“Akhmat” units not in direct combat, First Deputy PM of Ichkeria government-in-exile says

Units territorially formed by the command of the invading forces of the aggressor state in Chechnya are avoiding the front lines in Ukraine.

Alim-Pasha Soltykhanov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in exile said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

“At present, our five volunteer battalions are fighting alongside the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Soltykhanov said.

He added that the Head of the government-in-exile, Akmed Zakayev, spends most of his time and work in Ukraine, while the Minister of Defense is stationed there permanently.

Asked whether Chechen fighters on the Ukrainian side had faced their compatriots in the ranks of the invading forces, Soltykhanov replied: “There have been no direct firefights with the ‘Akhmat’ units for a simple reason: the ‘Akhmat’ units are simply not present on the front line.”

According to him, no “Kadyrov” forces are operating on Ukrainian territory. However, certain units are indeed being formed in occupied Chechnya, including the so-called “Akhmat” battalion and others under the Russian military command.

As Ukrinform previously reported, in temporarily occupied Tokmak in the Zaporizhzhia region, fighters of the 78th regiment “Akhmat Sever” began active preparations to seize the city’s most valuable enterprises for their informal transfer under control of structures from Grozny.