Captain Positivity said:
Chechnya is run by a puppet leader installed by Putin after the Chechen wars. His name is Ramzan Kadyrov. He's allowed to basically do whatever he wants in Chechnya, which is part of Russia but also a "independent republic" with special autonomy. Any time you see reference to "Kadyrovites" they are referring to his personal army. They are probably the most brutal and sadistic people on the battlefield right now.
A hell of a lot of them got wiped out near Kyiv in the first few days of the war.
A lot of factions still want Chechen independence from Russia and have vivid memories of what Russia did there. Chechnya is where Russia first tested the strategy they are applying in Aleppo and Mariupol.
Not surprising to see opposition Chechens joining the fight against Russia.
Great summary!
To really understand how Chechnya came to be where it is today, you have to study it and frankly, it is an absolute mess. I've read two dedicated books on it and I still feel like I barely understand how and why we have the situation we have in Ukraine now as far as the Chechnyans go.
In an completely oversimplicated nut shell, from my understanding, it stems from a fundamental Islam uprising in Dagestan that Russia was like "Nope" and then counter invaded. There was always a very strong pro Russian backing in Chechnya and it ended up in a civil war in all but name, but with Russia as the head and hammer of one side. They both did awful things to each other. Same stuff we are seeing in Ukraine. Even after Russia left Chechnya, there was a low grade insurgency they fought for years. Y'all will probably remember the elementary school that was taken over by terrorists and hundreds of kids died. That was Chechnyan terrorists. Kadyrov was given full power to do whatever it took and the Chechnyan on Chechnyan(Russian) fighting was brutal.
To their credit though, Kadyrov won the war against terror and finally killed enough terrorists that their main leader sued for peace and got it. I remember that clearly because that was around the time I left service, after we failed miserably to beat "terror".
We are seeing the Pro Russian forces at play here, but large parts of Chechnya never forgot and sure as hell never forgave Russia and THOSE people are working with the Ukes now.
In all honesty IMO, there are more similarities between the Russian reasoning of this war and the Chechnyan one than not. It very well could be why Russia threw the dice at all. It worked there back in '99, why not '22? Russia just miscalculated gravely and it may cost them everything in the end, or at least the Russia they recognized pre Feb. Fighting fundy islamists taking your land is quite different than invading a sovereign nation of proud farmers. Farmers fight, don't they know? Dumbasses.
