Former rebel Ramzan Kadyrov says if Russian PM sent his ‘death battalion’ to Syria in a ground operation, Islamic State would be wiped out within weeks

The Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has asked Vladimir Putin to send him to Syria, claiming that a land operation using Chechen ground troops would wipe out Islamic State terrorists.

“The terrorists don’t know what a real war is, because they have only been subjected to airstrikes. They don’t have experience of real military action,” said Kadyrov in an interview with a Russian news agency.

“If our request is granted, it will be a celebration for us,” he said. “But it’s the decision of the commander-in-chief to take.”



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Putin is unlikely to grant Kadyrov’s wish, having made it clear several times that current Russian military action in Syria will involve airstrikes only.

When the decision to launch strikes was taken on Wednesday, Kadyrov said it was unfortunate there would be no land operation, and on Friday he again emphasised his readiness to send some of his fearsome battalions into Syria.

“As a Muslim, as a Chechen, as a patriot of Russia, I am stating that in 1999, when our republic was seized by these devils, we gave our oath on the Qur’an that all our lives we would fight against them, wherever they are. I am not just saying this, I’m asking that we are allowed to go there and take part in these special operations,” said Kadyrov.



Kadyrov’s father was a mufti in Chechnya who fought against the Russians during the first Chechen war in the 1990s. However, he switched sides and pledged allegiance to Moscow. He was killed in a bomb attack in 2004, since when Ramzan has been the leader of Chechnya, first de facto and then officially.

Kadyrov has been implicated in a number of high-profile political murders, and his forces have been accused of a wide range of rights abuses, but he is tolerated by the Kremlin for the relative peace his rule has brought to Chechnya after a decade of bloodshed. His policies to quell the Islamic insurgency have included burning down the houses of relatives of suspected militants.

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Chechens fought on both sides of the front lines in east Ukraine, including a group of around 300 men formed from former members of Kadyrov’s militias and named the “death battalion”, which spent several months fighting on the side of the pro-Russia rebels.



Apti Bolotkhanov, the battalion’s commander, told the Guardian the men were volunteers, though others have suggested they were sent as part of Russia’s thinly disguised military backing for the rebels.

Kadyrov was recently put on a Ukrainian sanctions list for his support for the rebel side. His response was to say he had no interest in visiting Kiev, and if he did decide to, “nobody would be in a position to ask my name”.