Putin faces power vacuum in Chechnya - expert

Russian President Vladimir Putin was unequivocal in his response to the Chechen leader’s murder: the killers of the Chechen president would meet justice, he vowed. The assassination would not stop Chechnya ''returning to normal''. But Putin will have a difficult task finding a successor to Kadyrov who has been central to the Kremlin’s strategy of using local rule to subdue the conflict. During the first Chechnya war Kadyrov rose to a position of mufti, the spiritual head of the Muslim community, and announced a holy war Jihad against Russia. But later he broke with other rebel leaders, blaming them for over-reliance on foreign help. He openly sided with the Kremlin and was soon appointed head of the Moscow-installed administration by Putin, who strived to minimise Russia’s military involvement in Chechnya and encourage Chechens to solve Chechen problems.