Kadyrov doesn't want to send Chechens to war — The Economist

Below is a reprint of a news article about Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's reaction to the war, according to The Economist:

**Kadyrov in no hurry to send Chechens to war – The Economist**

The Economist reports that despite public statements of support for the war, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov does not actually share the Kremlin's interests in Ukraine.

"Whatever Moscow's interests in Ukraine may be, we are very far from them," an anonymous source told the publication.

The Economist described the source as a prominent Chechen with close ties to the republic's leadership. He said Kadyrov understands the situation very well and is unwilling to sacrifice his people for the sake of the "Russian world."

Kadyrov said in April that more than 70,000 people from Chechnya, or 9 percent of the republic's men, had gone to the front. However, the latest report by Mediazona and the BBC on the number of Russian servicemen killed shows that only 540 out of 236,000 were Chechens. This is only 0.2 percent, while the share of the Chechen population in the Russian population is 1.1 percent (that is, 5 times more).

A month ago, Kadyrov once again said that the Chechen special forces are eager to perform the most complex tasks. However, in practice, the "Akhmat" fighters, known as the "tik-tok troops" for their high activity on social networks, are often far from the front lines.

According to a source close to the Chechen leadership, "They pretend to be participating in hostilities, but they have received orders not to overdo it and to be careful."

Kadyrov managed to protect the main population of Chechnya from forced mobilization. This approach allows him to strengthen his image as the "father of the nation." If he is asked to send someone to the front, he can do so at the expense of people he considers unacceptable: homosexuals, alcoholics, or relatives of Chechen oppositionists.