Kadyrov Says He’ll Send Chechens Convicted of Administrative Law Violations to Fight in Ukraine

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 20 – In a declaration of loyalty to the Kremlin and possibly a harbinger of what will soon happen across the Russian Federation as a whole, Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov has declared that he will send Chechens convicted of administrative law violations to fight in Putin’s war in Ukraine.

            Kadyrov’s latest statement (kavkazr.com/a/glava-chechni-prizval-otpravlyatj-na-voynu-veduschih-prazdnyy-obraz-zhizni-zhiteley-respubliki-/33153341.html) is not so much an innovation as a reaffirmation of an approach he has been using, as the Kavkazr portal points out (kavkazr.com/a/otpravyat-po-prikazu-v-chechne-na-voynu-protiv-ukrainy-posylayut-provinivshihsya-silovikov/33163400.html).

            But the prominence he has given to such a practice now both highlights his need to show loyalty to Putin who is desperate to find as many new sources of replacement troops as possible and show that Kadyrov himself views such a policy as a means to combat resentment of his rule inside Chechnya itself.