Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has made peace with a long-time rival who had accused the Kremlin-backed leader of having two of his brothers killed. The unexpected reconciliation appears likely to silence Isa Yamadayev, one of the most vocal critics of the Chechen leader on whom Moscow relies to maintain order in the violence-plagued region in Russia's North Caucasus.
Yamadayev had accused Kadyrov of being behind the 2008 killing of his brother Ruslan, a Russian parliament deputy who was gunned down on a Moscow street, and the fatal shooting of another brother, Sulim, in Dubai last year.
In an unrelated case, Austrian prosecutors said on Tuesday they did not have enough evidence to bring charges against Kadyrov over the killing of a Chechen in Vienna last year despite an earlier police report that implicated him. Such accusations echoed assertions by human rights groups that Kadyrov had organised killings of opponents at home and abroad - accusations he has denied.
The Russian daily Vedomosti, citing a source close to Chechnya's leadership, said Moscow had pushed Yamadayev to make peace with Kadyrov to avoid further bloodshed. Under police protection in recent months, Yamadayev has only appeared in public surrounded by heavily armed guards.