Residents of Chechnya uncover law enforcers' tricks used for recruiting into SMO zone

Contrary to Ramzan Kadyrov's calls, residents of Chechnya are trying to protect their sons from being sent to the special military operation (SMO) zone in Ukraine; and law enforcers are resorting to various tricks to force young people to go to Ukraine.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 11, Kadyrov called on the residents of Chechnya not to shy away from being sent to the SMO zone.

Mainat, a woman from Grozny, said that her son Ibragim had attracted law enforcers' attention after his bicycle broke down near one of the luxurious houses belonging to people from Kadyrov's retinue. Law enforcers began demanding that he "get out of here immediately." He explained that he would leave as soon as he fixed the bicycle, but they did not listen to him and twisted his hands.

According to Mainat, the next day law enforcers visited them and asked questions about her son. They claimed that Ibragim had resisted law enforcers, and this threatened criminal prosecution, which can be avoided if Ibragim joins service at the police. They stated that if the hostilities in Ukraine did not end, he would be sent there, and if he refuses, he will be given a summons from the military commissariat (registration and enlistment office).

The elder son of Mainat, who works in another region, has suggested sending Ibragim to relatives.

Vakhid and his wife Zina, residents of the Shali District, said that their middle son had perished in Ukraine, and the youngest one, Aslan, is studying in Krasnodar. A few days ago they learned that they were planning to mobilize Aslan.

Vakhid has explained that he doesn't want this son to perish either. Aslan left for the Stavropol Territory.

Vakhid believes that in Chechnya, "the degree of dissatisfaction with the results of voluntary-forced conscription has begun to go off scale." According to his observations, there are those who "provoke young people to do unsightly acts," after which "the guys are detained and given a choice": to go to Ukraine or into jail.

A Chechen woman named Malika said that her paternal relatives live in Vedeno. "They say that some guys went to the military commissariat willing to take part in the SMO, because they paid money for it; and there was nowhere to work in Chechnya," she said.

According to her story, residents of Chechnya began understanding the dangers of participating in the SMO. "Three of my relatives were able to leave Russia: via Finland and Turkey, they reached Germany, where their relatives live," she has explained, adding that many residents of Chechnya send their sons to relatives outside the republic in order to protect them from being sent to the SMO zone.