Kadyrov does not want to sacrifice Chechens for the sake of the “Russian world”
“No matter what Moscow’s interests in Ukraine are, we are extremely far from them,” said the publication’s interlocutor. The Economist does not reveal his name but describes him as a “well-known Chechen close to the republic’s leadership.” According to the source, although R. Kadyrov boasts of his role as “Putin’s foot soldier,” he “fully understands the situation” and does not want to sacrifice the republic’s residents.
Publicly, at the end of April, during a meeting with Vladimir Putin, R. Kadyrov claimed that Chechnya had prepared and sent more than 70 thousand soldiers to the war. Two weeks before this meeting, the republic’s prime minister Magomed Daudov reported to R. Kadyrov that since the beginning of the war, 70,880 people had left Chechnya for the front. This number corresponds to 9% of the entire male population of the republic and could be the highest figure among all Russian regions, notes The Economist.
However, the number of dead residents of the republic does not reflect the scale of Chechen involvement in the war. As of July 10, according to Mediazona information, 540 confirmed Chechen deaths have been recorded – this accounts for 0.2% of all Russian losses, although Chechnya accounts for 1.1% of Russia’s population, writes The Economist.
Only a quarter of Chechens in the “Akhmat” battalion
This is explained by the recruitment of volunteers into “Chechen” units from other regions. When the war in Ukraine began, a volunteer “special purpose battalion ‘Akhmat'” was established in Chechnya, with volunteers recruited from all over Russia. The commander of “Akhmat,” Apt Alaudinov, admitted last May that Chechens make up only a quarter of the unit’s soldiers.
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R. Kadyrov, who in exchange for loyalty gained more power than any other Russian governor, has effectively managed to avoid forced mobilization into the war, the publication states. This allowed him to turn the war to his advantage, strengthening his image as the “father of the nation” defending his compatriots, writes The Economist.
Residents of Chechnya participating in the war as part of the “Akhmat” special purpose battalion have been “instructed not to try too hard and to protect themselves,” said a source connected to the Chechen leadership. In the pro-war Russian environment, “Akhmat” has begun to be called the “TikTok army” due to videos filmed far from the front showing the Chechen unit’s participation in battles, notes the Agentstvo portal.
Chechens have special reasons to view the war unfavorably – residents of the republic over 35 years old remember bombings and “cleansing” operations accompanied by mass killings carried out by the Russian army in Chechnya long before similar crimes began during the current war in Ukraine, the publication states.
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