Policemen from Chechnya forcibly sent to SMO zone, human rights defenders believe

Employees of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) sent to the special military operation zone in a combined military detachment have hardly left for Ukraine by their own will, but their refusal could lead to persecution of them and their relatives, human rights defenders believe.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on January 23, it became known that the “Akhmat” detachment, formed from employees of the MIA’s departments in the Gudermes and Sernovodsk Districts, was sent from Chechnya to the special military operation zone (SMO) in Ukraine.

Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, does not believe that financial motivation played a role when the policemen were sent to the special military operation. He suggests that few persons want to fight in the current conditions, when “people perish every day” at the front line.

“It also seems to me that money cannot force a man to risk his life,” expressed her opinion Svetlana Gannushkina*, the chair of the “Civic Assistance” Committee*.

For many policemen, the refusal is more dangerous than leaving for the front line, the human rights defender believes. “They are aware that they will not only face criminal cases opened against them, but also persecution of their relatives, dismissals from work, and threats,” Svetlana Gannushkina* pointed out.

Amir Kolov, the retired Colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, notes that at present, in Russia, even some political parties have their own consolidated detachments fighting in the SMO zone.

As for the Chechen “Akhmat” detachment, Amir Kolov believes it has the most attractive conditions for participants of the SMO, unlike all other detachments, and the most important concept is the recruitment of the detachment on the basis of national origin and religion.

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