Paul Goble
Staunton, May 1 – Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, says he wants to create an army of professional soldiers drawn from around the world to defend “oppressed peoples.” He undoubtedly intends those he would support to be beyond the borders of the Russian Federation, but some in Moscow are likely to have their doubts.
Speaking in Gudermes, he said that he thinks it would be a good thing to have such a force available to send into countries around the world where peoples committed to democratic values are being oppressed (kavkazr.com/a/kadyrov-zayavil-o-zhelanii-sozdatj-armiyu-dlya-zaschity-ugnetaemyh-narodov-po-vsemu-miru-/32386669.html
Indeed, such an army, were the Chechen leader able to form it, could represent a serious challenge to stability in the chaos likely to follow the end of the Putin era and is clearly one step further on a path Kadyrov already outlined earlier this year when he said he wanted to create his own PMC(kavkazr.com/a/kadyrov-zayavil-o-planah-sozdatj-chastnuyu-voennuyu-kompaniyu-i-nazval-prigozhina-bratom/32278310.html).
The Kremlin undoubtedly will quash this idea, but that doesn’t mean that Kadyrov’s proposal won’t have legs. It represents yet another step toward ending a situation in which Moscow is the only legitimate source of violence on the territory of the Russian Federation and will undoubtedly make it easier for other non-Russians to think about forming their own forces.
Among the places where that has already happened is in Ingushetia, which neighbors Chechnya and has long been involved in territorial disputes both with that republic and with North Ossetia (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/04/ingush-independence-committee-forms.html).
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