Kidnapping relatives of forced "volunteers" fits into Chechen authorities’ practices

The kidnappings of relatives of those Chechen residents who fled from being sent to Ukraine are consistent with the practices of republic's authorities to force them to sign military contracts and punish the relatives of those guilty.

Human rights defenders possess information about the residents of Chechnya who were kidnapped in order to force them to sign military contracts and to put pressure on their relatives, a rights defender familiar with Chechen realities has confirmed to the "Caucasian Knot" on condition of anonymity. "I don't know what the NIYSO had written; we have information about it, but not in full, and we have no relatives’ permissions to spread it, so I can't comment on the details," he has stated.

Ruslan Kutaev, a Chechen political analyst, could neither confirm nor refute the information from the NIYSO; however, he has noted that what was described is entirely in line with the practices of Chechen authorities. According to his version, they also continue to actively force offenders to sign military contracts; and human rights defenders are actively documenting such cases – they consistently record the data about the state officials involved in abuses; however, it’s not yet possible to make this information public.

"The local administrations’ sympathies and antipathies are also important. Grassroots structures have committed many crimes that those ‘at the top’ don’t even suspect; but on the other hand, if somewhere they can help someone without bosses’ noticing, this is also certainly done. We should say here that they are usually less responsible for the crimes committed than for omissions in the manifestation of cruelty towards the population," Mr Kutaev has explained.

Svetlana Gannushkina*, Chair of the "Civic Assistance" Committee*, knows no cases described by the NIYSO. "We haven’t been approached about this; however, punishing relatives is a common practice in Chechnya," she told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, also noting that the practice of forcing offenders to sign military contracts remains "ubiquitous" in Chechnya.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 5, 2025 at 11:56 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.