In March 2022, Chechen propaganda resources distributed a video purporting to show Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov personally present on the front lines in Ukraine — just “seven kilometers from Kyiv.” Investigative journalists have proven that this video was actually filmed in one of the basements of the secret SOBR prison “Akhmat” in Grozny.

This is stated in an investigation by the publication “Novaya Gazeta Evropa” about the real state and hidden scandals within Kadyrov’s army, Censor.NET reports .

How Kadyrov’s trip “to the war near Kyiv” was staged

The video was released by the ChGTRK channel “Grozny” on March 13, 2022. In a dim basement with a Chechen flag hanging, the deputy head of the Russian Guard for Chechnya, Daniil Martynov, cheerfully reported to Kadyrov how their units stormed an empty Ukrainian orphanage. At the end, Kadyrov pointed at a map and asked: “Is it seven kilometers from here to Kyiv now, Don?” , to which Martynov confidently agreed.

At the time, this fake caused open skepticism even in the Kremlin: Dmitry Peskov stated that there was no official data on Kadyrov’s trip, adding that he “didn’t seem to have directly claimed that he was there.”

From the set to back to the camera

Investigative sources have revealed another side to this staged video. The footage was hastily edited to cover up a serious conflict between Ramzan Kadyrov and the Russian Defense Ministry and the Rosgvardia over his elite special forces deserting from the front in the first weeks of the invasion.

As noted, to stage a mock military meeting, actors in camouflage had to be gathered from the internal prisons of Kadyrov’s subordinate SOBR:

•  Magomed Tushaev (commander of the “Sever” regiment) and Khuseyn Mezhydov (commander of the “Yug” battalion) were imprisoned in secret casemates for large-scale smuggling of captured Ukrainian weapons, which they secretly took out of the combat zone and hid this fact from Kadyrov;
•  Anzor Bisaev (commander of the Chechen OMON) was thrown into prison for direct assault. During the fierce battles for the Gostomel airport, Bisaev beat the aforementioned Daniil Martynov on the battlefield because he got scared and fled the front in a car (however, Bisaev himself later deserted).

The investigation states that for filming, all of these “prisoners” were taken to one basement, forced to film a combat meeting, and then returned to their cells under escort.

The head of Chechnya, his associates, security forces and the Chechen special forces “Akhmat” have been promoting themselves on social networks and pro-Kremlin media since the beginning of the war. For this, they are criticized by both Russian “military groups” and Z-publics, as well as Ukrainian media. The former believe that Kadyrov’s men often sit out in the rear during real battles. The latter mockingly call the Chechen military “TikTok troops” for publishing videos that look like staged ones. Джерело: https://censor.net/ua/n4012076

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