This week, Kadyrov claimed that a key ally linked to the 2015 assassination of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov had been wounded in battle in the besieged port city of Mariupol. Ruslan Geremeev was photographed at the hospital, where Kadyrov visited him. Earlier videos posted by the Chechen leader calling Geremeev a “dear brother” claimed to have shown him on the front lines in Mariupol, including the town hall. Nemtsov’s family has long insisted that Geremeev was the mastermind of the assassination plot. Five Chechens were found guilty of murder in 2017, but the trial was denounced by relatives and allies as a cover-up that failed to bring to justice those behind the killing. Investigators said in the 2017 trial that they visited Geremeev’s property in Chechnya but “no one opened the door.” They also named Geremeev’s driver, Ruslan Mukhudinov, as the mastermind of the murder and said he had offered the suspects millions of rubles for the murder. Police in Moscow arrest protesters holding a portrait of assassinated opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated near the Kremlin in 2015. Photo: Konstantin Zavrazhin / Getty Images Mukhudinov fled and investigators said after the verdict that the case against him was ongoing. Geremeev, a relative of two Russian lawmakers, served in the same paramilitary security unit as Zaur Dadaev, a former senior officer convicted of Nemtsov’s shooting. The unit has close ties to Kadyrov, although he was never directly involved in the assassination. Geremeev’s appearance on the front lines in Mariupol is a demonstration of Kadyrov’s strength and the apparent ability of his allies to defy Russian law. However, the multiple videos reported by Kadyrov are not being filmed on the front lines, suggesting that the Chechens may have a role to play with as much responsibility for propaganda as for fighting. The presence of Kadyrov’s men, who have a reputation for extreme barbarism, is likely both aimed at spreading fear and reinforcing numbers in battle. They can also take on other tasks, with some tasked with patrolling behind the front lines and shooting down deserters. Others have been assigned to interrogate civilians in the city – a grim specialty of Kadyrov’s supporters, who have a history of torture and ill-treatment. A senior commander from one of the Russian-backed eastern breakaway regions, Alexander Khodakovsky, said in a videotaped interview that the Chechens were not expected to fight on the front lines. Instead, they were initially targeted for “clearing” operations in Russian-occupied territories around Mariupol. He later apologized to Kadyrov for remarks that undermined his fighter’s military prowess. For Kadyrov himself, regardless of the role played by his troops, the war provided an opportunity to demonstrate his commitment to Putin, the man on whom his own blood-stained power is based, by sending troops. To that end, it has sought to mobilize Chechen society behind the war effort, including recruiting into martial arts clubs, and recently opened its prison gates to recruits, with a team expected to travel to Ukraine to fight next switch, security services said. But he has also used it to try to boost his profile as a rogue fighter, with his men emphasizing their faith in him and not in the Russian state. It has a problematic relationship with branches of the Russian security services. This week he called off peace talks even when Russia promised to reduce military activity around the capital, Kyiv. “We have to finish what we started,” Kadyrov said in a statement.
