Kadyrov used special right to speak out on situation in Ukraine

The Kremlin had sanctioned the statements of the head of Chechnya on the situation in Ukraine, said Ruslan Kutaev, a Caucasian scholar, who commented on Kadyrov's publication of videos from the battle zone and the data he voiced about the losses of Chechen law enforcers in Ukraine. These videos and the time chosen for posting the data on the death toll of militaries were Kadyrov's own initiative, Alexei Malashenko, a political analyst, is sure.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 1, Ramzan Kadyrov reported that two natives of Chechnya perished in Ukraine, and six others were wounded.

Kadyrov independently decided to announce the losses of Chechen law enforcers in Ukraine, said Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the public organization "Assembly of Caucasian Nations".

However, Kadyrov did not act on his own when posting a video about the movement of a convoy of Chechens to Ukraine with threats on the Telegram channel, Mr Kutaev believes. "This is a project of the presidential administration. They are trying to create a scarecrow out of him (Kadyrov) [both at home and abroad]. All his statements are within the permitted limits," he has concluded.

Alexei Malashenko, a political analyst and a chief researcher at the E. M. Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), believes that the authorities had set no hierarchy regarding the publication of data on the death toll of the military personnel from Chechnya.

"They've just allowed those who want to announce (the losses)," he told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The publication of Kadyrov's video with an appeal to Ukrainians doesn't look like an order from above, Mr Malashenko believes. "Rather, it's Kadyrov's own initiative," he said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 3, 2022 at 01:55 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.