When he failed to stop, the men fired warning shots before shooting him in the head.
Putin is reportedly poised to rely more on the support of Kadyrov’s Chechen soldiers.
It is said that they will take up the role of the Wagner Group after their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died last year in what many saw as an assassination by Putin.
Putin said Prigozhin’s death came after grenades were set off on the plane carrying Prigozhin and his colleagues.
Kadyrov has proved to be a crucial ally for Putin in recent years.
The Chechen leader has also placed a number of his family members in high-ranking postions in Chechnya.
His 24-year-old daughter, Khadizhat Kadyrova, is the latest to be given a position. She was appointed as deputy chief of Kadyrov’s administration.
Another of his daughters, Aishat, 25, was appointed as deputy prime minister of Chechnya in October.
His eldest son, Akhmat, 18, was given the role of deputy minister of sport and youth policy in November.
Kadyrov’s son-in-law Viskhan Matsuev, 26, Aishat’s husband, is agriculture minister. His brother-in-law, Ramzan Cherkhigov, 56, is the minister of transport; and his nephew, Khamzat, 27, was made an adviser to Kadyrov on security issues last year.
It was reported in November that Kadyrov is lining up his 15-year-old son Adam as a successor to rule in Chechnya.
Adam was praised at the time for beating up a prisoner accused of desecrating the Koran.
Ben Noble, associate professor of Russian politics at University College London, told the Telegraph: “Ramzan Kadyrov is bolstering support for his family with the possible prospect that he may be seriously ill.”
Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russia, added: “Kadyrov is having to contemplate a future in which either he’s not around or has had to step back from power.”
