Ukraine: Chechen muslim Death Battalion joins Russia’s war in Ukraine
Well drilled: The fighters hold their weapons in formation at their training camp just outside Donetsk
Hundreds of fighters from the Russian republic of Chechnya have formed their own ‘Death Battalion’ to join the insurgency in east Ukraine.
The 300 or so volunteers say they are mostly former state security troops in the mainly Muslim region, where Moscow has fought two bloody wars since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Reuters reported seeing dozens of the armed men in camouflage uniforms chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ as they trained in the snow in their camp outside Donetsk, east Ukraine.
Seasoned Chechen fighters, whose combat experience often dates back to the 1994-96 and 1999-2000 wars, fight on both sides in Ukraine, adding to the complexity of a conflict taking on the character of a Cold War proxy war.
The West says regular Russian troops are involved in the fighting, while Russia accuses Europe and the U.S. of engineering a coup in Kiev and supporting its new pro-West regime.