“They did in Mariupol what they did before in Grozny”, denounces a Chechen fighter engaged against Russia

He is one of the children of the Chechen separatists whom Russia fought for many years. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Chechnya’s capital, Grozny, was razed to the ground and engulfed in a deluge of fire. “If you want to see what happened to Grozny in 2000 or 1994, go to Mariupolhe says. The Russians did in Mariupol what they did before in Chechnya, Syria, everywhere.”

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Since 2014, Chechens have been fighting alongside the Ukrainian army against a common enemy: Russia. The latter fought several wars in Chechnya to prevent this small republic in the Caucasus from escaping its control.

The hope of reconquering Chechnya

This Chechen fighter calls himself Thor. He is barely in his thirties and insists that his real identity not be revealed: “If they have any information about us, they will attack our families. They will arrest them, kill them or subject them to torture.”

“They could also enlist them, mobilize them by force. That’s what they are used to doing.”

Thor, Chechen fighter

at franceinfo

Because today’s Chechnya is ruled with an iron fist by Ramzan Kadyrov, who is an unwavering ally of Vladimir Putin. Ramzan Kadyrov has set up a fierce dictatorship, one of whose objectives is to cover up all the war crimes committed by Russia in Chechnya. “A few months ago, we discovered a mass gravee, says the Chechen fighter. And what did Kadyrov do? He sent his army to cordon off the area, as thousands of families of the missing had gone to the scene. Kadyrov told them, ‘Forget them, they don’t exist anymore.'”

The hope of these Chechens lies in a rapid defeat of Russia in Ukraine, before embarking on the reconquest of their country with the support of kyiv.