(Adds dropped words in first para to make clear Austrian authorities suspect Kadyrov of ordering kidnapping, edits headline)

* Austrian judge seeks video testimony from Kadyrov

* Exile's murder trial extended until late January

VIENNA, Nov 19 (Reuters) - An Austrian court wants Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov to testify by video link about an exile's murder in Vienna last year during a botched kidnapping which authorities suspect the Kremlin-backed leader of ordering.

Judge Friedrich Forsthuber asked on Friday the lawyer for Otto Kaltenbrunner, one of three men on trial for the killing, to check whether Kadyrov would be prepared to testify by video conference, the national Austria Press Agency reported.

Kaltenbrunner, who told the court he had been close to Kadyrov since 1998, has denied any involvement in the murder of Chechen exile Umar Israilov during the botched kidnapping.

Kaltenbrunner insists that Kadyrov also had nothing to do with the shooting in broad daylight on a Vienna street in January, 2009.

"If there are good contacts (with him) then I would suggest a video conference with President Kadyrov. That would give us a direct impression that we would not come close to getting by questioning him via a request for legal assistance," APA quoted the judge as saying.

Kaltenbrunner's lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, said he would try to make contact with Kadyrov via his client's family, APA reported.

Austrian investigators said in April they believed -- mostly based on circumstantial evidence -- that Kadyrov ordered a kidnapping of Israilov that went awry and ended in his death. [ID:nLDE63Q21U]

Kadyrov's spokesman Alvi Karimov has consistently denied Kadyrov's involvement and said on Friday he was unaware of the Austrian court's potential request.

A decade after Moscow drove separatists out of power in Chechnya in the second of two wars, the region rests on a shaky peace which the Kremlin credits to Kadyrov, who fought against Russia in the first war but then switched sides.

But rights activists say that in return for relative stability the Kremlin turns a blind eye to Kadyrov's heavy-handed rule and torture both at home and abroad, claims he has consistently denied.

The Vienna trial, originally scheduled to wrap up this month, will now run at least until late January.

Dubai police have accused a close adviser to Kadyrov, Adam Delimkhanov, of masterminding the March 2009 killing of Chechen Sulim Yamadayev in the emirate, which he denied.

Yamadayev's brother Isa has accused Kadyrov of killing Sulim, as well as of orchestrating the 2008 murder of his other brother Ruslan, though Isa has since made peace with Kadyrov. [ID:nLDE67N1QI] (Reporting by Michael Shields; editing by David Stamp)