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Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Akhmad Kadyrov |
 | | The Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov, whose seven months in the perilous post as Moscow's chosen head of state ended yesterday with his death, aged 52, in a bomb blast, was reviled as a quisling by the Chechnya guerrilla commanders, and by his predecessor as president, Aslan Maskhadov. |
 | | Kadyrov, in turn, despised Maskhadov, and was jealous of his standing among the Chechens, although Kadyrov's brutish son, Ramzan, recently claimed to be putting out feelers aimed at reaching a settlement with Maskhadov, a move he said was sabotaged by Russian intelligence. |
 | | Kadyrov became one of the key figures in modern Chechnya by virtue of the tactics of President Vladimir Putin, who badly needed a loyal Chechen to do his bidding, while seeking to undercut Maskhadov's status and also enabling the Russian leader to distance himself from the Chechnya war when it became politically expedient. |
| www.guardian.co.uk /obituaries/story/0,3604,1212949,00.html (772 words) |
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