Putin is facing a catastrophic collapse in his army’s morale, and according to the latest news from the front lines, Russian soldiers have begun turning their guns on their Chechen “comrades”. Moscow Armed Forces officers allegedly committed a real mutiny by denouncing the conditions on which they were being left behind by the government. For his part, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is a close ally of the president and a strong supporter of Putin’s war in Ukraine. He sent his militias known as “Kadyrovtsy” to support the Tsar’s army in their invasion.
Mutiny of Russian soldiers (against Chechens)
The Chechens have a terrible reputation. In the past they have been repeatedly accused of human rights abuses, many calling them “butchers”. Part of their role is to stop the Russian soldiers themselves from fleeing the battle, threatening to shoot them if they try to defect. It is precisely their position that has infuriated part of the Moscow army, which has now taken matters into their own hands and reversed the situation vis-à-vis the Chechen oppressors. Viktor Kovalenko, a former veteran of the Ukrainian army, said Russian soldiers would turn their guns on Kadyrov’s militias. “In the occupied village of Kiselivka (near the famous Russian arms depot of Chornobaivka) in the Kherson province, about 50 Russian soldiers of Buryat nationality opened fire on Kadyrovian Chechen comrades at night,” he wrote on Twitter. “There are dead and wounded,” he added.
The accusations
The accusations made by the Russian soldiers against Kadyrov’s men are very serious. “Instead of fighting alongside them,” explains Kovalenko, “they threatened to kill them if they retreated from the battlefield, stole most of the supplies, robbed the locals, and ransacked the houses abandoned by the Ukrainians.”
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED