Dudaev Akhmed Makhumudovich

Minister of the Chechen Republic for National Policy, External Relations, Press and Information.

Dudaev was born on August 2 1987 in Grozny, his family comes from the village of Duba-Yurt. In 2009 he graduated from the geological and commercial department of the Grozny Petroleum Institute named after Academician M.D. Millionshchikov, and in 2013 from the Russian Academy of National Economy and State Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation with a degree in State and Municipal Administration. From 2008 to 2012 Dudaev was a leading specialist in the information and analytical department of the Head and Government of Chechnya in the sector of media planning, monitoring and analysis. Since 2016 he has held the posts of chief consultant of the information and analytical department, and head of the sector of video photography, video editing and photo and video archive of the information and analytical department of the Head and Government of the Chechen Republic. On March 9 2017 Akhmed Makhmudovich became the director of the main television and radio company of Chechnya, ChGTRK “Grozny”, financed from the state budget and responsible for almost the entire media agenda and propaganda in the republic. Since the same year he has been the head of the Department of Journalism at Chechen State University. In June 2020 Dudaev was appointed to the post of Minister of Information and Press of the Chechen Republic, and in 2021 he received the post of Minister of National Policy, External Relations, Press and Information. Dudaev is a member of the United Russia party.

Justification of repressive practices and participation in the deportation of children from Ukraine

On February 23 2024 Akhmed Dudaev was designated by the United States in the category of Individuals Involved in the Forced Transfer, Deportation, and/or “Re-education” of Ukraine’s Children” for his organization of “trips to deport Ukrainian children”. In addition Dudaev was personally present in the war zone in Donbass and called Ukrainian soldiers “infidels” and “followers of true evil.”

Akhmed Dudaev, responsible for Chechen propaganda, regularly justifies all the scandals associated with the Chechen Republic and lawlessness and supports the cult of personality of Ramzan Kadyrov, calling his critics “rootless, dishonest renegades who have hid in various foreign countries.” On July 4 2023 Novaya Gazeta media journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov were attacked in Chechnya. They were driving to the trial of the mother of activists Abubakar and Ibragim, Zarema Musaeva, who is held hostage by the Chechen authorities. Armed men dragged them out of the car and severely beat them. According to the “Team against torture”, the victims had difficulties moving, Milashina’s head was forcefully shaved bald, and Nemov’s leg was injured. The attackers told him: “You are protecting too many people here. There is no need to protect anyone here.” Akhmed Dudaev then said that the attack showed “the usual signs of Western intelligence services,” and that Chechnya “has fairly earned the status of the safest region in Russia.”

On August 16 2023 it became known that in a Chechen SIZO pre-trial detention center Ramzan Kadyrov’s son Adam beat Nikita Zhuravel, a defendant in the case of burning the Koran. Akhmed Dudaev then confirmed that it happened, but said that Adam “defended the honor of the Koran,” and that Zhuravel burned it by the order and command of the Ukrainian special services. “There is no way to reach Satanists in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, America, who burn the Koran every day,” but here “the Satanist was transferred to the Chechen Republic, and Adam Kadyrov was able to reach him,” Dudaev said, justifying the violation of the constitution and laws by “religious customs.”

On March 17 2024 “elections” of the President of the Russian Federation ended. Akhmed Dudaev stated: “In conducting the elections of the President of Russia in the Chechen Republic all legal norms were followed.” In Chechnya Putin won 98.99% of the votes.

The Kremlin, on the other hand, encourages the practices of the Chechen Republic. Akhmed Dudaev presented propagandist Kiselev with a letter of gratitude “for objective coverage of socio-economic and socio-political events taking place on the territory of the Chechen Republic.”