Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday made an unscheduled trip to Chechnya, a mainly Muslim republic within the Russian Federation, his first visit in nearly 13 years, as Ukraine’s stunning cross-border incursion into western Russia entered its third week. Putin was greeted by Chechnya’s self-styled strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov, before visiting a special forces academy bearing his own name and speaking with volunteer fighters who train there prior to being deployed in Ukraine.
Quick Read
- Putin Makes Surprise Trip to Chechnya Amid Ukraine’s Cross-Border Incursion: Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unscheduled visit to Chechnya, his first in nearly 13 years, as Ukraine’s cross-border incursion into western Russia entered its third week.
- Visit to Special Forces Academy: Putin visited a special forces academy in Chechnya, praised volunteer fighters training there for deployment in Ukraine, and stated that Russia would be “invincible” as long as it had men like them.
- Kadyrov’s Remarks: Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who hosted Putin, claimed that Chechnya has trained over 47,000 fighters since the start of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine and announced that the republic has “tens of thousands” of reservists ready to fight.
- Tensions in Chechnya: Putin’s visit comes amid ongoing tensions, with pro-Kyiv Chechen volunteers and pro-Putin Chechen forces fighting on opposite sides in Ukraine.
- Purpose of the Visit: The Kremlin did not disclose the purpose and timing of Putin’s visit, but Kadyrov mentioned a “busy schedule” for the Russian leader.
- Meeting in Beslan: Earlier in the day, Putin visited Beslan in North Ossetia, where he met with mothers of children killed in the 2004 school attack and criticized Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, vowing to “punish the criminals.”
The Associated Press has the story:
Putin makes surprise trip to Chechnya amid Ukraine’s cross-border incursion
Newslooks- MOSCOW (AP) —
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday made an unscheduled trip to Chechnya, a mainly Muslim republic within the Russian Federation, his first visit in nearly 13 years, as Ukraine’s stunning cross-border incursion into western Russia entered its third week. Putin was greeted by Chechnya’s self-styled strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov, before visiting a special forces academy bearing his own name and speaking with volunteer fighters who train there prior to being deployed in Ukraine.
Putin praised the volunteers and said that as long as Russia has men like them, it will be “invincible,” according to reports by Russian state agencies. Kadyrov said in a post on his official Telegram channels that more than 47,000 fighters, including volunteers, have trained at the facility since Moscow began what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine. Fighters from Chechnya, whose bid for independence after the Soviet Union’s collapse led to years of war with Russian government forces, are participating on both sides of the conflict in Ukraine.
Pro-Kyiv volunteers loyal to Dzhokhar Dudayev, the late Chechen pro-independence leader, are the sworn enemies of Chechen forces that back Putin and Kadyrov. The latter joined Russia in the months-long siege of Ukraine’s key port of Mariupol and other flashpoints in the country’s south and east.
Also on Tuesday, Putin visited the grave of Kadyrov’s father, former Chechen leader Akhmat Kadyrov, a command post and a mosque in the local capital, Grozny.
At the end of the day, he held talks with the Chechen leader, who announced the republic has “tens of thousands” of reservists ready to fight the Ukrainians, according to Russian state media reports. The reports did not specify whether any of these might be sent to repel Kyiv’s incursion into the Russian region of Kursk.
The Kremlin has relied on Kadyrov to keep the North Caucasus stable following years of turmoil. International rights groups have accused Kadyrov’s security forces of extrajudicial killings, torture and abductions of dissenters, but Russian authorities have stonewalled repeated demands for investigations.
The Kremlin scrambled fighters from Chechnya to help protect Moscow from an abortive mutiny launched by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin last year, but some commentators warned that Kadyrov’s ambitions could also potentially pose a threat to federal authorities.
As of Tuesday evening, neither the Kremlin nor Kadyrov shared any details about the purpose and timing of Putin’s unexpected visit, with Kadyrov saying only that “a busy schedule” awaited the Russian leader.
Putin later held talks with Kadyrov at the Chechen leader’s residence in Grozny.
Before his surprise visit to Chechnya, Putin was earlier on Tuesday in Beslan, a town in the Caucasus province of North Ossetia, where he had his first meeting in nearly two decades with mothers of children killed in the 2004 school attack by Islamic militants that left more than 330 dead. At the meeting, he slammed Kyiv’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, accusing the Ukrainians of “trying to destabilize” the country. “We will punish the criminals. There can be no doubt about that,” he said.
