After the first drone strike against Russia's North Caucasus republic that targeted the Russian Special Forces University of Vladimir Putin in the Chechen city of Gudermes on Oct. 29, Kadyrov said he ordered all of his commanders fighting against Ukraine "not to take prisoners and destroy" Ukrainian soldiers as retribution.
Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov on Oct. 29 apparently boasted about using Ukrainian prisoners as human shields, claiming there were casualties among the captives after a drone strike on Chechnya.
One of the most likely versions explaining the incident links the attack to the deadly shooting in the Moscow office of the Russian online retailer Wildberries in September and a conflict between Kadyrov and lawmakers from the neighboring Caucasus republics, the source said.
The drones hit the building of the Russian Special Forces University named after Vladimir Putin in the city of Gudermes, the independent news outlet Agentstvo reported.
"There are witnesses, there are people from whom they tried to commission, whom they asked how much they would take for the order," Ramzan Kadyrov said in Chechen to other officials from the North Caucasian republic.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to the Chechen Republic on Aug. 21 to inspect Chechen troops readying to deploy to Ukraine's front line - marking his first visit to the region in 13 years.
"I had the pleasure of testing the new technology and saw for myself that it is not by chance that it is called 'Cyberbeast.' ... I am sure this 'beast' will be of great use to our fighters," Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov said on Aug. 17.
No Russian troops are present in the border village of Ryzhivka in Sumy Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 10.
New reporting has put the Chechen warlord's health in the headlines once more. But there are other, subtler, signs that the republic might be preparing for a regime change. Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov is used to speculation about his imminent demise. Pundits have discussed the 47-year-old's failing health since September
Danone's Russian assets were placed under "temporary management" by the Russian government in July 2023 in response to Western sanctions against Russian companies abroad.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's death in jail on Feb. 16 follows a long list of murders and suspicious deaths of opponents of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Since he came to power in 1999, more than 20 Putin critics have been killed or died mysteriously. Many other enemies of the
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