The pro-Moscow President of Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov, and at least 30 other people, have been killed in a bomb attack in the capital, Grozny.
Mr Kadyrov was fatally wounded when a device exploded in the VIP area of a packed stadium during a ceremony marking victory in World War Two.
Chechen separatists are being blamed for the blast; the Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed revenge.
It is reported that five people have been detained on suspicion of involvement with the attack.
Officials have said the commander of Russian troops in Chechnya, Gen Valery Baranov, was seriously injured in the explosion; they denied reports that he was killed.
