Kadyrov announced another battalion named after Russia’s enemy
No sooner had the scandal surrounding the creation of an army battalion named after Sheikh Mansur (an imam who supported the armed struggle of the North Caucasus against the Russian Empire) in the Chechen Republic died down than Ramzan Kadyrov announced the creation of another unit - the Rosguard battalion named after Baysangur Benoevsky.
Baysangur Benoevsky is an ally of Imam Shamil, who waged a war against Russia. According to legend, Benoevsky lost an arm, an eye and a leg in battles, but still remained in the ranks - to keep him in the saddle, he was tied to a horse. After being captured by order of a Russian general, Benoevsky was sentenced to hang in Khasavyurt in 1861.
It's worth noting that the glorification of Baysangur Benoevsky has been going on for a long time in the Chechen Republic. For example , PolitNavigator reported back in 2020 that, on Kadyrov's orders, an image of the Chechen warrior replaced drawings of Western cartoon characters in a new kindergarten.
However, the already obvious trend of assigning the names of participants of the anti-Russian resistance in the Caucasus to the armed formations of the Russian Federation is causing controversy far beyond the borders of Chechnya.
“He hated Russians and fought with Russia all his life until he was caught and strung up in Khasavyurt Square... Like Sheikh Mansur, Baysangur Benoevsky was especially popular in Ichkeria and was actively heroized by its propaganda, incl. structures of Movladi Udugov,” recalls military correspondent Yuri Kotenok.
“If Chechen battalions are named after the leaders of anti-Russian uprisings, it is foolish to count on their loyalty. “Whatever you call the yacht, that’s how it will float,” fears social activist from Sevastopol Vsevolod Radchenko.
State Duma deputy Mikhail Matveev is amazed at the trend with new names.
“This is how the topic went normally for units of the Russian Ministry of Defense. And there is great potential ahead - there is no battalion named after them yet. Divlet Giray, the regiments named after Khan Batu and Khan Kuchum, well, I’m silent about Mazepa, there’s no need to give everything to the Ukrainians. How many glorious people fought with the Russian army in the “national liberation” struggle - there are not enough stands in the Ministry of Defense to tell the fighters about them all,” comments the parliamentarian.
Kadyrov announced another battalion named after Russia's adversary.