Chechen fighters falter in Kursk, embarrassing Putin's efforts
Chechen volunteers under Ramzan Kadyrov have been fighting on the side of Vladimir Putin since the start of the war in Ukraine. However, those who appeared in the Kursk region have seriously disappointed the Russian president. They did not resist the Armed Forces of Ukraine and surrendered without a fight. This is yet another such case.
A few days ago in Chechnya, President Vladimir Putin met with its leader Ramzan Kadyrov during his first visit to the region since 2011. Kadyrov, a key Kremlin ally, claims to have sent thousands of fighters to assist the Russian president in his offensive in Ukraine.
Putin appointed Kadyrov as leader in 2007, when he was 30 years old, after his father Akhmad Kadyrov was assassinated in a bomb attack at a stadium in Grozny. Ramzan is loyal to Putin, but he has once again failed on the battlefield.
Specifically, it is about his soldiers, who arrived completely unprepared in the Kursk region. They have been a laughingstock for Ukrainians for years, and this was confirmed again.
"New Europe" reports that Ramzan Kadyrov called on the heads of regional internal affairs departments and ordered them to sign contracts with volunteers who were then sent to Russia. The trouble is that these volunteers had no idea about being soldiers, which allowed the Ukrainian army to easily capture more towns in the Kursk region.
The fate of Akhmat's Chechen regiment, which withdrew from its positions without a fight and lost at least ten prisoners in the process, has become a symbol of the worrying incompetence of the Russian army in the early days of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' offensive in the Kursk region, writes "Novaya Gazeta".
The mentioned volunteers sign short-term contracts for four months, and then renegotiate them again. When they sign a new contract, along with a salary (until recently 300,000 rubles a month - about $4,900 CAD) they receive a lump sum payment of the same amount.
Interestingly, Ramzan Kadyrov and Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov have disappeared from public life after the defeat in the Kursk region. Importantly, Kadyrov's people fight for Putin, but there are also Chechen volunteers on the Ukrainian side. It is there that fighters who disagree with Moscow's policies fight.
What's next for the Kursk region?
The Armed Forces of Ukraine began an offensive operation in the Kursk region on August 6th. Kyiv reported an increase in the area controlled by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region. According to data from Oleksandr Syrsky, the area occupied by Ukrainian armed forces has increased to 1,260 square kilometres, with 100 towns located within it.
During a security industry conference in Bethesda, Maryland, Cohen also emphasized that Russia will likely launch a counteroffensive in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces are currently operating. He noted that Vladimir Putin will have to "reckon with the reaction of the public to the occupation of part of Russia by the Ukrainian army."
