The proposal of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, to transfer Chechen units to protect the Belgorod region may be related to his desire to prevent the Kadyrovs from participating in combat operations on the front lines of Ukraine. This is stated in a new report of the American Institute for the Study of War.
According to analysts, Kadyrov's statement, which was made immediately after reports of the transfer of Chechen forces to the region of the separatist "DPR", may indicate a "desire to preserve forces" in more difficult areas. In confirmation of these words, experts pointed out that in the last speech the head of the republic estimated the total number of military personnel in it at 70,000, while on May 26 he said that 7,000 of them allegedly took part in the war against Ukraine, writes Kavkaz.Realii.
"If Kadyrov's claims are true, only about 10 percent of the available Chechen forces serve in Ukraine, but it is impossible to verify his claims," the report said.
Experts have said before that the Chechen military mostly operated in the rear, and Ramzan Kadyrov "conserved" his forces instead of sending them to the front. Natives of the North Caucasus, fighting on the side of Ukraine, spoke about this. In addition, the Kadirov people in Ukraine became famous as "ticking troops": according to military experts and eyewitnesses, Chechen soldiers are in the territory already captured by Russia.
In recent days, the local authorities have announced that the border town of Shebekine and other settlements of the Shebekine district have been shelled by the armed forces almost every day. Earlier, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov confirmed the fact of fighting in Novaya Tavolzhanka, a village in the Belgorod region near the border with Ukraine.
At the end of May, the head of Chechnya announced the redeployment of Kadirov residents in the direction of the separatist "DNR". The task here is allegedly to capture a number of settlements - exactly which ones are unknown. At that time, experts assumed that the Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom Kadyrov met in March, forced Kadyrov to take such a step. In addition, in this way, the Kremlin can try to break the relationship between the head of Chechnya and the owner of PVK "Wagner" Evgeny Prigozhin.
At the beginning of May, Kadyrov already offered to send Chechen units to Bakhmut to replace the "Wagner" PVK. The owner of the company Yevhen Prigozhin approved this proposal - before that he announced the withdrawal of mercenaries from this direction due to heavy losses and lack of supplies from the Ministry of Defense. However, on the same day, it became known that the Ministry of Defense had promised to provide Prigozhin with the necessary ammunition.
At the end of December in the annexed Crimea, Hasan Ibragimov, one of Ramzan Kadyrov's close associates, who was appointed his "representative" in the occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions of Ukraine, was detained for a fight in a restaurant. A few weeks before that, information spread in Telegram channels that a recreation center where high-ranking Kadirov officials were staying was destroyed in Melitopol.
