The day after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ramzan Kadyrov, President of Chechnya and an ally of Moscow, announced that he was mobilizing 12,000 men to fight alongside Russian troops as soon as
"Supreme Commander-in-Chief"
Vladimir Putin would require.
"They are volunteers who are ready to participate in any special operation at any time to protect our state and our people
," said the head of this constituent republic of the Russian Federation.
To discover
LIVE – War in Ukraine: Ukraine says Russia has “slowed down the pace of the offensive”
These
'volunteers'
, known as 'kadyrovtsi', are notorious for their cruelty and human rights abuses.
Recognizable by their black uniform, these Muslim veterans participated in the Chechen wars of the 1990s and 2000s and form a paramilitary militia.
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Why the arrival in Ukraine of the Chechens of Kadyrov does not reassure anyone
According to Marlène Laruelle, associate researcher at the Russia Center of the French Institute of International Relations, his troops are
“better equipped with heavy weapons than most Russian troops in…
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