2024-02-09 17:58:48
A clash took place between fighters of the Chechen battalion “Vostok-Akhmat” and the Russian military police in the Ukrainian city of Melitopol, occupied by Russia.
Videos of this incident were published on Russian and Ukrainian Telegram channels.
In the two-minute video, a soldier standing at a road post stops a convoy of foreign cars.
Among them is a Mercedes with a Moscow license plate. The soldier at the post asks the person sitting in this car if they have a combat mission for their movement.
“Indefinite” release card
The man behind the wheel shows the military police officer a piece of paper he claims is an “indefinite” license.
But the military police officer who checked the document says it is invalid. According to the police, the document should have exact dates indicating its validity.
But the Mercedes driver interrupts him:
“I don’t care what you say. I am the battalion commander and the document was issued by the battalion commander.”
After saying this, the person swears.
Then the person checking the documents orders to pull the car to one side. At that time, other Chechen fighters in the car got out and hit the military police officer several times.
Some of them seem to have their pistols ready. In the video, the sounds of blows and conversations in Chechen can be heard.
Vakha Khambulatov nicknamed “Asshab”.
According to the Sota Telegram channel, the commander of the Vostok-Akhmat battalion in the video Grow Xambulatovdur.
Other sites report that the incident took place in the center of Melitopol, near the Kvartal shopping center.
The document shown by Khambulatov was also included in this video. The name of the 291st motorized rifle regiment located in Borzoi is written on the paper.
Before that, the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov commander of the Vostok-Akhmat battalion, Major with the combat nickname “Comrades” in his telegram channel Grow Xambulatovnamed after him.
In October 2023, he was awarded the highest award of Chechnya – the Order of Akhmat Kadyrov.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not comment on the incident in Melitopol.
The previous incident
In August 2023, a shooting took place in Urzuf village of Mariupol district with the participation of Kadyrov fighters.
As a result, 7 residents of the village and 4 Russian soldiers were killed.
RFE/RL’s Russian service writes that they have not confirmed that such an incident took place in Chechnya.
Minister of Press of the Republic of Chechnya Ahmad Dudayev called this information “fake” and said that “not a single representative of the Chechen people has anything to do with this incident.”
However, the minister did not deny that the incident took place.
Freedom radio