Mr. Putin recalled that his first meeting with Mr. Kadyrov took place, "approximately a month after Chechen militants attacked Daghestan in September 1999.
"I invited the muftis and religious leaders of the North Caucasus to Moscow, to the White House [Russian government], at that time I was the chairman of the government of the Russian Federation, to talk with them, understand their feelings, ask their advice on finding ways to settle the difficult situations in the North Caucasus at that time. Many of them have not yet been overcome. But at that time it was an especially important and especially responsible moment."
Mr. Putin said: "The mufti of Chechnya was also invited, though it was reported that he would most likely not come. But surprising to many, the mufti of Chechnya, Kadyrov at that time, came to Moscow."
"I understood that he was a wholehearted and honest man who was consistent in his thoughts and actions and who understands everything that is connected with extremism, and this is especially important," Mr. Putin said. "He flatly rejected the extreme forms of Wahhabism that some were trying, and certain people are still trying, to introduce it in the life on our land."
"What was especially important for me is that I understood that Kadyrov understands the erroneousness of the whole idea of separatism and believes that it is impossible to build a future, a happy future for his people and for Chechnya, outside the Russian Federation," Mr. Putin stressed.
Sharing his memories in the film, Mr. Putin said that he advised the late Mr. Kadyrov not to become the president of Chechnya until the end of military operations in the republic.
"Because of at least my high degree of confidence in him, I honestly told him that I thought it was not expedient to appoint him the head of the Chechen administration, since I would like to preserve him for a longer period," Mr. Putin said.
Mr. Putin said that he would have liked Mr. Kadyrov to lead Chechnya after the completion of a very difficult and complicated period for Chechnya and Russia after the end of the military operations."
However, Mr. Putin said that Mr. Kadyrov said: "I understand that all federal bodies of authority will not trust me fully, especially the power structures, because of my past, in other words my participation in actions against the federal forces in the so-called 'first Chechen war.' I also understand that the people whom I was with at that time will regard me as a traitor.
"But I am making this choice consciously, because I have come through all these difficulties and fully understand the real situation in Chechnya, and I know that not many people in Chechnya today, who have such an experience, would undertake being responsible for the fate of this people. I believe that I would cope with this task better than anybody else."
"I decided not to stop him," Mr. Putin said, "having in mind what he told me during that conversation." According to Mr. Putin, Mr. Kadyrov said: "Today I do not have the right to think about my future. I must think about the future of my people."
Mr. Kadyrov was killed in a terrorist attack on a stadium in Grozny on May 9, 2004. He would be 53 today.
On Sunday morning, August 22, Mr. Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov (the son of Akhmad Kadyrov and deputy prime minister of Chechnya) and Alu Alkhanov (head of the public council for controlling the revival of Chechnya and a presidential candidate) visited the village of Tsentoroi in Chechnya where they laid flowers on the grave of the late Chechen president.
The mid-term presidential elections in Chechnya are scheduled for August 29.
