From southern mountains to northern steppes

Chechnya came to Donbass literally.

Ramzan Kadyrov was allowed to act as the Liberator of the Lifeyusovites . At the same time, Chechen militants lit up on the checkpoints and squares of Donetsk.

The first messages about the presence of Chechen fighters in Ukraine - either mercenaries, or volunteers - appeared in early May. Some confusion arose in connection with the fact that the battalion of the Donetsk separatists "Vostok" is called the same as the famous Chechen formation.

Then the photo and video survey of the participation of Chechens in the Donetsk events began to appear. In particular, they stood on checkpoints. The video was widely dispersed on the network, shot on May 23 at the entrance to Donetsk from the village of Sands:

On the day of the presidential election, Chechen fighters are already openly posing at a rally in the center of Donetsk (

In a conversation with CNN journalists, they are presented by the “Kadyrovites”, but they emphasize that they did not come by order of the head of Chechnya, but voluntarily:

VICE NEWS, May 25:

On Monday, Chechen militants participated in bloody battles for the Donetsk airport . On the same evening, a truck was shot down with the fighters of the Vostok battalion - according to the separatists, at least 35 people were killed, 15 were injured. According to the legitimate Donetsk authorities, among 43 wounded, delivered to city hospitals on May 26-27, eight citizens of Russia, including residents of Grozny, Gudermes and Moscow. The individuals of 18 people are not established.

At the request of the "faces" the situation is commented by human rights activist Stanislav Dmitrievsky and journalist Vadim Dubnov.