Washington — The Second Chechen War, initiated by Moscow in 1999, raised the status of Russia’s new, then-less-known prime minister, Vladimir Putin, a former intelligence officer. With the aim of returning the mountainous Islamic region to the Kremlin’s control Very brutal campaign He loved Putin to the nostalgic Russians for a show of strength from what many of the world considered to be a declining nuclear superpower.
“The bandits will be destroyed,” Putin claims to have been banished from the Ukrainian government and army at the time, reflecting how he talks about the “Nazis.” “We have to go through the mountain caves and scatter and destroy all the armed people.”
Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov Earlier this week he announced he was in Ukraine The past seemed to catch up with the present to support Putin’s invasion. Despite his journey to the forefront of Kadyrov, he claimed on social media that he had almost reached Kyiv, the capital still under Ukrainian control. May have been fictitiousAlthough only a promotional stunt, some say his involvement could lead to even more bloody conflicts.
“Kadyrov is a psychopath who personally tortures his political prisoners,” a Russian expert said. Michael weiss He told Yahoo News, alluding to Kadyrov’s famous human rights abuses. Weiss et al. State that the presence of Kadyrov soldiers in Ukraine could mark a new stage in combat, with the rules of regular war being abandoned as Putin desperately wins.
Kadyrov, 45, governs Chechnya under Putin’s supervision.And if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is the protagonist of the conflict, Kadyrov is the more colorful responder to the main villain Putin, given to the wielder. Golden gun When Run through a pet tiger..And even when he seems to have been preparing for the war, Kadyrov Engaged in social media feud with Tesla founder Elon Musk..
But his cartoonish attitude disguises a deep desire for power and a tendency towards violence. Kadyrov leads a paramilitary organization called Kadyrovites that works to quell the rebellion in Chechnya, which has struggled to liberate Russia (and other empires) for centuries. By making a bid for Putin— This includes enemy hunting in Istanbul and Berlin — Kadyrov basically guarantees to maintain the Kremlin’s support.
“Russian troops are facing a serious shortage of human resources,” explains Emil Aslan, a professor of security studies at Charles University in Prague. “It is an essential asset for the Russian army, both tactically and psychologically,” Kadyrovites told Yahoo News.
White House spokesman Jen Psaki said Thursday that the Biden administration could not confirm the existence of Chechen fighters in Ukraine. However, such confirmation came from battlefield reports and social media posts where a sort of meta-battle is taking place in search of world opinion.
The Kremlin did not hype Kadyrov’s role and, in fact, challenged the exaggerated warlord’s own claim that he was on the outskirts of Kyiv. At the same time, the Kremlin has few other allies to rely on.
“Russia’s desire for troops after Chechnya probably shows how poor the war was,” he said. Washington DC, think tank defense priorities..
Ukrainian troops are much smaller than Russian troops, but poorly trained Russian recruits have been repeatedly repelled since Putin launched the invasion last month. And as the United States and other nations continue to supply Kyiv with weapons, Russia is dangerously close to defeat, in a tough war that allowed Putin to declare victory in Chechnya 20 years ago. May depend on it. Attempts to conquer the majority of Muslim areas proved unsuccessful.
Russian President Yeltsin launched a devastating invasion of Chechnya in 1994 in an attempt to prevent the independence of a small oil-rich republic. Nevertheless, Chechnya made a fierce defense and culminated in the battle of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. It killed hundreds of Russian soldiers.. The humiliating Russian troops withdrew, and Chechnya achieved some degree of autonomy and peace.
Putin, an avid student of Soviet propaganda, may be trying to use a rough stereotype about the Chechens’ combat power to scare otherwise bold Ukrainian resistance.
After a series of apartment bombings in Moscow and elsewhere that accused the Chechens, Putin began the Second Chechen War, Grozny was leveled, and civil society in the small republic was virtually destroyed. In exchange for their loyalty, the once rebel Kadyrovs were given free power over the Chechen masses. They wielded that power ruthlessly, Especially when it comes to gay and lesbian populations..
A 2006 Report by Human Rights Watch It turns out that dissidents could face near medieval retaliation. “They started kicking me and then brought me a” machine of hell “to give me an electric shock. They attached a wire to my toes and kept turning the handle to release the current. I couldn’t stand it, “said Kadyrov’s torture survivors, who testified in the report that they were named” Khamid Kh. “
Bringing such a method to Ukraine would only exacerbate the conflict that President Biden had already led Putin to call him a “war criminal.”
Kadyrov, a supporter of Putin’s campaign from the beginning, said he was on the battlefield earlier this week and was ready to fight. The claim was later revealed by the Ukrainian press, who determined that Kadyrov’s announcement was actually sent from Chechnya.Still, the Chechens are involved in the conflict and Ukraine blames them Trying to assassinate Zelensky..
If the Russian attack fails to rob Kyiv and other big cities, their role could expand. “If you are asked to target a neighborhood and target civilians, they will do it,” said Jean-Francois Latelle, a Chechen war expert at the University of Ottawa. To tell. “They can be used to commit war crimes against civilians.”
Putin can also use the Chechens to shoot Russian recruits on their way to the desert, Laterre said. This practice has a precedent in Russian history. During World War II, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was chased by security forces ordered to shoot by frontline soldiers of the Red Army. Those who are trying to retreat From the horrific German onslaught.
So far, all alleged war crimes in Ukraine appear to have been committed by Russians at the request of the Kremlin. However, Kadyrov is expected to be more involved in conflict warning experts on Chechnya and its turbulent history.
Russian expert Weiss said Putin’s report of recruiting fighters in Syria helped Russia strengthen the ruthless regime of dictator Bashar Assad in the country’s civil war. “Putin is throwing everything he can into this war.”
If the Second Chechen War consolidates Putin’s dominance over Russia, a provocative invasion of Ukraine could prove his redo, especially the cruel and unconventional war in which he is a Chechen warlord. If you ask Kadyrov for a dispute, the telephone card is not before the deaths of thousands of soldiers and citizens in the process.
Others scare Ukrainians with a militant show of Kadyrov’s support for the war in Ukraine, with racist tendencies about the Muslim Chechens and their presumed propensity for violence. I see it as a desperate attempt.
But while Kadyrov himself is loyal to Putin, it is not surprising since Putin appointed his father as Chechen leader in 2000. Elder Kadyrov was assassinated by a separatist in 2004. Other Chechens despised the bond between Strongman and his Kremlin and chose to fight for Ukraine instead.
“Today I want to tell the Ukrainians that the real Chechens are defending Ukraine.” Dissident Commander Chechen said last month..
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What happened in Ukraine this week? Check out this explainer on Yahoo Immersive to find out.