Chechnya: drivers of cars with tinted windows face risk of being sent to Ukraine

Chechen drivers have faced new law enforcers' raids against tinting car windows; attempts to argue with policemen lead to being served with summonses, local residents have reported. The raids are conducted in order to recruit drivers to the special military operation (SMO) zone, Ali Magamadov, a political analyst, has suggested.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in June 2020, Idris Cherkhigov, one of Ramzan Kadyrov's nephews, who in 2017 headed the Chechen GIBDD (traffic police administration), publicly announced the car window tinting to be a gross violation of traffic rules. After this, raids became frequent in Chechnya, during which law enforcers forced drivers to remove the tinting film from car windows right on the road.

A reader of the "Caucasian Knot" with the nickname vena has reported about law enforcers' raids. "Just the other day, law enforcers confiscated cars from several of my friends and relatives during raids. The reason was the presence of tinting film on the windows," the reader has written.

Rumisa, a resident of the village of Zakan-Yurt, reported that her son Aslan was recently given a summons, and he is being sent to the SMO zone. According to her story, his car had tinted windows.

The ultimate goal of the GIBDD raids is to replenish the units to be sent to Ukraine, Ali Magamadov, a political analyst, believes.

"Republic's authorities have to make a lot of efforts so that Kadyrov can regularly report to Putin about sending fighters trained in Gudermes to Ukraine. And it's becoming more and more difficult to do this every time," Mr Magamadov has stated.