Chechen policeman detained while trying to leave Russia

Yasin Khalidov, 19, was detained by Russian border guards at a car checkpoint in the Omsk Region while trying to cross the Russian-Kazakh border. Earlier, he tried to quit his service so as not to return to the special military operation (SMO) zone. Human rights defenders are sure that Khalidov is in danger in Chechnya.

On September 14, 2022, Khalidov was sent on a service trip to Ukraine, where he spent four months. He was only 18 then; and he tried to quit his job, but he was denied dismissal, and upon his return from Ukraine, he was unofficially detained. He was threatened that if he did not stop trying to quit his job, he would be prosecuted for terrorism, the "Novaya Gazeta" outlet reported.

Khalidov was a participant in the SMO; and after trying to quit, he had problems with Chechen authorities, a source of the "Caucasian Knot" has confirmed.

"He's in trouble with Kadyrov because he tried to quit [the power body]," a Russian human rights activist has explained.