Dubai rolled out the red carpet for the head of state…

Crown Prince of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum met with Ramzan Kadyrov, the polarising President of the Chechen Republic (and Instagram superstar), in Dubai yesterday to discuss ways to strengthen ties between the two nations – particularly in the areas of tourism and cultural exchange.

The meeting was also attended by several other high ranking officials including the Chairman of Emaar Properties, Mohammed AlAbbar, and Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of the DTCM.

What should have been a pretty run-of-the-mill state visit, turned into something much more when President Kadyrov took to his 2.6 million follower-strong Instagram account to thank the UAE government for their hospitality with a series of videos commemorating the occasion.

The first shows the Chechen President attending the wedding of the son of the Emaar Chairman, where he was greeted by members of the political and business elite from across the region including the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad, Prince of the Kingdom of Bahrain:

A post shared by Ramzan Kadyrov (@kadyrov_95) on

Then there was this video of Sheikh Hamdan giving Mr Kadyrov a private tour of his sporting complex, complete with a visit to the stables where, according to the description in the Insta post (thanks Google Translate), he was presented with a horse named Leonardo as a gift:

A post shared by Ramzan Kadyrov (@kadyrov_95) on

The Chechen leader also commented on how impressed he was by the Crown Prince’s personal love of sport and his support and encouragement towards those who seek an active and healthy lifestyle.