Chechen opposition in the face of Kadyrov's soldiers.. Chechen civil war awaits within Ukraine's borders

As soon as Russia announced the launch of its military operation in Ukraine after weeks of escalation, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov appeared in the picture, throwing himself into the conflict scene. He vowed to them to seize their capital in case they did not respond to his demands. The Chechen president also does not stop talking about the achievements of his men inside Ukraine, as happened when he announced the occupation of his forces a major military base belonging to "Ukrainian extremist nationalists", according to what was reported by Russian media.

But the Chechen presence in the Ukrainian war was not limited to Kadyrov and his army men loyal to Moscow. On the other side of the scene, other Chechen fighters appeared, not affiliated with Kadyrov or loyal to Putin, and they found in the ongoing war on the territory of Ukraine an opportunity to fight against Russia, which they consider their first enemy.

chance for revenge

In 2000, the Chechens were fighting their last war for their country's independence from Russia, but the war ended without achieving its goals for the Muslim Caucasus Republic, which is located only a thousand miles south of Moscow.

In fact, the war led to the division of the Chechens into two groups, the first group surrendered to Russian rule, and submitted to the control of the warlord and the new president of the country, "Ramzan Kadyrov", who pledged to eliminate every internal rebellion and hunt down all opponents of Russian influence in the mountains of Chechnya.

Ramzan Kadyrov (middle)

As for the second group of Chechens, it maintained its hostility to the Russians, continuing its confrontations with them in the manner of "guerrilla warfare".

These Chechen rebels formed the first nucleus for the transfer of the internal Chechen conflict to eastern Ukraine, where they joined the ranks of the military divisions that were facing the Ukrainian separatist forces loyal to Russia during the events of 2014 and 2015, noting that other numbers of these fighters refrained from joining these Ukrainian fighting units for fear From legal follow-up to the fact that they hold the nationalities of other European countries that punished the participants in these military actions in Ukraine, while the Ukrainian government was unable to develop a legal formula for these foreign combat units.

A few weeks after Russia invaded the Crimea region, the Chechen forces fighting Moscow announced their presence strongly inside Ukraine, strengthening their ranks with a number of famous Chechen fighters, led by General "Issa Munif", the former commander of a Chechen military group that participated in the first Russian-Chechen war. Between 1994 and 1996.

Munif quickly gained the confidence of the Ukrainian army, which provided him with a stockpile of light weapons, and soon he was allowed - in his capacity as head of the socio-political movement "Svoboda Kavkaz (Free Caucasus)" - to form a unit bearing the name of the late Chechen president "Dzhokhar Dudayev" who was killed in a raid Russian air force, which aims to maintain peace and provide "international assistance" to the Ukrainian people in their struggle with the occupying Russians.

General "Issa Munif", former commander of a Chechen military group that participated in the First Russo-Chechen War between 1994 and 1996.

Dudayev's battalion fought hard on the side of the Ukrainian army, and remarkably excelled in the battles of the Donbass (the eastern region of Ukraine, which includes the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces), and Munif's popularity increased among the Ukrainian citizens, as he believed - as did many Chechens who joined his forces from Turkey and Europe - That the loss of Ukraine means the defeat of Chechnya.

However, Issa Munif's adventures in the Ukrainian arena did not last long after he was caught by Russian fire in February 2015 during a fierce battle for control of a strategic railway.

With Munif's death, the curtain came down on the important role played by the great Chechen military leaders in Ukraine, to be succeeded by his deputy "Osmayev" in commanding the unit, a younger and less experienced fighter.

The role of Chechens in Ukraine has since subsided, but it has re-emerged with the outbreak of the current Russo-Ukrainian war, after Akhmed Zakayev, the leader of the separatist Chechen government-in-exile, announced his intention to form volunteer detachments of Chechens living abroad to fight for the government. Ukrainian to face the new Russian invasion.

Putin's loyal soldier

On the other hand, years and battles increased the loyalty of Ramzan Kadyrov’s camp to Vladimir Putin. The Chechen president announced his rejoicing in Munif’s death, and hastened to seize the opportunity to renew his threat to Kiev to send his followers from Chechen fighters to arrest Ukrainian politicians and help the separatists take up arms, expressing his desire to fight personally in The ranks of Russian soldiers in the event that Putin allows him to do so.

But despite this verbal escalation, the number of Chechen soldiers who went to support the pro-Russian separatists did not exceed dozens, before the matter completely changed with the outbreak of the current war, as the Chechen warlord sent his soldiers to help the Russian military forces that have been trying to control Ukraine since the end of last February The media broadcast the scenes of the Chechen troop carriers traveling on the Ukrainian roads, while these forces were seizing the weapons they had stored in the Ukrainian warehouses.

The Russian media paid great attention to the Chechen forces, as they covered their movements, training and prayers in the nearby forests before entering Ukraine, claiming that their number ranged between 10,000 and 70,000 Chechen fighters whom Kadyrov described as "volunteers."

Moscow has used the images of these Chechen fighters to reinforce the Ukrainians' fears of engaging in military confrontations.

Putin's messages here seemed self-evident and clear: the fate of Ukraine will not differ from the fate of Chechnya, sooner or later the Russians will establish control over all of Ukraine, and install a puppet ruler like Kadyrov.

Chechens on the border with Ukraine.

