"Novaya Gazeta": Chechnya forms battalions to be sent to Syria

The leadership of the Chechen Republic has received a task to send two battalions of 600 people each to Syria. Apti Bolotkhanov, a participant of the warfare in Donbas, will supposedly command one of them, the "Novaya Gazeta" has reported today with reference to its anonymous sources.

These sources include employees of one of the ROVDs (District Interior Divisions) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), where, according to their story, ten persons have been recruited into a special squadron, who are now "involved in intensive physical and combat training," and can be sent to Syria to take part in a ground operation. Similar squadrons have been recruited in other ROVDs.

"The authorities are seeking to recruit to 'Syrian' battalions members of those Chechen families, whose relatives had already gone to fight for the 'Islamic State' (IS) banned in Russia," states the article of the "Novaya Gazeta", adding that Adam Delimkhanov, a State Duma MP from Chechnya, is personally responsible for the mission; and the above Apti Bolotkhanov, who fought in Donbas for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, may be in command of one of the battalions.

So far, no comments have been made by the leadership of Chechnya and Chechen law enforcement bodies on the information about the battalions prepared for departure to Syria.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.