Translated material
The leadership of Chechnya spoke about the “self-organization” of Chechens fighting against ISIS
People from Chechnya fighting against the “Islamic State” ( an organization recognized as terrorist and banned in the Russian Federation ) in Syria and Iraq do not serve in the Russian armed forces or units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This was reported to Interfax by a source in the leadership of Chechnya.
“These are self-organized groups of young people who have set themselves the goal of confronting a terrorist organization,” he said.
According to the agency’s interlocutor, these people have been in the conflict zone “from the very beginning of the emergence of ISIS” and are posing as supporters of terrorists.
“This is an extremely difficult task. There are cases when someone is identified, and what follows is anyone’s guess,” the Interfax interlocutor said.
According to him, these people, in particular, collect information about people from Chechnya and other Russian regions among IS supporters. In addition, some of them went to the region to “search for and eliminate their blood relatives involved in the murders of relatives and friends committed earlier by militants.”
The source noted that the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, never said or stated that there are employees of special forces of the Russian law enforcement agencies stationed on the territory of the Chechen Republic in Syria.
- On February 8, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, on the Rossiya 1 TV channel , said that in the rear of the ISIS there are “the best fighters” of Chechnya, who were trained in the “special forces center near Tsentoroi.” “They collect information about the structure and number of terrorists, determine targets for bombing and record their results,” the story said.
- Russia has been conducting a military operation in Syria since September 30, 2015, at the request of the local government. According to official statements, during the special operation, Russian Air Force aircraft strike positions of terrorists, primarily from the Islamic State. Syrian rebels and the authorities of several Western countries say that the purpose of Russian air strikes is to support the forces of President Bashar al-Assad, and not just to attack the Islamic State.
- Even before the start of the Russian Air Force operation, bloggers reported that Russian military personnel were present on Syrian territory. Such messages, confirmed by photo and video materials, were received even after the start of the Russian special operation, and they were talking about military personnel located hundreds of kilometers from the Russian air base in Latakia. Russian officials have repeatedly stated that there is no talk of a ground operation in Syria.