Special forces commander says Chechens who surrender to Ukraine ‘don’t deserve to live’

Apti Alaudinov, commander of the Chechen Akhmat special forces battalion, on Sunday castigated the Chechen soldiers who had voluntarily surrendered to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), commenting in a video message on his Telegram channel that they didn’t “deserve to live”.

Alaudinov said he had been “furious” upon seeing videos of Chechen fighters taken prisoner by the AFU and would not make any efforts to secure their return to Russia as surrendering was a “disgrace” that couldn’t “be washed away with anything other than one’s own blood”.

“I don’t think you even deserve to live. I'm amazed at how you plan to live after you held your hands up and surrendered like little girls”, Alaudinov said, before encouraging Chechens who had surrendered to the AFU to attack those holding them captive and “do everything you can to get yourselves killed”.

Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin joked that Alaudinov’s message showed that Akhmat “doesn’t abandon its own” and said any Chechens tempted to join the battalion because of “attractive advertising” should “take note” of the commander’s remarks.

In August, Alaudinov denied that the AFU had captured several Akhmat fighters amid ongoing clashes in Russia’s western Kursk region.

Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets later said that the AFU’s capture of Akhmat soldiers had prompted Russia to initiate talks on a prisoner exchange between the two countries, which was confirmed in late August.

Alaudinov, who is seen as a potential future candidate to head Chechnya in light of strongman Ramzan Kadyrov’s failing health, is known for his impassioned video messages, in which he frequently berates those he considers insufficiently patriotic.

Following his denial that Akhmat troops had been taken prisoner in August, he criticised those who complained about conditions faced by conscripts called up to fight for Russia in Ukraine, saying that “everyone in our country should be queuing up to serve”.