Apti Alaudinov explains Orthodox cross on flag of “Akhmat” special forces

When explaining the appearance of the Orthodox cross on the flag of the “Akhmat” special forces, Apti Alaudinov has emphasized that initially, the unit consisted only of Chechen. However, at present, natives of Chechnya make up only 25% of the personnel in the “Akhmat” units, while 50% of the fighters are Russians, and the rest are of other nationalities.

The message about the appearance of the Orthodox cross on the flag of the “Akhmat” special forces units has been posted by Anastasia Babir, a special correspondent of the “Vesti-Kursk” news agency, in her Telegram channel.

“Initially, when we started and organized the unit, it consisted of Chechens only. And then, during the military operations, little by little, other units, other ‘Akhmats’, were formed from my personnel. And a sufficient number of volunteers from all regions of Russia have already come to me,” stated Apti Alaudinov, the commander of the “Akhmat” special forces, in a video attached to the publication of May 23. He has noted that 23,000 volunteers from all regions of Russia have passed through the “Akhmat” special forces.

Apti Alaudinov has emphasized that over the past two years, the “Akhmat” special forces unit has been consisted mainly by Russians: 50% are Russians, 25% are Chechens, and 25% are people of other nationalities, known not only in Russia, but were also in the Soviet Union.

According to the Apti Alaudinov’s report, there are four priests and four imams in the “Akhmat” special forces. Apti Alaudinov has noted that initially there was a sticker on cars used by religious figures of the Orthodox Church and the Muftiate to travel to the units. The cars had “a cross, a crescent, and a sticker of the ‘Akhmat’ special forces” on them. Apti Alaudinov has also explained that the “Akhmat” special forces unit’s flag used the colours of the Chechen and Russian flags.

As a result, the sticker has transformed into the flag of the “Akhmat” special forces, which contains both an Orthodox cross and an Islamic crescent. Apti Alaudinov believes such a flag serves as a symbol of unity.

This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 26, 2025 at 01:46 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.