The trip by Russian President Vladimir Putin is his first to the predominantly Muslim republic within the Russian Federation in nearly 13 years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unexpected trip to Chechnya on Tuesday, as Ukraine’s cross-border incursion into the western Russian territory of Kursk entered its third week.
During his trip, Putin visited a special forces academy where volunteer fighters set to be deployed to Ukraine were being trained.
Putin praised the volunteers and said that as long as Russia has men like them, it will be “invincible”, according to reports by Russian state agencies.
More than 47,000 fighters, including volunteers, have trained at the facility since Moscow began its full-scale invasion into Ukraine in February 2022, according to a Telegram post made by Kadyrov.
Fighters from Chechnya are engaged in both sides of the conflict in Ukraine, with pro-Kyiv volunteers loyal to the late Chechen pro-independence leader Dzhokhar Dudayev.
Chechnya’s bid for independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union led to years of war with Russian government forces, with Russia eventually restoring federal control over the region in the Second Chechen War between 1999 and 2009.
On his arrival in Chechnya, Putin was welcomed by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who thanked the Russian leader for his visit.
“We have been waiting for you for 13 years. And I know that you have a lot of problems, issues that you manually manage, including our republic,” Kadyrov said.
The Chechen leader confirmed that the republic has “tens of thousands” of reservists ready to fight against Ukraine, according to Russian state media.
It is unclear whether any of these fighters would be called upon to help battle against Ukrainian forces in the region of Kursk, where Kyiv launched a surprise incursion earlier this month taking Moscow by surprise.
The Kremlin has relied on Kadyrov to keep the North Caucasus stable following years of turmoil. Although Kadyrov has been criticised for using extrajudicial killings, torture and silencing dissenters, Russian authorities have stonewalled demands for investigations.
Before he visited Chechnya, Putin travelled to Beslan in the Caucasus province of North Ossetia where he had his first meeting in nearly two decades with mothers of children killed in the 2004 school attack claimed by Islamic militants which left more than 330 dead.
There, the Russian leader slammed Kyiv’s incursion into Kursk, vowing to “punish” Ukraine for its actions.