Spiritual rite before battle pic.twitter.com/YbomMmrGlo

— ZOKA (@200_zoka) February 24, 2022

Several press reports revealed the missions entrusted to these fighters, known as "hunters" and affiliated with the Southern Battalion of the Chechen Federal Guard, which was determined to kill Ukrainian politicians and officials, led by Ukrainian President Zelensky, and the same sources reported that the Russian leadership supplied these Chechen fighters. With pictures and information about senior Ukrainian officers whom Moscow wants to assassinate, the Kremlin describes them as criminals and murderers.

Russia is trying to take advantage of the prevailing perception about the Chechen fighters that they are as tough and ferocious as the Russians, and they do not care much about international law. In this context, John Sweeney, a British investigative journalist in the Observer newspaper, says that among all the soldiers of President Vladimir Putin, The Chechens remain the most dangerous and the most tame as well, as they have previously betrayed their citizens’ dream of independence and sided with the Kremlin, and the same speaker added: “Kadyrov’s followers are famous for mercilessly slaughtering the enemies of the Kremlin. I saw evidence of their actions in the spring and summer of 2000 in Chechnya, where the massacres and disappearances Forced and torture. When I received a message from someone who supported Putin's war in Syria to tell me that the Chechens were coming to Kyiv, I was afraid."

Towards a new Chechnya

An opinion poll showed that one in three Ukrainians would be willing to join armed resistance against Russian forces.

In the end, the Russians aspire to control the Ukrainian capital, and replace its current president, Zelensky, with a loyal president, similar to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, then Ukraine will become a new version of Chechnya, in fact, a new loyal country, subjugated by the Kremlin after its military rebellion was suppressed with iron and fire.

The Chechen model is present strongly in the current crisis, as the Ukrainians are trying to show their great willingness to take up arms and confront the Russian forces, as the Chechens did before them, and an opinion poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology last December showed that one in three Ukrainians would be willing to join the armed resistance. against Russian forces, giving Ukraine the possibility to create tens of thousands of small, mobile groups capable of attacking Russian forces.

After entering Ukraine armed with an army of 200,000 soldiers, the Russians expected that their military power would achieve a quick victory and end the war quickly, but they collided with a reality different from the dreams of Putin's forces. To extend its influence over the capital, Kyiv.

The current situation indicates that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will not be late to enter into more violent and fierce stages, especially that the Russian army has already begun to use cluster munitions, ballistic missiles and rocket artillery indiscriminately, and it is expected that the Russian forces will use heavy artillery, missiles and bombs to terrorize civilians, and to confront force. The popularity that Kyiv managed to mobilize to fight a fierce battle and prevent the capture of the capital.

Currently, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict raises a number of questions, most notably about the duration of the war, which seems far from over.

Observers are following the movements of the Russian army, as Putin has so far paid more than 90% of the combat force he has mobilized inside the Ukrainian borders and in Belarus, which means there are opportunities to use the Russian ground force and some foreign forces to continue advancing on the ground.

On the other hand, Ukraine is preparing for a strong ground battle, which will be revealed by the Ukrainian president's call for foreigners to go to Ukrainian embassies around the world to join an "international brigade" of volunteers to help fight Russian forces to strengthen the Ukrainian army.

Speaking to "

" and commenting on the Chechen presence in Ukraine, Muhammad al-Sharqawi, a professor of international conflict settlement and a former member of the United Nations Committee of Experts, says that the Chechen military presence in the Ukraine war includes two main issues, as it first gives the opportunity to erupt a retaliatory war in Ukraine between Two groups of antagonistic Chechens, some of whom support President Kadyrov, while the other opposes, as the two sides are exploiting the Ukrainian crisis to settle scores and political hatreds lingering between them;

The Ukraine crisis will also constitute an important opportunity for strategic investment in Chechnya-Russian relations, and the confirmation of the personal and political alliance between President Putin in Moscow and President Kadyrov in Grozny within the framework of agreements on the status of Chechnya after the war with Russia between 1994 and 1996.

Al-Sharqawi believes that Kadyrov’s position cannot be interpreted as blind support for the Kremlin only, but rather as a marriage of convenience by exploiting the current war to defeat the Chechen opposition forces abroad, at the same time President Putin supports what Kadyrov is doing, taking advantage of his relentless and merciless forces when fighting Hence, the current crisis can only be read within a complex strategic triangle consisting of a Chechen-Chechen civil war, Russia's war with Ukraine, and a broader war between Moscow and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

President Putin (left) and President Kadyrov

For his part, Abbas Sharifa, a researcher specializing in the affairs of Islamic groups at Jusoor Studies Center, says that there are messages that Putin wants to send through the participation of Chechen forces in the Ukrainian war. He aspires to demonstrate the cohesion of the home front of the Russian Federation, and to benefit from the combat experience of the Chechen forces in fighting Cities and gangs and the implementation of special missions targeting leading Ukrainian figures, at the head of which could be Ukrainian President Zelensky, in addition to reducing the losses among his soldiers, as he had also previously asked Uzbekistan to send reinforcement forces.

Despite Sharifa's exclusion in his interview with "

" that the Chechen forces would be able to change the direction of the ground battle after failing so far in their first special mission related to the assassination of the Ukrainian president, it remains an important weapon in the hands of Putin, who insists on paralyzing the Ukrainian government, using all His available means, even if it costs to call the Chechen war to the fore again.