Translated material
Thank you, Ramzan Akhmatovich!
Stills from a video published on Ramzan Kadyrov’s telegram channelThank you, Ramzan Akhmatovich!
“Important Stories” found Ukrainians whom Kadyrov’s supporters forced to appear in a PR video
A Chechen soldier in full equipment, with weapons, enters the basement where Ukrainian civilians are fleeing raids. “Personally, the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov said that you should be provided for and protected,” he tells the camera and clarifies. “That’s why I came here.” “Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov told us that you should be fully provided for and that we would protect you,” the military man addresses the elderly Ukrainian woman. “Well, of course, who else will guard us? Thank you, God bless you!” — she answers, not without hidden irony. “Thank you, Ramzan Akhmatovich, for treating us well!” - Ukrainian children shout into the camera from the basement.
The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has long been considered a master of PR. In peacetime, he introduced the fashion for public apologies in Russia, and now, in wartime, he introduces the fashion for gratitude. On his Telegram channel, which has over two million subscribers, videos of Ukrainians thanking Kadyrov from their basements for his support compete with videos of Chechens depicting military actions. For all this, the Ukrainian media called Kadyrov’s followers “Tiktok troops.”
“Important Stories” spoke with the heroes of one of the PR videos , which was filmed in March in Gostomel, near Kiev.
Larisa, pensioner: “The conversation is foreign, and they have long beards”
I’m already retired; I worked part-time as a duty officer in a hostel for young military families. On February 24, when I heard explosions near our airport, which is not far from my house, I ran to pick up my cat Busya. She hid somewhere out of fear and did not come out to me. Then there was such a shock from the shelling, the glass began to burst. I thought: “What the hell is Businka - I have to run.” The nearest basement was in my house.
Subscribe to the “Important Stories” newsletterThe newsletter will be the last to be blockedThere were about 70 people in the basement, in the dark. The Chechens entered the basement screaming and making noise. Little girls fell to their knees from fear. They were right next to the door, there was more air there. And the Chechens shout: “Are there Banderas?” Then they say: “We don’t touch the civilian population, if there are no Nazis or Banderas among you, it means that Kadyrov gave us the task of protecting you.” I don’t know who to protect it from...
They looked scary: huge bodies, night vision devices on their helmets, bullets on their chests, pistols on their butts, and a machine gun in their hands. “Hand over all your phones!” We were shaking like mice, because we realized that the conversation was foreign, with an accent, and they had long beards. It was also scary because we had not only women with children, but also men. They said it several times, like a mantra: “We have a task not to touch you!” They added that if we don’t give back the phones amicably, then the conversation will be different. They threw everything into the bag. Then they asked whoever had the keys to hand over the keys: “Then we won’t knock down your doors, our task is to check the apartments and clear them of Banderaites.”
I gave them my keys because I was worried about Busya. Not all the people in the basement were from my house. It has 75 apartments. This night, the first under Chechen supervision, was the night of knocking down doors. We heard from the basement how they did it.
In the morning they came and said that we could leave the basement to breathe. It was not polite, but: “Everyone come out!” We were horrified to see what was happening to the house. They sit in apartments with machine guns. Computers and other items are lowered from the windows to be taken away. On the street at each entrance there are two green armored vehicles, heaps of them like ants around. There are these faces in the windows... We, the basement dwellers, were afraid to anger them.
I, not giving up hope that I can take this unfortunate cat, I, overcoming my fear, go up to the soldier and say: “Can I go into the apartment and pick up my cat, please?” He allowed it.
I’m walking with a Chechen with a machine gun to my apartment. I go up to the third floor, look - and the apartment is closed. The neighbors' doors are lying on the floor like coffins. The soldier knocked on my door and shouted something. A Chechen opens the door with his foot, comes out and shouts: “To the wall! Act, act! What about “act”?
He has my award books in his hands. For example, in honor of the 70th anniversary of the military unit. They look like military men, if you don't look closely. But I just work as a duty officer in a military dormitory. The Chechen apparently thought that I was a military man.
“One mother has already started saying that at the first opportunity she will grab them in the snout with her bare hands.”
With trembling hands, I take out my passport, show how old I am, and say that I am a pensioner. “Where are your sons?!” - shouts. She started looking around the house for documents for him to prove that they were not “Bandera”. I have one son - an IT specialist, the second - a teacher. I found their work passes and showed how old they were.
A new TV was taken from my apartment. My family gave me a 65-inch plasma, I even left the box. They took it with the box. Every time they started communicating with us rudely, I shamed them with TV. She asked naively: “Where did you put my big TV?” They shut up immediately.
We also asked them if we could leave the basement somewhere in the village. Kadyrov’s people told us that no, because the Ukrainian military could shoot us, and they were responsible for us.
We pulled Chechens into conversations. The soldiers say in one voice: “We didn’t know we were going to war.” One said that we were still sitting safely: “When I was 10 years old, I sat in a basement for 27 days during the Chechen war, they [Russian soldiers] didn’t ask us anything - they threw a grenade into the basement, and then they found out who was there: peaceful or non-peaceful. And we behave like human beings.” They insisted that Kadyrov sent them here to protect us. When asked what they were protecting us from, they looked at us with scary eyes with anger: they say, you can’t ask that.
