Since October 2024, local residents in Chechnya have been massively detained and sent to the front. According to the publication and human rights defenders, the police are given a monthly quota of 25–50 “volunteers”. Fights, too long hair, or even unpaid car insurance could be the reason for detention and deployment to the war.
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Journalists identified 183 casualties. Of these, 113 went to war after October 2024. As many as 97 people signed contracts under duress and did not receive the payments they were entitled to. Based on all collected information, on average, about two months passed from deployment to the front until death. A source in the Chechen government told the publication that the total number of deceased residents of the republic exceeds 2,300, and about another thousand people are considered missing.
The forced mobilization of Chechens began after the collapse of Russia’s border defense in the Kursk region in August 2024. The “Akhmat-Chechnya” regiment, which had guarded this section since June 2023, withdrew from its positions almost without a fight during the Ukrainian forces’ invasion, and dozens of soldiers were captured. According to the publication’s source, after this event, Ramzan Kadyrov decided to protect the security forces loyal to him and compensate for the shortage of soldiers at the expense of ordinary Chechen residents.
One of the battalions of the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya) was likely created not for war, but for Adam Kadyrov, the son of the Chechen leader. The battalion, named after Baisangur Benoevsky, was established in 2023, but according to the publication, its soldiers have visited the combat zone only twice in two years. The unit is stationed in the center of Grozny, and its activities are supervised by the younger Kadyrov.
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