Adam Kadyrov’s latest stunt is only 13 seconds long, but it perfectly captures the collision between impunity and image-making in today’s Chechnya. The footage is short; the political fallout may not be.

Opposition media: a portrait of impunity

Independent outlets cast the video as reckless and emblematic of a system where rules don’t apply to the ruling family. Novaya Gazeta Europe bluntly describes how "Adam Kadyrov posted a video of himself driving into oncoming traffic over a double solid line while speeding."¹ Meduza notes that in those few seconds, Kadyrov Jr. manages to break multiple laws at once — speeding to 112 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, crossing a double solid line into oncoming traffic, and using his phone at the wheel, all while he and his passenger ride without seatbelts.²

For critics, this isn’t a one-off lapse but part of a pattern. Months earlier, reports emerged that a car in his motorcade crashed at very high speed in Grozny, with Novaya Gazeta Europe reporting another vehicle in the convoy struck a car and killed its driver.² Opposition outlets frame the new clip as Kadyrov Jr. "flaunt[ing] reckless driving on camera" just after that scandal, underlining a culture of zero accountability at the top.³

The power narrative: damage control and dynastic doubts

On the regime side, there’s less an alternative explanation than an attempted erasure. Ramzan Kadyrov dismissed reports of his son’s earlier crash as a "plant," and there has been no official acknowledgment of the accident.² But even within elite circles, the image appears to be cracking. Adam was once floated as a likely successor; now, Novaya Gazeta Europe reports he is no longer being seriously considered after the crash and its fallout.²

In Chechnya’s tightly controlled information space, the contrast is stark: independent media see a symbol of hereditary impunity; the authorities offer denial and silence. The Instagram clip does what years of PR couldn’t: it lets Adam Kadyrov tell that story himself.