powerful people of this worl always wish to meet with Vladimir Putin. The photo is made in Sochi after talks with the Crown Prince of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan

(Kadyrov himself only just opened up a VKontakte account this week.)

It’s hard to know what’s going on really with an Instagram over-sharer like Ramzan, but so far he is trying to portray that he loves Putin like a father, respects his authority in the Muslim world, is loyal to Russia and cooperative with the Security Council and even praised by its head — and is also keeping up his marksmanship skills.

– Catherine A. Fitzpatrick