“Strength to Akhmat!” Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov exclaims at each of his speeches, referring to the first name of his father and predecessor (assassinated in 2004), who is the object of a veritable cult in Chechnya. For more than a year, the leader with the long red beard has been sending his soldiers to Ukraine, divided into several units of the “Akhmat” battalion. And beware of those who try to avoid mobilization, which the Chechen himself calls to order: they would be “one of those men who live off their wives”. A real dishonor for the 1.5 million Chechens, where the cult of virility is sacred.
A vassal of President Putin since the beginning of his presidency in 2007, Kadyrov has since renounced the independence of the Republic of Chechnya. Putin and him concluded a deal: the Kremlin leaves him full powers in Chechen territory, in exchange for a guarantee of stability in the North Caucasus.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Chechen has been zealous in the media: after recently announcing that he wanted to replace Wagner’s Russian mercenaries after their departure from Bakhmout, he publicly demanded that his soldiers be mobilized to repel the pro-insurgency. Ukraine in the Belgorod region, on Russian soil. “You should not take his statements literally, warns Jean-François Ratelle, professor and researcher at the University of Ottawa (Canada). Kadyrov has a habit of embellishing the real number of ‘Kadyrovtsy’ mobilized. Of the tens of thousands of soldiers announced, in reality only between 3,000 and 6,000 have been sent to the Donbass.”
In reality, the Chechens are rather at the rear of the front and have so far not shone with their exploits. Nicknamed “TikTok soldiers” and treated as “phony fighters” on social networks, the latter are mocked for their propensity to take video of their bulging chest – at the risk of being spotted by the Ukrainian army.
Quarrels between warlords
Kadyrov’s bluster is part of a parallel social media war with Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private Wagner militia. A few months ago, these two loudmouths nevertheless criticized in unison the incompetence of the Russian army. But the tone has changed between the two clan leaders. On June 1, Wagner founder, neo-Nazi Dmitry Utkin, criticized the poor performance of Akhmat units on Telegram. “We have known each other since the two wars in Chechnya”, he says, just to recall that at the time (1994-1996 and 1999-2000), the Chechen Republic and Moscow were not on the same side…
This deaf war hides a struggle for influence between these warlords who want to take political advantage of the chaos on the Russian front. And, in the first place, claim favors from Putin. “Kadyrov intends to save his troops in order to remain master in his region,” said the writer and son of Russian dissident Yegor Gran. “He is silently reluctant to send too many men to Bakhmout and to the front because they would all be massacred,” added Vadim Dubnov, columnist for Radio Liberty in the Caucasus.
Double or nothing for Kadyrov
For fifteen years, Kadyrov has distinguished himself as one of Putin’s staunchest allies. Today, he fully embraces the Kremlin’s rhetoric about a “Nazi and Satanist” Ukraine. Last September, he sent “volunteer battalions” to the Donbass, even if it meant arousing misunderstanding in his Chechen stronghold. “He turns his back on his ideas about Russian imperialism and finds himself unable to justify the presence of Chechens alongside a Russian army which had fought against Chechnya. It is extremely risky for him”, explains Jean – Francois Ratelle.
His motivation? Kadyrov could be in the process of positioning himself to obtain a federal post – “in the National Guard, in the Ministry of Defense or in the Ministry of the Interior”, slip some observers. Because if Vladimir Putin were to be expelled from the Kremlin, the Chechen baron knows that he is not immune to a purge. “Kadyrov would be in danger because there are a lot of tensions between him and the presidential administration, points out our expert. If he obtained a post in a ministry, he could better protect his interests.” A strategy which also seems to be that of Evgueni Prigojine.