The mayor of Chechnya’s capital Grozny, Khas-Magomed Kadyrov, a distant relative of Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov, has taken first place in the 2025 National Mayor’s Ranking.
Also within the top three positions were Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Ufa Mayor Ratmir Mavliev.
The ranking was prepared by Rating, a centre for information communications, jointly with Russia’s Financial University. It is compiled annually ‘based on the results of a comprehensive study’. This year, it covered the activities of the heads of 88 Russian cities, including regional capitals and the country’s largest financial and industrial centres. Experts assess the performance of city leaders according to a number of indicators, including the development of the urban environment, the digital transformation of infrastructure, and the sustainability of management results.
The study noted that Kadyrov’s work throughout the year was systematic and focused on transforming the urban environment, introducing digital solutions, and improving the efficiency of municipal management. Among his key achievements, the study highlighted the implementation of urban development projects, including the opening of the first phase of a new district named after Russian President Vladimir Putin, where more than 330,000 square metres of housing were put into operation.
The project’s website also emphasised that under Kadyrov’s leadership, the city administration actively uses digital technologies in the management of municipal processes and infrastructure, which, according to analysts, contributed to the high result in the ranking.
‘Khas-Magomed Kadyrov has topped the ranking for the first time. It was precisely the high stability of results over a long period that became the foundation of this success. His achievements are noticeable in many other authoritative rankings and analytical reviews’, the project’s website states.
In turn, Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov noted in a congratulatory message on Telegram that ‘the high performance indicators of Khas-Magomed Kadyrov became possible thanks to his professionalism, sense of responsibility, and rational approach to fulfilling tasks of any level of complexity. This is also clearly confirmed by the well-established, systematic and high-quality work of the city administration he leads’.
In 2024, Khas-Magomed Kadyrov took third place in the same ranking. In the two preceding years, he held fifth place.
Kadyrov is often described as Ramzan Kadyrov’s nephew, though he is actually a fourth cousin. He became mayor of Grozny in March 2021 at the age of 30.
In 2017, at the age of 26, he headed the Grozny Police despite only being a junior lieutenant at the time. In 2019, he served as mayor of the city of Argun, and in November 2020, he was appointed head of the administration of the head and government of Chechnya.
Elizaveta Chukharova
