Fighting Alongside Putin Against Ukraine: What’s the Story With Akhmat Chechen Forces?

The Chechen Akhmat special forces, led by Apti Alaudinov, continue to deploy their troops on the front lines and in the hottest spots on the Ukrainian front alongside the Russian army and Wagner mercenaries.

Russia is attempting to make field advances in the second year of the invasion of Ukraine, which erupted on February 24, 2022, relying on some forces from the Soviet Union republics that collapsed in 1991.

 

Thousand Volunteers

In an interview on Russia-1, a station managed by the Kremlin, Apti Alaudinov said on March 10, 2023: “Our young people have an intense desire to become rich. They are all fully prepared to meet the leopard.”

He went on to say: “Huge financial rewards have been announced for every tank that is hunted, and therefore our youth are eagerly awaiting them.”

After three weeks of the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov confirmed on Telegram on March 17, 2022, that a thousand Chechen volunteers were on their way to join the ranks of Russian forces.

He explained at the time that one of his relatives named Apti Alaudinov “leads a thousand volunteers from the Republic of Chechnya who have gone to participate in the special operation to remove Nazism and military status from Ukraine.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz faced criticism for delaying the decision to supply Ukraine with German-made Leopard 2A6 tanks before approving it at the end of January 2023. Berlin agreed to send 18 Leopard 2A6 tanks from the German army’s inventory, as well as to re-export Leopard tanks to Ukraine from other countries, including Sweden, Finland, Portugal, and Poland.

The plan calls for sending over 30 Leopard tanks to Kyiv. It appears that the statement by Alaudinov came in response to the announcement by Armin Papperger, CEO of the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, that he was in “promising” talks to build a tank factory in Ukraine following the Russian invasion. Papperger told the German newspaper Rheinische Post on March 4, 2023, that a Rheinmetall factory could be built in Ukraine for around €200 million to produce up to 400 Panther tanks annually. However, former Russian President and current National Security Council Vice Chairman Dmitry Medvedev threatened in a post on his Telegram channel that the opening of the factory would be met with a “hail of (Russian) Caliber missiles and other missiles.”

Alaudinov was appointed as Acting Interior Minister of the Russian republic of Chechnya, which has been ruled by President Ramzan Kadyrov with an iron fist since 2007, when he was 30 years old, in 2018.

Kadyrov is known for his absolute loyalty to Russian President Vladimir Putin and has repeatedly expressed his belief that the latter should remain president of Russia forever, which led him to deploy Chechen fighters in the war in Ukraine in the early weeks.

Chechen Republic President Ramzan Kadyrov confirmed in a press statement on December 2, 2022, that thanks to the bravery of Russian forces, there had been no defensive failures or breaches in any sector of the combat zone entrusted to Commander of Akhmat special forces, Apti Alaudinov.

Brigadier General Apti Alaudinov, aged 50, is also the deputy commander of the second brigade in the Chechen army, and an assistant to Kadyrov for cooperation with law enforcement agencies.

Akhmat special forces work alongside a number of battalions made up exclusively of Chechen citizens, in the Russian Republic subject to Moscow’s authority.

Akhmat special forces are considered one of the toughest battalions within the Chechen forces that fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine. Composed of volunteers and former members of the Chechen military and security agencies, Akhmat special forces undergo military and emergency medical training, as well as building entry tactics, weapon use, and armored vehicle operation for a month in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, before being transferred to the Donetsk region in Ukraine.

According to a TV report by the Russia Today channel, the trained volunteers are supervised by specialized trainers at the Special Forces Institute in the city of Gudermes in Chechnya before being added to the Akhmat special forces and flown from the Grozny airport to fight against “neo-Nazis and extremist nationalists in Ukraine,” as reported.

Remarkably, Akhmat special forces are deployed on several fronts in Ukraine, including leading the attacking forces in Ukrainian cities, such as Artemivsk and Soledar in the Donetsk Republic, as well as Mariupol and Bakhmut. Apti Alaudinov appears in recorded footage at the battlefront or in media appearances on Russian state media, stating that Russian units advanced in Bakhmut on February 9, 2023.

