TikTok Troops vs. Z‑Telegram. How the Akhmat battalion commander commented fighting with the AFU in the Kursk region

Apti Alaudinov is the special forces commander from Ramzan Kadyrov’s inner circle who is sometimes mentioned as a possible successor to the Chechen leader. For many years, Alaudinov was in the leadership of the Chechen police, and since April of this year he has been Deputy Chief of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces. For the past three years, he has aslo been in charge of the Akhmat special forces unit, the hallmark of Kadyrov's security forces. During the war in Ukraine, the unit has been constantly criticised both by pro-war Z-bloggers (many believe that Kadyrov’s men are holed up in the rear) and the Ukrainian media (which simply called it “TikTok Troops”). These disputes are well illustrated by the comments of Alaudinov, who in recent days had to respond frequently to statements about Akhmat’s role in repelling the AFU attack on the Kursk region.

August 7. Z-channels claim that Akhmat fighters abandoned their positions during the AFU’s offensive in the Kursk Region.

Apti Alaudinov responds by assuring that the Ukrainian military simply passed by Akhmat’s positions:

“All the guys from our Akhmat unit, the ones that was here on the border—the interesting thing is they are all still in their positions. The enemy, it turns out, demolished two checkpoints [on the border], passed them, in the beginning passed through, as they say, without checkpoints—in areas that were in a great distance from our strongholds. They passed through there. Then, as they say, they directly jumped up, drove up and, as they say, smashed all these checkpoints with tanks.”

August 8. Z-bloggers are writing about AFU’s movements deeper inside the Kursk region. They report Ukrainian forces took the “western half of Sudhza,” there is fighting near the town of Korenevo.

Alaudinov insists“nothing too special happened”:

“Really, there is no irreversible process, nothing too special, I repeat, nothing too special happened. < ... > Yes, I repeat again, the guys died, there is such a thing. Settlements, several settlements—the enemy went in there. But at the same time, to say that there are some big forces there and that the enemy has taken these settlements, they are rigidly, as they say, preparing or ready for some kind of repulse of our forces and means—there is simply no such thing. That is, the enemy came in and took control of these settlements, because in principle we did not have any forces, means or resources there.”

August 12. A video with surrendered Akhmat special forces fighters is circulating in Ukrainian Telegram channels.

Alaudinov claims none of the fighters surrenered:

“In this context, the enemy is planting a lot of fake news about fighters of the Akhmat special forces unit surrendering... In short, a lot of things. But the most interesting thing is that not a single one of our fighters has surrendered.”

August 13. Alaudinov admits that three fighters are in captivity, but assures that they were military men from the Akhmat-Chechnya regiment (part of the Russian Ministry of Defence) and not his subordinates from the Akhmat special forces unit (part of the Chechen branch of the National Guard):

“We are aware that at the beginning, when you [the AFU] entered [the Kursk region], you took three Akhmat-Chechnya fighters prisoner. We saw them, we recognise that. But when you say you are actively taking Akhmat special forces fighters prisoner... Excuse me, you don’t have a single Akhmat special forces fighter. <...> A Chechen who is captured is no longer a Kadyrovite. There’s nothing more shameful for a Chechen than being captured. <...> These three fighters are from the Akhmat-Chechnya unit, we know their surnames. <...> Not a single one of my fighters was captured by you. And if he was, show us his face and give his call sign.”

August 14. Ukrainian TV channels are reporting from Sudzha. One of them shows Ukrainian military officers changing the Russian flag to a Ukrainian flag on a school building near the administration.

On the same day, Alaudinov reports that the AFU does not control the city:

“Today there are also units of the Russian Ministry of Defence in Sudzha, the enemy is around and in some parts of the city. There is active fighting there every day. The enemy cannot say that it is in full control of Sudzha, because they do not really control it.”