Chechen Minister Dudaev tells Ukrainian POWs about SMO goals

Akhmed Dudaev, the head of the Chechen Ministry of Press, has held a talk about religion with Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs), during which he showed them footage of a gay pride parade in Kiev and explained that the goal of Russia's special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine is to counter the "Western ideology" and "non-traditional values."

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in September 2022, Ramzan Kadyrov talked to three Ukrainian POWs, who were brought to Grozny by the decision of Kadyrov's children. Lawyers then pointed out that if the video of the meeting of the head of Chechnya with the POWs was recorded without their consent, then this violates the POWs' rights.

The record of Minister Dudaev's talk with two Ukrainian POWs was posted by the "Grozny Inform" Telegram channel. The minister told the POWs that the aim of the SMO in Ukraine is to protect moral values and religion; he mentioned the burning down of the Koran in Denmark and Sweden.

Akhmed Dudaev also told the POWs about "imposing non-traditional values." "We don't accept the Western ideology in any form. We don't want non-traditional values to touch the people of Russia," he has stated.

The issues of faith were also raised in the conversation of the Ukrainian Mufti Aider Rustemov with POWs from Chechnya. In particular, the Mufti asked why the SMO in Ukraine is called jihad in Chechnya. This video provoked Kadyrov's anger, who called on the participants in the talk from Chechnya, after being released from captivity, to go back to Ukraine and punish the Mufti. Rustemov has treated Kadyrov's threats as real.