At the beginning of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent an order to the head of Chechnya,

Ramzan Kadyrov

, to occupy the Kyiv government quarters and kill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

This was reported by The Wall Street Journal with reference to the statements of Ukrainian intelligence and special services.

According to intelligence, three weeks before the invasion of Ukraine, Putin summoned Kadyrov to Moscow to formulate a strategy and instructed him to capture Kyiv and kill the president of Ukraine.

While the troops were training in Belarus, Kadyrov turned to Zelensky, writing on February 14 in his Telegram that "the time of clowning has come to an end."

According to Oleksiy Danilov, head of the NSDC, the task of killing Zelenskyi was desirable for the executors — "a kind of bonus they gave Kadyrov."

Photo: Associated Press

Kadyrov's troops entered Ukraine on February 25, the day after the invasion, with three columns of armored vehicles, one of which was less than completely destroyed on the outskirts of Kyiv, and the other two never reached the capital, the journalists will remind.

As confirmation, WSJ journalists refer to a video intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence, which was later shown to representatives of the publication.

On it, a Chechen soldier announces the start of his boss's mission.

"The time is exactly 00:00. We are starting to move. More than one and a half thousand people, the best special forces, the best fighters," the officer said in the video.

The press secretary of the Kremlin, Dmytro Peskov, has traditionally denied these claims, calling them "absurd, senseless and false."

After the unsuccessful blitzkrieg, Kadyrov engaged in covert mobilization among the inhabitants of Chechnya.

Representatives of the authorities in the region and religious figures in public places went to public places and offered 300 thousand rubles ($4,600) a month to Chechens who would agree to go to war.

This was told by one of the residents of the republic who managed to escape in August.

According to him, some of his neighbors and friends still signed short-term contracts with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

Kadyrov's special services recruited the most vulnerable — men with debts and criminal records.

After the announcement of "partial mobilization", Kadyrov announced that four new battalions had been formed in Chechnya.

Local authorities carry out repression against their own population.

According to local residents and human rights groups, thousands of men are forced to go to fight.

Subsequently, the role of Chechen units in Ukraine changed.

Since the end of summer, they have been used as fencing enclosures.

"Kadyrivtsi" also carry out "cleansing" in the occupied territories.

They search for spies and partisans, go from house to house, search homes, interrogate and torture Ukrainians.

It will be recalled that the 

SBU declared the head of Chechnya and Putin's "supporter" Ramzan Kadyrov wanted

.

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