Ramzan Kadyrov’s 18-year-old son, Adam, is known for a lot of things: roundhouse-kicking a teenager jailed for burning the Quran, firing dual machine guns made of gold, collecting a seemingly endless stream of state awards and being appointed to oversee security and tax collection in the republic of Chechnya.
Now, the heir apparent to Kadyrov’s de facto throne is selling, of all things, energy drinks.
Under his personal brand, K-13, Adam Kadyrov officially launched the fizzy stimulant bomb this week. In a video posted online earlier, the elder Kadyrov is seen sampling the energy drink at a new big-box store in the Chechen capital of Grozny.
Those with a long memory will appreciate the irony. In 2012, Ramzan Kadyrov called for a ban on energy drinks, declaring that “intoxicating drugs are unacceptable in a Muslim society.”
Adam Kadyrov shared a slick K-13 ad video on Instagram this week — a platform he and other officials in Russia continue to use despite the government labeling it “extremist.” The clip features a BMW furiously spinning around in circles, presumably because a Russian-made Lada would not be able to handle the G-force.
Astute observers will also notice that the K-13 logo bears a striking resemblance to the claw-like design of Monster Energy.
Why the younger Kadyrov decided to pivot into the beverage industry is anyone’s guess.
In 2013, Chechen lawmakers banned the sale of energy drinks. If those laws were changed ahead of the K-13 launch, it has not been officially announced.
According to the exiled Russian news outlet Vyorstka, the companies managing K-13 were set up by Kadyrov family insiders.
The energy drink is just the latest personal branding exercise for Adam Kadyrov, who has been thrust into the limelight with a flurry of high-level government appointments in recent years, fueling speculation that his father may be preparing him to rule the North Caucasus republic after he leaves office.
