Global General

Chechnya leader calls for Putin to rule for life

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-10-26 11:14

MOSCOW?- The leader of Russia's Chechnya region Ramzan Kadyrov has called for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to return as president in the 2012 elections and serve for life.

Related readings:  3 gunmen attack Chechen parliament: investigators  Russia's GDP to grow 10 pct a year by mid-decade  The growing appeal of Russia for Cirque du Soleil  Kremlin fires iconic Moscow mayor

Widely seen as the key decision-maker in Russia, Putin, who was president from 2000-2008, has hinted he will either run for president in 2012 or support President Dmitry Medvedev.

"I want him (Putin) to be the president as long as he lives," Kadyrov told Newsweek magazine on Sunday, adding he wants his "idol" Putin to win the 2012 vote.

Kremlin-backed Kadyrov is the first leader of a Russian region to call for Putin's return to the presidency. Kadyrov's father and predecessor Akhmad, who was assassinated by rebels in 2004, was a close friend of Putin's.

A decade after Moscow drove separatists out of power in Chechnya in the second of two wars, the region is relatively stable amid an Islamist insurgency across Russia's North Caucasus.

"As long as Putin backs me up, I can do everything -- Allahu Akbar! (God is Greatest)," Kadyrov told Newsweek.