The commander of the special forces “Akhmat” has been appointed a “political tactician” at the Ministry of Defense
Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed the commander of the Chechen special forces “Akhmat” Apta Alaudinov as the deputy head of the Main Directorate for Military-Political Work of the Ministry of Defense.
By the same decree, Alaudinov was relieved of his previously held position of deputy commander of the 2nd Army Corps of the Russian Armed Forces.
The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, clarified that Alaudinov will continue to command the Akhmat special forces, calling his new appointment “recognition of the outstanding qualities of a strategist and fighter.” In the mass media, Akhmat is often called Kadyrov’s “personal army”.
In 2022, Putin awarded Alaudinov the title of Hero of Russia for his participation in the war against Ukraine.
- The Main Directorate for Military-Political Work under the Russian Ministry of Defense was created by Vladimir Putin in July 2019. Its purpose is “military-political propaganda and agitation” in the armed forces, “maintenance of the moral-political state of the military” and “the formation of an ideologically convinced personality of a serviceman.” The Department was headed by the Deputy Minister of Defense, Colonel-General Andrey Kartapolov, who previously headed the Western Military District and commanded Russian troops in Syria. After his appointment, he called the separation of the army from politics a “historical mistake.” “The armed forces are recognized as a political institution,” said Kartapolov.
- Later, Putin returned the “politrukov” institute to law enforcement agencies and state bodies. This institute, engaged in political propaganda, was introduced in 1919 in the Armed Forces of Soviet Russia and existed in various forms until the collapse of the USSR.
