Saturday, May 28, 2022

Russian Berets #3: Kadyrovtsy

Some of the worst thugs fighting for Russia in Ukraine are the Chechens who form the ‘Kadyrovites’ or ‘Kadyrovtsy’, a paramilitary organization in Chechnya, that serves as the private army of “president” Ramzan Kadyrov (not to be confused with the pro-Ukraine Chechen fighters of the Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion and the Sheikh Mansur Battalion).

The Kadyrovites have been accused of committing widespread human rights abuses such as kidnapping, forced disappearances, torture and murder. Kadyrovites use extrajudicial punishment to cement Kadyrov's autocratic rule, and now surpass jihadist insurgents as the most feared organization among Chechnya's civilian population.

Under Kadyrov's orders, the Kadyrovites commited the Anti-gay purges in Chechnya, including operating concentration camps for gay men. The Kadyrovites have also been involved in the Syrian Civil War in 2017.

Kadyrov’s troops have been used as barrier troops, to address low morale by executing Russian deserters. There are reports that Chechen troops were executing Russian troops who were too injured in field hospitals.

Chechen troops were also accused of perpetrating the Bucha massacre by intentionally targeting civilians.

Kadyrov was widely mocked online as a "TikTok warrior" after a picture meant to show him traveling in Ukraine showed him praying at a gas station whose brand only exists in Russia.

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