At least 63 relatives of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov have flown abroad on business jets at least once. This conclusion was reached by the investigative outlet *Proekt* as part of its "Fellow Travelers" investigation. By comparison, the outlet identified 16 such passengers each in the families of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov.

Most of the flights taken by Kadyrov’s relatives were on an Airbus A319 converted into a VIP airliner. Kadyrov’s family has been using this aircraft since at least 2017; its value may exceed $80 million. Since at least 2015, the nominal owner of the jet has been the Chechen leader’s cousin, Shakhruddi Edilgireev—who himself has flown abroad on it only four times, according to *Proekt*.

Over a nine-year period—from 2014 to 2023—the Kadyrov family spent nearly $13 million on private jet flights abroad, the outlet calculated.

Kadyrov himself made 31 business jet flights during this period, according to a database of Russian border crossings analyzed by the outlet. All these trips were to countries with predominantly Muslim populations: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain. Kadyrov is accompanied on these trips by a large entourage that includes relatives, security guards, and officials.

Aside from the primary aircraft, Kadyrov used another business jet on only one occasion. In 2023, he returned to Russia from the UAE aboard a Dassault Falcon 900C operated by the airline Severo-Zapad.

Relatives of the Chechen leader also utilized chartered aircraft. In September 2023, Kadyrov’s wife, Medni, along with his sisters and children, flew to Abu Dhabi and back on an Embraer Legacy 600 and a Gulfstream G550.

In terms of the total number of international flights taken on business jets, the Kadyrov family ranks third among the families of Russian regional heads, with 184 flights to their name. The families of Tatarstan’s leader Rustam Minnikhanov and Vorobyov undertook more flights—369 and 189, respectively.

The aircraft used by the Kadyrov family carried passengers beyond just his relatives and inner circle. According to *Proekt*, passengers included video blogger Guseyn Gasanov and Honored Artist of Chechnya Radima Khadzhimuradova.

At the same time, a Russian investigative journalist speaking to *Novy Dosh* on condition of anonymity noted that the number of Putin’s relatives who might use business jets could significantly exceed the figure cited in the study. The study accounts only for the 16 individuals whom the outlet *Proekt* was able to identify through available data and link to the Russian president. According to our source, the head of state’s circle of relatives is only partially known to the public.

In particular, the press has previously reported that Putin’s daughters each hold two passports with different personal details. However, the investigator believes there is no reason to assume a person can hold only two such documents or that journalists are aware of every name and passport detail used. Other relatives of the president may also possess documents bearing different surnames and personal information, making it significantly more difficult to identify them in flight databases.

Therefore, the *Novy Dosh* source believes it is impossible to determine the exact number of Putin’s relatives who might be taking such trips based solely on open-source data.