Dubai is a POWER! Villa – DON! Ukrainska Pravda has found Kadyrov's villa in Dubai
*The title contains a play on words: the word "power" refers to a slogan which is used widely among the soldiers of Kadyrov's personal army and is often said by officials and athletes during mass events in the Chechen Republic; the word that sounds like "Don" is used often by Kadyrov to connect words. As he explained later in the interview, "this is my conversational habit".
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Head of the Chechen Republic, may have visited the United Arab Emirates 14 times in 2021-2022 alone. According to public online radars, this is the number of times his private plane has visited the UAE.
The luxurious Airbus A319 worth $80 million, which appeared to belong to Kadyrov, the leader of the subsidized region of Russia - the Chechen Republic - in 2013. But it was noticed by Russian journalists only in 2017 when a photograph of one of the bedrooms of the plane was published by the Russian propagandist and singer Timati.
Sources for Ukrainska Pravda in the aviation industry say that one of the world's most expensive companies, British Winch Design, developed the interior design of the aircraft. Thanks to the company's portfolio, it is possible to see more photos of Kadyrov's plane. For some reason, the plane is not registered in Chechnya, but in the offshore jurisdiction of Bermuda.
Where does Kadyrov get the money for his luxurious lifestyle? Back in 2011, journalists managed to ask the head of Chechnya about the sources of his income. At that point, Kadyrov replied: "Allah gives it. I do not know. The money comes from somewhere. " Since then, Kadyrov's lifestyle has only improved, but similar questions have not been asked.
And even if we assume that Kadyrov really does not know where he got $80 million to buy his plane, then the head of Chechnya clearly ought to know why he flies to the United Arab Emirates so often.
There is no doubt that it is Kadyrov's plane: analysis of all the flights on this aircraft indicate that the airport in Hroznyi is its "home" airport, and Kadyrov’s flights match his few international visits and meetings in Moscow.
Last year Kadyrov's plane flew to the Emirates on December 4.
On November 2 and on November 6, the aircraft was noticed on its way from Chechnya to the Maldives.
October 10, 24 and 31.
In April, March, February and January: in general, Kadyrov's plane visits the Emirates almost every month. It is hard to imagine that during all these visits, a person with Kadyrov's money would use hotels.
Dubai is a POWER!
Let's start with the last visit. This year, on February 26, Kadyrov's plane visited Dubai for one day.
But on February 23, a musician from the Emirates posted a photo on Instagram with the caption "with the Vice President of Chechnya."
Kadyrov's deputy, Adam Delimkhanov, is in the photo. According to Kadyrov, Delimkhanov is in charge of Kadyrovtsy (Kadyrov’s personal army - ed.) , who, together with other mercenaries in the Russian army, began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on the night of February 23-24.
We managed to find this photo under the geotag of a five-star hotel, which is located on the famous Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. According to Ukrainska Pravda sources, one of Ramzan Kadyrov's villas is located on the territory of this hotel.
We have found other representatives of Kadyrov's inner circle under the same geotag. This man has been posting pictures from the hotel on his Instagram page since 2014.
Here is this man with Kadyrov’s translator
The cheapest hotel room costs $700 per night. Villas at the hotel cost about 3 thousand dollars a day. There are also private villas in the area.
This is apparently Zaur Taimaskhanov, according to the Instagram post of a man in which he quotes Kadyrov, who congratulates him on his birthday. He is a senior officer of the SOBR Terek unit of the Russian Federation (The Special Rapid Response Unit - ed.), or to put it simply, he is an officer in the Kadyrov Special Forces.
But our attention was caught by these two photos of 2014 and 2017.
Taimaskhanov is photographed with a villa in the background. And this turns out to be a villa owned by Kadyrov on the territory of the five-star Zabeel Saray Royal Residences at Palm Jumeirah. Kadyrov’s Villa is Number 21. One of the two largest, its location is conveniently secluded.
Besides the information from these three sources, what other reasons are there to think this is Kadyrov’s villa? In 2017, the Hroznyi TV channel reported on Kadyrov's meeting in Dubai with the head of one of the largest local construction companies. The meeting took place at Kadyrov's villa at night. Here is a photograph taken from the same angle as we saw in Zaur Taimaskhanov’s photo.
And here are a few shots of the villa’s interior.
Kadyrov also met with other representatives of construction companies at the Dubai villa. For example, this meeting was held in 2021.
Kadyrov's pictures can also be seen here in the living room.
This interior can also be recognized in Kadyrov's photo with boxer Mike Tyson in 2017.
Another villa, half the size of this one, is now on sale for about $7 million.
In Dubai or in Hroznyi?
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ramzan Kadyrov has already made several attempts to create fake information about his alleged stay in Ukraine. Kadyrov also denied reports that his family and families close to him were in Dubai. Kadyrov and his officials allegedly called their children during the meeting to make sure they were in Chechnya. The local media article quoted the son of the head of the Chechen Rosguard, which was involved in the war against Ukraine,
"It seems to me that because Hroznyi is so beautiful, they unwittingly mixed it up with Dubai."
After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainska Pravda sources visited the hotel and took photos of Kadyrov's villa.
A Rolls-Royce is waiting near the villa.
According to Ukrainska Pravda sources, 3-4 of Kadyrov's Chechen security guards live in a small villa next door, in case Kadyrov or members of his family decide to visit it for the 15th time. And this is only during 2021-2022.
Turko Daudov, the official adviser and representative of the Chechen leader in the Arab and Muslim countries, takes care of Kadyrov’s villa.
There are many photos on Daudov's Instagram page. Daudov and Kadyrov's son Adam are photographed near the villa in Dubai in 2021.
Here is Daudov near Kadyrov's villa in the company of two bodyguards of the head of Chechnya. The person on the right is Zaynuddin Zangev, a special forces officer of the Russian National Guard's rapid reaction unit in the Chechen Republic.
If you check out Zangev's profile, it is empty. But if you look at the photos and videos Zangev has been tagged in, you can see that he may now be taking part in hostilities in Ukraine.
Or, like his boss Ramzan Kadyrov, he is pretending to be involved in the fighting in Ukraine, shooting fake videos, even though he is actually in Chechnya and dreaming about Dubai.
***
Last week, Ukrainska Pravda asked readers to help find information about Russia's elite in Dubai. Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, this place has become a place where looted Russian money is stashed, and a hiding place for the families of Russian elites.
This is the first story that contains information from readers who responded to our call. Thank you for your support. "If there is you and us, then that’s all of us"
(Said by Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2018, before running for President – ed.)
By Mykhailo Tkach