As Akhmat special forces were stationed on the main front of Krymske, which was the launching point towards Luhansk in eastern Ukraine and was seized by Russian forces in May 2022, it remained under their control, as the Russians used it as a logistics and transport center for their operations in the northern Donetsk region.

After six months of Russian control, Kyiv announced in early October 2022 the “full recapture” of Luhansk in the biggest victory for Ukraine on the battlefield at the time.

Apti Alaudinov is a regular guest on Russian state television, where he provides updates on the battlefield, describing Ukraine’s invasion as a “sacred war” against the “devilish” values of the West.

On February 13, 2023, Ramadan Kadyrov announced that Apti Alaudinov had been transferred to a hospital in Moscow for treatment after receiving a letter soaked in a poisonous substance, before recovering in less than two weeks.

Akhmat special forces appeared in more than one city in Ukraine after the withdrawal of Russian forces, carrying out civilian evacuation operations and organizing lists of necessary demands from residents for medicines and food.

Field data indicate that the Russian Ministry of Defense distributed Akhmat special forces with the Second Corps of the separatist Luhansk Republic Army.

These special forces fought battles alongside the Wagner Group, a semi-military private mercenary group, and the separatist forces of the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics.

On September 20, 2022, Apti Alaudinov announced in a video message, “the elimination of about 200 members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in addition to the destruction of military equipment.”

The Akhmat special forces also withdrew recorded footage of their reconnaissance operations, monitoring the Ukrainian military’s locations using reconnaissance and drone aircraft, before carrying out air strikes on those sites.

These forces played a major role alongside Russian forces in seizing the town of Izyum in the Kharkiv Oblast in northeastern Ukraine, in early April 2022.

However, in September 2022, Ukrainian forces were able to recapture the town of Izyum from Russian forces, and at that time Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the discovery of a “mass grave” there.

In the face of Russia’s need for military support on the Ukrainian battlefield, where Russian forces face strong defense from their Ukrainian counterparts who have received modern weapons from the West, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov took a supportive step for the Kremlin.

He announced the formation of the new special Akhmat-1 forces, belonging to the Russian National Guard in the Chechen Republic, with a strength of 2,000 personnel, on November 20, 2022.

Kadyrov pointed out in a post on Telegram that the new force is mainly composed of experienced fighters and distinguished officers in many special operations.

He noted that “the unit is equipped with modern weapons and equipment and its members have been provided with everything necessary to perform the operational and combat tasks assigned to them, no matter how complex they are.”

The Russian National Guard is under the authority of the Russian government, tasked with maintaining internal security and carrying out special tasks outside Russian territory, including counter-terrorism operations.

The Russian President is authorized to send National Guard troops abroad without going through the parliament.

On January 11, 2023, Kadyrov, who calls himself “Putin’s Infantryman,” announced that more than 21,000 Chechen fighters participated in the Russian military operation in Ukraine, and more than 9,000 others were on the front line, according to him.

Kadyrov and his militias, known as the Kadyrovites, who are currently fighting on Ukrainian territory in support of Russia, have been accused by human rights groups, witnesses, and survivors for decades of committing extrajudicial killings, abductions, and torture of opponents of the Chechen leader.

Ramzan Kadyrov seeks to establish four brigades of the Chechen army under the names “Akhmat North – Akhmat South – Akhmat East – Akhmat West,” with the aim of surrounding Ukrainian cities from all directions, according to what was published on Telegram in August 2022.

According to writer and political analyst Mohamed al-Amin al-Wughlis, “Ramzan Kadyrov suffers from severe kidney failure, at a time when the influence of Apti Alaudinov, the commander of the special forces (Akhmat) supported by the Russian intelligence agency FSB, is growing.”

He continued in a tweet on March 2, 2023: “It is certain that whoever succeeds him will be much worse than Kadyrov, as Alaudinov is an experienced and ruthless leader.”