Adam Sultanovich Delimkhanov

Adam Delimkhanov is a hero of Russia, a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, who went from being the driver of field commander Salman Raduev to security guard Akhmat Kadyrov and deputy head of the government of the Chechen Republic. Adam Delimkhanov is a cousin of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.

In an interview with the Zavtra newspaper published on September 24, 2009, Ramzan Kadyrov named A. Delimkhanov as his possible successor , saying:  “If I’m gone, Kadyrov’s work will be continued. There is a team, there are people who will continue my work. I have always given every commander the task of preparing a person after me. I have prepared a person who can replace me. This is Adam Delimkhanov. My closest friend. Closer than a brother... I believe that Adam is better than me".

Delimkhanov was born on September 25, 1969 in the village of Benoy, Nozhai-Yurtovsky district, Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (now the Chechen Republic). In 1994 he graduated from the Chechen-Ingush State University named after L. N. Tolstoy (now the Chechen State University), in 2004 - from the Institute of Finance and Law in Makhachkala with a degree in jurisprudence, in 2013 - from the Russian Academy of National Economy and civil service under the President of the Russian Federation.

In 1987-1989 served in the USSR Armed Forces.

In 1990 he worked as a mechanic at the repair and technical enterprise "Argunskoye" of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in 1990-1991. - supplier at the Tesham enterprise.

In 2000-2003 he commanded a special purpose company of the 136th separate motorized rifle brigade of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Then, until August 2003, he was an intern, employee, inspector for analysis and planning of the headquarters of a separate police company at the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Chechen Republic for the protection of facilities - buildings of public authorities (security service of the head of the Chechen administration Akhmat Kadyrov).

He served together with Ramzan Kadyrov, who served as an inspector for communications and special equipment at headquarters, and then was a platoon commander of a separate police company. In August - September 2003, Adam Delimkhanov commanded a police battalion of the private security department at the Gudermes GOVD. From September 2003 to July 2006, he headed the unit of the private security department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic for the protection of oil and gas complex facilities, including oil fields and pipelines.

From July 2006 to April 2007, he served as Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov. From April to December 2007, he served as First Deputy Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic, overseeing the work of law enforcement agencies.

He survived a number of assassination attempts, including an assassination attempt organized against Adam Delimkhanov and Ramzan Kadyrov in 2009 on the territory of a memorial center under construction in Grozny.

Since 2007 - Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. In 2007-2011 – Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the fifth convocation. He was elected to the State Duma on December 2, 2007 as part of the federal list of candidates from the United Russia party. He ran as number two in regional group No. 20 from the Chechen Republic (the group of candidates was headed by Ramzan Kadyrov). In the Duma, Adam Delimkhanov joined the United Russia faction and took the position of deputy chairman of the Committee on Federation Affairs and Regional Policy.

In 2011-2016 – Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the VI convocation. On December 4, 2011, Adam Delimkhanov again became a State Duma deputy from the United Russia party (he ran as number four in regional group No. 20 for the Chechen Republic). Was a member of the party faction,

In 2016-2021 – Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the VII convocation. On September 18, 2016, he was elected as a deputy from United Russia in the Chechen single-mandate electoral district No. 36. In the elections he received 93.24% of the vote, his closest rival from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Ruslan Avkhadov - 2.98%. In the Duma he joined the United Russia faction, the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption.

Since 2021 - deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the VIII convocation from United Russia. He was elected on September 19, 2021 in the Chechen single-mandate electoral district No. 36 (Chechen Republic). He received 93.59% of the votes (second place in the district was taken by the deputy head of the administration of the head and government of Chechnya, Isa Khadzhimuradov from A Just Russia - For Truth, 2.08%). On June 7, 2022, he was elected First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee of the Russian Federation on Security and Anti-Corruption.

Since 2022, he participated as a volunteer in a special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine as part of the Akhmat battalion, and as an avisor to the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov on general issues. On March 14, 2022, Ramzan Kadyrov announced that his adviser, State Duma deputy Adam Delimkhanov, was in Donbass. Two days later, Kadyrov reported that Delimkhanov discussed with Chechen special forces a plan to storm the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

On 26 April 2022, Putin signed a decree awarding Chechen State Duma deputy Adam Delimkhanov the title of Hero of the Russian Federation for "courage and heroism shown during a special operation on the territories of the Donetsk People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic (DNR and LNR) and Ukraine". Delimkhanov became the first civilian to be awarded the title of Hero of Russia by an open decree during the Russia-Ukraine war. Before this, only servicemen of the Russian Ministry of Defense and one officer of the National Guard of the Russian Federation (Rosgvardiya) received this award.

Also, as an incentive  for staying in the military operation zone, Delimkhanov was appointed first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption. On September 12, 2022, Kadyrov announced that Delimkhanov had returned to Ukraine and led Chechen fighters there. Chechen units are ready to carry out any order, Delimkhanov reported then.

On July 21, 2022, the European Union included Adam Delimkhanov in the sanctions list of the seventh package of anti-Russian sanctions. Delimkhanov is included in the list because the European Union considers him responsible for organizing Chechen units in the Donbass and leading the “siege of Mariupol in March 2022.”

Adam Delimkhanov, whose death in the special operation zone was previously reported by Ukrainian media, is alive. The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, spoke about this in his Telegram channel 16 June 2023. “Thank you to everyone who worried! Adam Sultanovich is alive and well and not even wounded. “I knew this from the very beginning of the fake news, but I decided to demonstrate to everyone, primarily the Ukrainians, to what extent their media had sunk,” he wrote.

Hero of the Lugansk People's Republic (2022). Hero of the Chechen Republic (2023).

He was awarded three Orders of Courage, the Order of Friendship, the Order of Akhmat Kadyrov, the highest award of the Chechen Republic. Received gratitude from the Government of the Russian Federation (2019).

Author of the book “Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov and the revival of statehood in Chechnya at the beginning of the 21st century” (2022).