About papakha, the traditional headdress of Caucasians, they say that it falls only from the head. Ramzan Magamadov does not leave his friends in this incredible cafe, where we meet him. The President of the Chechen Union of France did not come alone. One of the men accompanying him introduces himself as the official consul of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, a government-in-exile that does not recognize the authority of President Ramzan Kadyrov, seen only as Putin’s puppet.
The other claims authority in the community: more than 300,000 Chechens across Europe, 11,000 on the Cote d’Azur alone, who were just waiting for a word to join the Ukrainian army and fight on its side with this Russian occupier, who pushed them into exile after two successive wars in Chechnya.
Letter to Zelensky
The word, or rather the signature. This is Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine. “Our government sent him a letter on February 26,” assures Consul Umar (the name of this Chechen exile in Nice, who says that he is still being hunted by the FSB (former KGB), Russian special services, has been changed) We suggested that he officially recognize Chechnya or Ichkeria as an ally. If he does this, our youth will go to fight with his soldiers.”
Ramzan Magamadov agrees: “Every day I get calls from volunteers who want to go to Ukraine. At the moment, I have to dissuade them.” The Chechens expelled from Ichkeria say they are ready to take up arms, but first they want to “get guarantees”… And, of course, also international recognition, which they have not been able to achieve, despite hundreds of appeals to the authorities. and European.
Their commitment, they assure, is not only political. And not the “revenge” of this Russia, which waged war with them from 1994 to 1996 and again from 1999 to 2009. So far, she has not managed to create a government in Grozny, which they call “puppet”: “It was Vladimir Putin. himself, who summoned Kadyrov to Moscow and appointed him president of Chechnya. And that’s also what he wants to do with Ukraine today.” Representatives of the public in Nice emphasize the parallel in the fates of these two former Soviet satellites: “Putin today wants to pass off Ukrainians as Nazis, just as he worked yesterday to infiltrate Chechens for terrorists and bandits.”
“We will not go as mercenaries”
A reputation for being bloodthirsty, which the Kremlin today does not hesitate to return to its own advantage. Russia, for its part, is said to have mobilized 14,000 Chechens to the Ukrainian front. The exiles assure that their compatriots had no choice: “We are in touch with their families at home. Either they went to fight for Putin, or they ended up in jail. Their phones were even taken away from these soldiers so that they could not communicate. with their relatives,” says Consul Umar, who recalls that two battalions of Chechens from Ukraine, “about 600 people,” are also fighting in another camp, Zelensky’s camp. He claims that tomorrow thousands of them could pour in from “all countries of Europe” to join the ranks of the Ukrainian resistance.
At least if they get that well-known official recognition that they claim. “We will not leave as mercenaries,” one of them explains. “We are ready to fight this war, but we do not want to be treated as criminals or again as terrorists when we return.”
The self-proclaimed president of Ichkeria is talking on the phone
That is why their unrest is still only diplomatic in nature. To convince Vladimir Zelensky to accept this hand extended to him by Akhmed Zakayev, the self-proclaimed prime minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. In this incredible cafe in Nice, Consul Omar dials his number. On the phone, the man living in exile in London does not mention “ongoing negotiations” but promises us a press release.
He recalls the stakes of this conflict: “Ukrainians today are defending not only their freedom, but also the freedom of many peoples and, perhaps, even all of Europe. During the second war in Chechnya, the world recognized that what happened in our country should be considered only an internal Russian affair. He now discovers that his own freedom depends on it.”
Therefore, Chechens in exile in Ichkeria say they are ready to defend her in Ukraine. Or rather, take it back.