Which Chechen units have lost the most personnel fighting in Ukraine?
One of the most under-researched units features surprisingly high on the list.
Chechen units have been heavily involved in Russia’s war on Ukraine, with many rotating in and some created for the express purpose of fighting there. Indeed, there has been a proliferation of new units following the start of the “special military operation.”
This, naturally, gives rise to the question of which units have been most heavily involved in fighting (we’ll put aside for now the persistent accusation that avoiding fighting is something they are very good at).
One way we can answer this question is to look at confirmed casualties. Since January 2023, Kavkaz Realii have been updating a tracker on named people from the North Caucasus who they have been able to confirm killed. The results of this are surprising for what they reveal.
The list at present contains 9,861 names. Of these, 54 are identified as members of a unit whose name includes “Akhmat” (which covers most Chechen security service units these days). The breakdown of losses by unit is as follows:
- OMON Akhmat-1, a Rosgvardia unit led by Alikhan Shavkhalov: 26 killed.
- The “Akhmat” unit formed in Chechnya: 19 killed. The list is quite vague in places, but this presumably refers to Spetsnaz Akhmat, the “volunteer” unit led by Apty Alaudinov.
- Sever-Akhmat, a Ministry of Defence unit led by Zayndi Zingiyev: 11 killed.
- The Akhmat Kadyrov 141st Special Motorised Regiment (Sever), a Rosgvardia unit led by Ibragim Ismailov: 6 killed.
- SOBR Akhmat, a Rosgvardia unit led by Timur Edilov: 4 killed.
- Zapad-Akhmat, a Ministry of Defence unit led by Ismail Aguyev: 3 killed.
- Vostok-Akhmat, a Ministry of Defence unit led by Vakha Kambulatov: 3 killed.
- Yug-Akhmat, a Ministry of Defence unit led by Musa Iblayev: 1 killed.
- BOBR Akhmat, better known as the Ingushetian Batalkhadzintsy brotherhood that has allied with Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov: 1 killed.
- OMON Akhmat-Groznyy, a Rosgvardia unit led by Anzor Bisayev: 1 killed.
- Insufficient information: 5 killed. This is where the unit is identified as the “Akhmat regiment,’ which could refer to several different ones.
This information comes with all sorts of caveats. It is, for example, difficult to identify conflict deaths, and the units for many of the individuals who are identified are not specified. It also only includes people with links to the North Caucasus: Spetsnaz Akhmat, which has recruited people from outside the region, almost certainly tops the casualty list in reality.
Nevertheless, the high casualties experienced by OMON Akhmat-1 are somewhat surprising. This unit has received virtually no media coverage, but perhaps it should. It was created in October 2022 with the specific goal of fighting Russia’s war in Ukraine. Since then, it mainly seems to have operated in Zaporizhia Oblast. Yet it has also popped up in other unexpected places: Its members, for example, were also involved in the recent raid on the Wildberries office in Moscow.
I’ll be investigating the unit to see if there are any other interesting aspects of its operations. More to follow in due course…
In the news
💣 Terrorism & insurgency
The Second Western District Military Court sentenced Nurmukhamad Sharipov to 12 years in prison for membership of Hayat Tahrir ash-Sham.
Muslim Cheberloyevskiy, commander of the Sheikh Mansur Battalion (the anti-Kadyrov one), gave a short interview in which he explained his motivations for fighting. He portrays his group’s current involvement in Ukraine as a continuation of the separatist struggle that has been going on since 1991 and as a rejection of a “barbaric Russian world.”
Chechen opposition Telegram channel NIYSO reported that unknown assailants had carried out an attack on Rosgvardia personnel in Petropavlovskaya, near Groznyy. According to their initial account, attackers opened fire on a truck, killing three people, but they later revised the estimate to “at least one” member of the security services. Rosgvardia subsequently confirmed that one member of the security services had been killed and another injured. The attackers managed to escape, prompting search operations across Chechnya. NIYSO claimed a second member of Rosgvardia died later in the week as a result of wounds sustained in the attack.
Four men were detained in Dagestan on suspicion of creating and financing a terrorist group in Derbent. The detained were all residents of Suleyman-Stalskiy, Derbentskiy Rayon and aged between 35 and 41. Investigators claim the men planned to carry out terrorist attacks.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed that it had arrested a man who was planning a terrorist attack in Stavropol. According to investigators, he joined an unspecified banned organisation in June 2024 and was detained before he could use a homemade incendiary device in a public place.
Security services in Ingushetia have detained a man on suspicion of aiding insurgents. The man, born in 1997, has been on the wanted list since February 2024, while the group that he allegedly helped was involved in attacks on the security services in March and April 2023.
🪖 Private military companies (PMCs)
A report by the Robert Lansing Institute alleges that Russia could be involved in transporting weapons to Darfur, thereby violating an arms embargo on shipments to Sudan. The report follows the shooting down in the Ah Mahla region of Darfur of a military transport plane, which was previously registered in Kyrgyzstan and was carrying Russian nationals. The Institute asserts that the plane was sponsored by the United Arab Emirates in support of the rebel Rapid Support Forces, and that Russian military intelligence facilitated the supplies.
🚔 State-linked security services
In an interview with “Z-blogger” Maksim Kalashnikov, Spetsnaz Akhmat commander Apty Alaudinov stated that the Kursk Oblast Interior Ministry had registered 187 crimes committed by Russian military personnel in the region, over an unspecified period. Alaudinov claims that none of them were committed by Akhmat personnel.
Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov reported that a drone had attacked the Russian University of Spetsnaz in Gudermes. Kadyrov said there were no casualties in the incident, which damaged the roof of a building. The institution is used to train volunteers before they are deployed to Russia’s war on Ukraine.