Russian President Vladimir Putin made a shock go to to the primarily Muslim republic of Chechnya, for the primary time in virtually 13 years, amid Ukraine’s ongoing incursion in Kursk.
Putin was greeted by Chechnya’s self-styled strongman chief Ramzan Kadyrov, earlier than visiting a particular forces academy bearing his personal identify and talking with volunteer fighters who practice there previous to being deployed in Ukraine.
Putin praised the volunteers and mentioned that so long as Russia has males like them, will probably be “invincible,” based on reviews by Russian state businesses.
Kadyrov mentioned in a submit on his official Telegram channels that greater than 47,000 fighters, together with volunteers, have skilled on the facility since Moscow started what it calls its “particular army operation” in Ukraine.
Fighters from Chechnya, whose bid for independence after the Soviet Union’s collapse led to years of battle with Russian authorities forces, are taking part on either side of the battle in Ukraine.
Pro-Kyiv volunteers loyal to Dzhokhar Dudayev, the late Chechen pro-independence chief, are the sworn enemies of Chechen forces that again Putin and Kadyrov. The latter joined Russia within the months-long siege of Ukraine’s key port of Mariupol and different flashpoints within the nation’s south and east.
Also on Tuesday, Putin visited the grave of Kadyrov’s father, former Chechen chief Akhmat Kadyrov, a command submit and a mosque within the native capital, Grozny.
At the top of the day, he held talks with the Chechen chief, who introduced the republic has “tens of thousands” of reservists able to battle the Ukrainians, based on Russian state media reviews. The reviews didn’t specify whether or not any of those could be despatched to repel Kyiv’s incursion into the Russian area of Kursk.
The Kremlin has relied on Kadyrov to maintain the North Caucasus steady following years of turmoil. International rights teams have accused Kadyrov’s safety forces of extrajudicial killings, torture and abductions of dissenters, however Russian authorities have stonewalled repeated calls for for investigations.
The Kremlin scrambled fighters from Chechnya to assist defend Moscow from an abortive mutiny launched by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin final yr, however some commentators warned that Kadyrov’s ambitions may additionally doubtlessly pose a menace to federal authorities.
As of Tuesday night, neither the Kremlin nor Kadyrov shared any particulars in regards to the function and timing of Putin’s sudden go to, with Kadyrov saying solely that “a busy schedule” awaited the Russian chief.
Putin later held talks with Kadyrov on the Chechen chief’s residence in Grozny.
Before his shock go to to Chechnya, Putin was earlier on Tuesday in Beslan, a city within the Caucasus province of North Ossetia, the place he had his first assembly in almost twenty years with moms of youngsters killed within the 2004 faculty assault by Islamic militants that left greater than 330 lifeless.
At the assembly, he slammed Kyiv’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk area, accusing the Ukrainians of “attempting to destabilize” the nation.
“We will punish the criminals. There may be little question about that,” he mentioned.
Source: www.dailysabah.com