Alaudinov refuses to help surrendered Chechen natives

Apti Alaudinov, the commander of the "Akhmat" special unit, said that he would not help his fellow countrymen who had voluntarily surrendered in the special military operation (SMO) zone. He called surrender a disgrace for a Chechen and suggested that the fighters die in captivity.

On September 1, Shamsail Saraliev, a State Duma MP from Chechnya, reported that 103 POWs (prisoners of war) were returned to Russia; and the same number were handed over to the Ukrainian side. The Russian soldiers were captured in the Kursk Region, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported.

Alaudinov has stated that he has no intent to rescue Chechen fighters who had surrendered voluntarily from captivity, the "Kommersant" writes referring to the video message in his Telegram channel.

According to his story, he received videos in which Ukrainian special agents gave Russian POWs a chance to call Chechnya and talk to their relatives. "And there is this instruction, 'Tell Apti Alaudinov, he knows how to exchange us.' Hearing these words, I was really furious. Let's be honest: Chechens have always considered surrendering to be the greatest shame. For a Chechen, this is such a shame that cannot be washed away by anything except your own blood," Apti Alaudinov has stated, stressing that this does not apply to the fighters who were captured while seriously wounded or shell-shocked.

Let us recall that in August, three signalmen and two riflemen from the "Akhmat-Chechnya" unit were captured in the Kursk Region. Alaudinov has emphasized then that "not Kadyrov's men" had been captured, and treated the reports of mass surrender of Chechen fighters as "enemy propaganda."

In April 2023, Ramzan Kadyrov demonstrated a similar attitude to the surrender of natives of Chechnya. After five Chechen fighters returned to Grozny from Ukrainian captivity, the head of Chechnya refused to meet them, criticized them for surrendering, and suggested that they return to the SMO zone.

One of these fighters then publicly apologized to Kadyrov for surrendering. On June 15, 2023, it became known that all five had been returned to the SMO zone.