Russian President Vladimir Putin could be facing another war front, this time on his own turf, as one Chechen battalion prepares a second offensive against Moscow, a spokesman for the volunteer fighting force in Ukraine said. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, volunteer Chechen forces joined the fight in support of Kyiv — fueling the flames to a long-held animus towards not only Russia, but Putin. "We know the enemy’s positions, where Russian military bases are," Islam Belokiev, spokesman for the Sheikh Mansur Battalion, said in a video message obtained by Fox News Digital this week while announcing a plan to once again fight for Chechen independence. "We have divided the Chechen Republic of Icheriya into three fronts and 16 sectors." Chechen resistance to Russian rule dates back centuries, and calls for independence began more than 30 years ago following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Broad autonomy was granted under a peace treaty signed by then Russian President Boris Yeltsin after a brutal war devastated the republic from 1994-1996. In an infamous speech that was a prelude to his presidential rise, Putin said, "We will pursue the terrorists everywhere. If we catch them on the toilet, we will wipe them out in the outhouse." An estimated 160,000 people were killed in both campaigns, though exact figures remain unclear. At least two volunteer Chechen battalions, including veteran soldiers from both the first and second Chechen wars, have taken up arms against Russia in Ukraine, including the Sheikh Mansur Battalion and the Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion. Both groups have been vocal in denouncing the leader of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, who was appointed to the post in 2007 by Putin and has brutally backed his war efforts against Kyiv. However, disdain for Putin and a decade of war broke out after he voided the treaty and launched a deadly military campaign in 1999 following his appointment as prime minister by Yeltsin.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/putin-faces-second-war-front-133842667.html
Russian President Vladimir Putin could be facing another war front, this time on his own turf, as one Chechen battalion prepares a second offensive against Moscow, a spokesman for the volunteer fighting force in Ukraine said. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, volunteer Chechen forces joined the fight in support of Kyiv — fueling the flames to a long-held animus towards not only Russia, but Putin. "We know the enemy’s positions, where Russian military bases are," Islam Belokiev, spokesman for the Sheikh Mansur Battalion, said in a video message obtained by Fox News Digital this week while announcing a plan to once again fight for Chechen independence. "We have divided the Chechen Republic of Icheriya into three fronts and 16 sectors."
Chechen resistance to Russian rule dates back centuries, and calls for independence began more than 30 years ago following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Broad autonomy was granted under a peace treaty signed by then Russian President Boris Yeltsin after a brutal war devastated the republic from 1994-1996. In an infamous speech that was a prelude to his presidential rise, Putin said, "We will pursue the terrorists everywhere. If we catch them on the toilet, we will wipe them out in the outhouse." An estimated 160,000 people were killed in both campaigns, though exact figures remain unclear.
At least two volunteer Chechen battalions, including veteran soldiers from both the first and second Chechen wars, have taken up arms against Russia in Ukraine, including the Sheikh Mansur Battalion and the Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion. Both groups have been vocal in denouncing the leader of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, who was appointed to the post in 2007 by Putin and has brutally backed his war efforts against Kyiv.
However, disdain for Putin and a decade of war broke out after he voided the treaty and launched a deadly military campaign in 1999 following his appointment as prime minister by Yeltsin.