Poetin drukt harder op Tsjetsjenië

The Chechen leader Russian President Vladimir Putin picked to snuff out Islamic extremism has a motto he shares with visitors via a billboard of himself at Grozny airport: “Happiness is serving the people.”

For Ramzan Kadyrov, a former rebel fighter who switched sides, that means having a chance to expand his influence over neighbors by obtaining power to battle terrorism across the mainly Muslim North Caucasus. He tamed this once war-torn province of southern Russia with a security crackdown condemned by human rights groups.