Kadyrov's Plane Secretly Arrives In Minsk

A version of the reason for the unexpected visit has appeared.

In the afternoon, May 29, an Airbus A319-100, which is the personal plane of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, arrived in Minsk from Grozny. In the evening of May 30, the plane left. It is unknown whether Kadyrov was on board, but there is a theory about the reason for a possible secret visit, reports ‘Belsat’.

The plane's connection to Ramzan Kadyrov has been known for a long time. Since 2013, the $80 million plane was registered in Bermuda, and it was re-registered in Russia in the summer of 2022. The plane's flights coincided with the appearance of Kadyrov's children at resorts. According to the Russian Dozhd TV channel, the plane is one of the most luxurious business jets in the world, and it is easily recognisable in photos published by Kadyrov himself.

It is not known where Ramzan Kadyrov himself was on May 29-30. There were no official or unofficial reports about his visits.

On May 30, Kadyrov published a video of a meeting with Vladimir Putin and Uzbek head Shavkat Mirziyoyev, but this meeting took place in Tashkent as early as May 27. The plane in question flew from Grozny to Tashkent on May 25, from Tashkent to Grozny on May 27, from Grozny to Minsk on May 29 and from Minsk to an unknown destination to the east on May 30.

The assumption about the purpose of the visit appeared on the Telegram channels: Belarus has one of the shortest queues for kidney transplantation. The Russian media have long been rumouring about the severe deterioration of 47-year-old Kadyrov's health. Kadyrov's recent appointments of his young relatives to high positions in Chechnya are attributed precisely to the Chechen dictator's poor health: in the absence of a definite successor, Kadyrov may be reinforcing his clan in case he loses capacity.