Widely seen as the key decision-maker in Russia, Putin, who was
president from 2000-2008, has hinted he will either run for president in
2012 or support the protege he steered into the Kremlin two years ago,
President Dmitry Medvedev.
"I want him (Putin) to be the president as long as he lives," Kadyrov
told Newsweek magazine on Sunday, adding he wants his "idol" Putin to
win the 2012 vote.
Kremlin-backed Kadyrov is the first leader of a Russian region to call
for Putin's return to the presidency. Kadyrov's father and predecessor
Akhmad, who was assassinated by rebels in 2004, was a close friend of
Putin's.
A decade after Moscow drove separatists out of power in Chechnya in the
second of two devastating wars, the region is relatively stable amid an
Islamist insurgency across Russia's North Caucasus.
Kadyrov is widely credited by Russia's leaders for rebuilding Chechnya,
although rights groups accuse him of heavy-handed tactics such as
torture and abduction, charges he denies as attempts to blacken his
name.
Analysts say the Kremlin allows Kadyrov to run Chechnya as a personal fiefdom in exchange for relative stability.
"As long as Putin backs me up, I can do everything — Allahu Akbar!" Kadyrov told Newsweek.
