Chechen “Akhmat” was the first to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense

The Chechen detachment “Akhmat” was the first to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense of Russia on the organization of the so-called volunteer formation service. This was reported by the state agency “RIA Novosti” and representatives of the authorities of Chechnya.

On June 10, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered all volunteer formations to sign similar contracts by July 1. The head of PMC “Wagner” Yevgeny Prigozhin has already refused this. The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, and his close associates have been engaged in a public controversy with Prigozhin in recent days.

The contract with the Ministry of Defense on behalf of the Akhmat detachment was signed by Adam Dashaev, the director of the so-called “Russian University of Special Forces in Gudermes, where mercenaries are recruited from all over the country. In the published video, he exchanges documents with the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Alexei Kim. Nearby at this moment State Duma deputy from Chechnya Adam Delymkhanov and the commander of the special forces “Akhmat” Apty Alaudinov are present, Kavkaz.Realii reports.

“I hope in the future, looking at our first experience, the other volunteer teams will also sign such contracts,” said Kim. Alaudinov explained the signing of the contract by the fact that it “allows to level the entire social package for our soldiers who voluntarily came to the front, and those who serve in the Ministry of Defense.”

The Chechen state agency “Grozny-inform” wrote that the documents were issued “in compliance with an order.” [министра обороны Сергея] Shoigu”, and illustrated the news with a joint photo of him with the head of the republic.

The day before, Ramzan Kadyrov himself called Chechnya “one of the leading regions of Russia” for the formation of so-called volunteer units, which, as he put it, are fighting in Ukraine as part of the “international special forces “Akhmat””. The head of Chechnya noted that mercenaries are equipped at the expense of Akhmat Kadyrov’s fund – according to the media, contributions to this fund are forcibly collected from state employees.

The exact number of mercenaries sent through Chechnya to Ukraine after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion is unknown. Kadyrov claims that new fighters arrive every week. Human rights defenders declare cases of forced sending of citizens of the republic to the war against Ukraine.

• PMC “Wagner” will not sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense of Russia. This was stated by PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. According to Prigozhin, the PMC reports to President Vladimir Putin, not Shoigu. He has not yet commented on the signing of the contract with Akhmat.
• At the same time, the Ministry of Defense refers PMC “Wagner” to “volunteer stormtroopers”, since PMC activities and mercenaries are formally prohibited in Russia.
• Earlier, Kadyrov criticized Prigozhin for the wording in which the latter announced the settlement of the conflict between the entourage of the head of Chechnya and the commanders of PMC “Wagner”.
• Officials, imams and commanders in Chechnya have an obligation regarding the number of people recruited for the war against Ukraine – in order to fulfill this “normative”, they illegally detain local residents in secret prisons and threaten their relatives with torture if they refuse. This is stated in the material of the “SC SOS” crisis group.
• Adam Dashaev became the director of the “Russian Special Forces University” in May. The only thing known about this person is that in 2011-2014 he had the status of an individual entrepreneur, the main activity of which was sports, and the additional activity was retail trade in paints and enamels.