Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov confirmed that these volunteers were going to “take part in a special operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine.”
The head of Russian Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, assured on Thursday that “a thousand” Chechen volunteers are heading to fight in Ukraine three weeks after the start of the Moscow offensive.
In his Telegram account, Ramzan Kadyrov said that one of his relatives, Apti Alaudinov, was “at the head of a thousand volunteers from the Chechen Republic” who “were sent to participate in a special operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine.” .
The Chechen leader, who rules his Caucasian republic with an iron fist, assured on Monday that he was in Ukraine, along with Moscow troops, at a seized airfield near Kiev. This information could not be independently verified and was questioned by Ukrainian officials.
Militia on the orders of Putin
Ramzan Kadyrov, criticized by international NGOs for serious human rights violations in Chechnya, is a staunch supporter of Vladimir Putin and has a militia under his command.
At the start of the Russian offensive, images circulated on social media showing a square in Grozny, Chechnya’s capital, filled with soldiers who said they were ready to go to Ukraine at any time.
Forces controlled by Ramzan Kadyrov are accused of numerous abuses in Chechnya.