Alaudinov apologizes to priest with reservation

Apti Alaudinov, Commander of "Akhmat" Special Forces, has apologized to Schema-Abbot Gavriil "purely because of his age." At the same time, he expressed outrage that the people who demanded an apology to the priest failed to react to Gavriil's statements about Muslims.

Activists of the Orthodox Movement "Forty Forties" have demanded to check Alaudinov’s offensive statements about Schema-Abbot Gavriil for insulting believers’ feelings and inciting hatred and enmity, and to remove him from the post of deputy head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of Russia’s Armed Forces.

Alaudinov recorded a video in which he apologized to Schema-Abbot Gavriil; according to his story, he apologizes "purely because of his age", since he learned that the priest who spoke about Muslims is 75 years old. "Of course, I apologize to him because of his age," Alaudinov said in the video, which was posted in his Telegram channel.

He said that he apologized after many people started writing and calling him, pointing out that a Caucasian man should not insult an elderly person.

At the same time, he expressed his bewilderment that they all remained silent in response to the priest's statement about Muslims, who, according to Alaudinov, efficiently classified the people who come to pray as terrorists. "You react to all this calmly, send each other this video, and rejoice that he said so. And then from everything that was, you pull out my word – here, he insulted, calling him such and such," he said, pointing out that such people "have no conscience."

This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 8, 2025 at 12:49 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.