After about two weeks, Kadyrov’s men came to the basement, said that they would leave soon, and asked us to say thank you on video. I see our young guys are on edge. One mother has already begun to say that at the first opportunity she will grab them in the snout with her bare hands. I told our basement guys that I would say something on camera. She started saying that it was normal for us here, we were peaceful, we never thought that this could happen to us... But this was not included in the video. I actually said that we were fed and given water. They didn't really like my thank you, but they didn't tell me what to say. For me it was a hell of a thank you.
We felt like prisoners: they fed us and gave us water. Thank you for not killing me. When they left, they finally said: “Now the Russians will come and you will be a khan.”
Bogdan, engineer: “We are free people, but they won’t let us go anywhere”
My wife, daughter and I have been in the basement since February 24th. In the first days we had our own food supplies. We didn't cook anything, but we made some sandwiches. They lowered the kettle while there was electricity, they turned it on, then they found a gas burner and heated the water on it. All the eggplants were filled with water.
The Chechens arrived on February 26. They took everyone’s phones under the pretext that we could use them to control the flight of drones. Then their positions were heavily shelled and they thought someone was making a tip. There was almost no aggression on their part. Only on the first day, when they found a gun on someone, they shouted: “Who is this?” Another was found with a loaded double-barreled shotgun. They began to threaten the guy and asked what she was for, but there was no mass intimidation. They began to bring us water and food from looted stores.
There was Grozny riot police in our house. The soldiers told us that they did not want to come here. They claimed that they were actually going to Belarus for exercises, but when they started passing Chernobyl, they realized that they were in Ukraine.
The video was taken by their officers. They have their own hierarchy, only officers could speak on behalf of Kadyrov. It was they, as I understand it, who pushed the propaganda speeches. They tried to show that they were, as it were, on the side of civilians: “We came to protect you, because in the first Chechen war the Ukrainians defended us - Sashko Bily was with us.” And we know who Sashko Bily is ( activist of the far-right organization “Right Sector”, member of the right-wing radical party UNA-UNSO, participant in the first Chechen war. - Ed .). They said that they came to make Ukraine better. They were more inclined to believe that they were protecting us not from the Nazis, but from “external control”: “Why don’t you overthrow your Zelensky? America runs it." Kadyrov’s men also robbed a local store or warehouse and brought us food from there, under the guise of their humanitarian aid. The boxes with products had the words “Odessa”, “Kharkov”, “Kherson” written on them. This is apparently some kind of warehouse from which products were sent throughout Ukraine. There were some sausages and wheels of cheeses for restaurants, as it were.
“The Chechens constantly said that they would take Kyiv in two days. And then, over time, they became sadder and said that they would soon leave and [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky would rebuild all the destroyed cities.”
Before the Chechens left, the chief commander came and said: “Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov told us to protect you, you are under the personal protection of Ramzan Akhmatovich!” He noted that we are free people, but they will not let us go anywhere for our safety. Another officer said: “We understand that it’s not entirely correct to shoot a video with you, but we really need to shoot a video for Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov. You understand us! If anyone wants it, tell me." They asked so insistently several times, they said that this video would not go anywhere: they say, this is only for him. One of the women in the basement [Larissa] said: “You are young. This could harm you. Let me tell you, I have nothing to lose.” And she said it so vaguely. A lot was cut out of the video, she actually said thank you for being humane, not killing anyone and giving water and food.
Our child’s phrases were also cut out. Instead of thanking us for the toys and kinder surprises, she said: “You have seven days to give us our phones.” She was very upset that their phones were taken away. The other children said thank you, they were all well-mannered.
I wouldn’t say that they directly forced people to film. They approached different people in the basement and asked to film. One woman said that she wouldn’t, because her son is in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and is against such filming. In response, the Chechens said: “Why? We are trying so hard for you.”
My grandmother died in the basement. She was about 80 years old, she and her husband had just recovered from coronavirus. Her heart apparently couldn't take it from the stress. We called a Chechen doctor, he came and said: “We have nothing, I only have medicines for first aid. Don’t call me again.” She died. We asked for a special bag for the body, so that later, when it was dug up, it could be sent for identification and reburial. They said they could only give me a garbage bag. We dug a hole in the yard, since it was dangerous to walk far due to shelling. They wrapped the body in a blanket, prayed, buried it, put up a cross and wrote on it who was lying.
They let me go into the apartment. Our windows were broken due to bombing. The Chechens took out our bed and dragged it into a large apartment, where they set up housing for themselves. Many apartments were looted. The plasmas were taken and transferred to the bosses’ apartment. They also had generators connected for heating and water was heated for ablutions before prayer. They brought flowers from other apartments into our apartment and even watered them. But because of the broken windows, it was 10 degrees in the room and the flowers were all frozen.
The Chechens constantly said that they would take Kyiv in two days. And then, over time, they became sadder and said that they would soon leave and [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky would rebuild all the destroyed cities. When asked whether [Russian President Vladimir] Putin would do this, they said: “No, Zelensky, of course, will do this.”