Experts treat Kadyrov's statements about Chechen spetsnaz in Syria as PR actions

Ramzan Kadyrov's statement that Chechen spetsnaz (special troops) is at war in Syria should be treated with scepticism, said Reserve Colonel Victor Murakhovskiy and Andrei Koshkin, a military political analyst. If Kadyrov is telling the truth, then he has actually "exposed" his spetsnaz to the fighters of the "Islamic State" (IS), said Alexei Malashenko, a member of the Scientific Council of the Moscow Carnegie Centre.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov said that the Chechen spetsnaz in Syria operates in the rear of the IS militants.

As noted by Victor Murakhovskiy, who is also the editor-in-chief of the magazine "Fatherland's Arsenal", Kadyrov "doesn't command any spetsnaz units of the Russia's Armed Forces."

Alexei Malashenko treated Kadyrov's statement as a political promotion (PR) action, noting that he is "sceptical about any real action of the Chechen spetsnaz possible on the territory controlled by the IS." Nevertheless, the expert has noted that "many Chechens went to fight in Syria on the side of the IS."

Andrei Koshkin, a member of the Association of Military Political Analysts, who also heads the Division of Political Science and Sociology of the G. V. Plekhanov Russian Economic University, has admitted that "even if Kadyrov's words are true, then this is only a private initiative."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.