Military experts do not rule out an air defence base in Chechnya at Kadyrov’s proposal

The implementation of the Ramzan Kadyrov’s idea of deploying an air defence system in Chechnya would provide the republic with additional funding and make it more secure, the idea will be seriously considered by the federal authorities, military experts interviewed by the “Caucasian Knot” believe.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on July 18, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov stated that air defence systems are in demand in Southern Russia due to the need to introduce new strategic military solutions. The leader of Chechnya proposed to place one of the air defence bases in the Shali District of Chechnya.

Military expert Vasily Dandykin does not rule out that Chechnya could become an object of shelling attacks due to the active participation of Chechen militaries in the special military operation in Ukraine. “There are military bases, formations, new forming units of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), and in this regard they should be under full protection. I think the proposal of the leader of Chechnya will be seriously considered by the leaders (of the Ministry of Defence),” the expert suggested.

The construction of an air defence base implies large federal tranches, notes Sergey Zhavoronkov, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Institutional Problems at the Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy. “Construction of any such facility and its technical equipment require large expenditures. In this case, these will be federal tranches, because we are talking about high costs. Of course, the Chechen government is interested in construction on such a scale,” Sergey Zhavoronkov told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 20, 2022 at 05:50 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.