Apti Alaudinov, commander of the “Akhmat” special forces, pictured on a billboard alongside the following inscription: “The best general is the one who wins without fighting. Sun Tzu.”
On Dec. 13, Vladimir Putin bestowed yet another prestigious decoration on Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Russia’s Chechen Republic, praising his “significant contribution to strengthening Russian statehood, the country’s defense capabilities, and advancing the socio-economic development of the Chechen Republic.” This time, as per a report from Russian state-owned news agency TASS, the award was the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland,” 2nd Class.
The Insider takes a closer look at Kadyrov and his forces’ unique approach to “strengthening” Russia’s defenses.
Destroyed a communications tower in Russia’s Belgorod and called it enemy infrastructure
In December 2023, Kadyrov took to social media claiming that fighters from the Chehchen “Zapad-Akhmat” (lit. “West-Akhmat”) battalion had destroyed a communications tower in the Belgorod Region — which is in Russia, not Ukraine. According to Kadyrov, the accomplishment deprived the “enemy” of communication, preventing them from calling for reinforcements. Zapad-Akhmat had reportedly seized the initiative and “destroyed the enemy.”
This wasn’t the first video Kadyrov shared of Akhmat fighters attacking Russian territory. Similar footage surfaced in August 2023, showing Kadyrov’s troops shooting at targets in the village of Lozovaya Rudka — also part of Russia’s Belgorod Region. A few months prior to the incident, Kadyrov claimed that Zapad-Akhmat had begun guarding Russia’s state border in Belgorod.
Captured an empty village in three days
Shortly before Ukrainian’s offensive into the Kursk Region this past summer, the “Akhmat-Chechnya” regiment “liberated” the border village of Ryzhevka — which is located on Russian territory and, at the time, contained no residents or enemy positions. Kadyrov himself reported on the “liberation” of the abandoned settlement:
“Thanks to large-scale, well-planned offensive actions, the Ukrainian side suffered significant losses and was forced to retreat. The coordinated and effective work of all units’ fighters allowed this result to be achieved without significant difficulties in just three days.”
“Narrowly missed” the Ukrainian forces in Kursk
In August 2024, as Ukrainian forces advanced into Russia’s Kursk Region, the commander of Kadyrov’s “Akhmat” special forces unit, Apti Alaudinov, claimed that his men had “narrowly missed” the Ukrainian troops. According to Alaudinov, the Ukrainians somehow managed to bypass the Chechen positions unnoticed — meaning the Chechens were not able to engage them in combat.
However, Russian pro-war blogger Yuri Kotenok had earlier presented a completely different narrative. Kotenok claimed that the Akhmat forces were positioned in the Kursk Region in the very area where the AFU offensive had started. The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel corroborated Kotenok’s version of events, writing that Kadyrov’s special forces stationed in the Korenevsky District “dispersed” — essentially scattered — after the first Ukrainian attacks.
Other reports indicated that Chechen troops “ran off immediately,” leaving ill-trained conscripts to defend the border. Ukrainian channels shared videos of the Chechen units — which they nicknamed “TikTok troops” (1, 2) — accompanied by sarcastic comments about the way Akhmat fighters were “defending” the region.
