Adam Kadyrov, the 17-year-old son of Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov, has inaugurated a sports complex named Dustum — the nickname Adam Kadyrov uses on social media.
The opening ceremony for the sports complex in the village of Vardeiskoe in the Chechen district of Nadterechny took place on Tuesday.
It was attended by Chechnya’s Minister for Youth Affairs Ramzan Vismuradov and UFC champion Khamzat Chimaev, who was described as the ‘ideological inspiration for the project’.
According to the Head of the Nadterechny District administration, Khamzat Khasanov, the facility is ‘equipped with the latest technology’ and is intended to become ‘a training centre for a new generation of champions and a space for the physical development of the district’s youth’. The complex includes wrestling mats, boxing bags, fitness equipment, changing rooms, and showers.
A video of the opening was published on Khasanov’s Telegram channel, showing the young Kadyrov, accompanied by officials and security, inspecting the complex’s facilities, including the gym and martial arts halls.
Khasanov thanked Ramzan Kadyrov and his mother, Aimani Kadyrova, president of the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation, for ‘implementing an important and necessary project’.
During the ceremony, Adam Kadyrov was awarded the title of honorary citizen of the Nadterechny municipal district.
Chechnya already has several sports facilities named after members of the Kadyrov family. Most of them are named after Ramzan Kadyrov’s father, Akhmat Kadyrov. These include the Akhmat Arena stadium in Grozny, part of the larger Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov Sports Palace complex, a multifunctional sports centre in Urus-Martan, and the Akhmat fight club.
In 2020, a sports complex in Bachi-Yurt was named after Ramzan Kadyrov’s eldest son, Akhmat, who was only 15 at the time.
The name Dustum derives from the Tajik word for ‘friends’. Initially, this name was used by Ramzan Kadyrov as a callsign, but in recent years it has been passed on to Adam, who uses it as his social media handle and for car details and clothing designs.
In August, Chimaev, who became the UFC middleweight champion, presented his championship belt to Adam Kadyrov. Chechen authorities have actively promoted Chimaev in regional media, calling him a ‘role model’ and a ‘true patriot’. Chimaev has repeatedly received gifts from Ramzan Kadyrov, including Mercedes-Maybach cars, and has been invited to family events such as family weddings. He has repeatedly referred to Ramzan Kadyrov as a ‘padishah’, or king, and publicly thanked him. He calls Adam Kadyrov his ‘protégé’, having trained the Kadyrov children in martial arts.
Chechen state media has recently begun referring to Adam Kadyrov as ‘assistant to the Head of Chechnya’, adding to the list of other titles and official positions the 17-year-old holds.
Adam Kadyrov is also the head of his father’s personal security service, the overseer of the Special Forces University in Gudermes, the overseer of Chechnya’s Baisangur of Benoa and Sheikh Mansur battalions (part of the Defence Ministry), the ‘supervisor’ of the Chechen Interior Ministry, and the overseer of fundraising for humanitarian aid to residents of the Gaza Strip.
In September he received a new appointment, after being tasked by his father with overseeing the payment of property taxes by municipal-level organisations.
Adam Kadyrov obtained the appointments despite being underage and having no political experience. It is not clear whether he has completed school — according to public announcements, he started first grade in 2015, but there has been no information about his academic progress since. Ramzan Kadyrov has not stated whether his son completed school externally, so Adam Kadyrov should currently only be in the 10th grade.
There has been widespread speculation that Kadyrov is grooming Adam as his successor, and is seeking a legal or political mechanism through which power could be transferred to him. Under Russian law, direct transfer of official government positions to family members is not permitted, and the minimum age to be the head of a region is 30.
Elizaveta Chukharova
