Sociologists: Kadyrov's rating rests on his resonant statements

The popularity of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has brought him up to the federal level, but in 2016 his rating was based mainly on his hard-edged statements and positioning himself as a strong leader, said Alexei Grazhdankin and Stepan Goncharov, sociologists of the "Levada Centre".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Kadyrov was the only one out of the heads of the regions of Southern Russia, who got the mark of "excellent" in the "survivability rating", drawn up on the basis of experts' estimates by the "Petersburg Politics" Fund and the "Minchenko Consulting" Holding.

Among the heads of the republics and governors of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) and the Southern Federal District (SFD), only Kadyrov is among the politicians, trusted by Russians, said the monthly ratings compiled by the "Levada Centre". The head of Chechnya won the maximum Russians' support in March (6% of votes, the 7th place) this year.

According to Alexei Grazhdankin, the deputy director of the "Levada Centre", the attitude to Kadyrov changed after the events of 2014, when he "resolutely expressed his support for the policy of Russia in the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine."

He added that Kadyrov "is actively present in mass media," and therefore "he is perceived as a proactive politician."

"The main merits of Kadyrov are the restoration of the control over Chechnya, a sharp decline in the number of terror acts, and normal relations with the federal centre," said Grazhdankin.

The participants of the study explained Kadyrov's popularity mainly by the image of a "strong leader", who "fights for the interests of his republic and the whole country," Stepan Goncharov has noted.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.