If such a campaign were launched in Chechnya, Russian President Vladimir Putin would have a civil war on his hands, Poland’s tysol.pl website reported on Thursday, citing US broadcaster Fox News.
The Sheikh Mansur Battalion and the Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion are known to be among the volunteer Chechen units battling Russia in Ukraine, according to tysol.pl.
Both include veteran soldiers from the first and second Chechen wars and both have denounced the leader of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, a Putin appointee who has brutally supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Fox News reported.
New fight for Chechen independence?
Islam Belokiev, a spokesman for the Sheikh Mansur Battalion, said in a video message obtained by Fox News that the group was planning to wage another campaign for Chechen independence, according to tysol.pl.
"We know the enemy’s positions, where Russian military bases are," Belokiev said, as cited by tysol.pl.
'A second front' in Chechnya could 'strain Putin’s forces'
Fox News reported that Chechen units could force Putin to divert troops from Ukraine if he faced civil war at home.
Rebekah Koffler, a Russia expert and former intelligence officer for the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), was cited as saying that "the possibility of them taking advantage of Putin’s forces being tied up in Ukraine to assert their independence is very plausible."
Koffler added: “Even if a second front is not fully launched in Chechnya, it could still strain Putin’s forces.”
She told Fox News: "It would at least make Putin and the Russians believe that they will have to divert their attention and take eyes off Ukraine, so Ukrainians could launch a counter-offensive."
Thursday was day 148 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Source: tysol.pl, foxnews.com