A few days ago, Kadyrov, the leader of Russia's Chechen region, said that 3,000 Wagner soldiers will join the Chechen "Akhmat" special forces and will join the fight in the near future.
[Chechen leader Kadyrov]
Everyone should have heard the name of Wagner to some extent. In the capture of Bakhmut, Wagner's limelight once crushed the regular Russian army, and its leader Prigozhin became a Russian hero in the eyes of many people. But there are too many voices of praise, and sometimes it does not bring benefits, not to mention, Prigozhin has repeatedly pointed the finger at Russian Defense Minister Shoigu and Russian Chief of General Staff Gerasimov, blaming them for their unwillingness to provide ammunition support for Wagner, causing heavy casualties among their own soldiers.
For the Russian Ministry of Defense, Wagner is like a "time bomb", which must be held in its own hands to be safe, so in June last year, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered all "volunteer regiments" involved in the conflict in Ukraine to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, although the Kremlin said that this move was to improve the efficiency of the Russian army in Ukraine, but in the eyes of Prigozhin and many people, this is the ultimatum of the Ministry of Defense to adopt Wagner.
Not surprisingly, Prigozhin strongly disagreed. But the rejection of the contract means that Wagner will not be able to participate in the special military operation and will not be able to receive Russian financial support. Therefore, Prigozhin decided to take a risk and launched a "rebellion" in the name of "Qing Jun's side". In July last year, Wagner, under the leadership of Prigozhin, left the Russian-Ukrainian front line and advanced towards the Rostov region on the Russian border, and drove all the way to the Kremlin. The Kremlin was very angry about Prigozhin's move, characterizing it as treason, and Putin also said that Wagner's move was a "stab in the back", and finally under the heavy pressure of the Kremlin and the intervention and mediation of Belarus, Prigozhin agreed to withdraw from Russia and return to the front line.
[Prigozhin died in the plane crash]
And just two months after the "mutiny" incident, Prigozhin and Wagner's top leaders were all killed in a plane crash. In November last year, three months after Prigozhin's death, Wagner announced on social media that the organization had officially joined the Russian National Guard as a unit under its banner, completely integrated with the Gui Palace.
This time, Putin specially selected more than 3,000 people from them and "packaged" them to Chechnya. The main purpose is twofold, first of all, the first is to send a "return gift" to Kadyrov.
In the conflict in Ukraine, Chechnya has paid a lot of troops and combat power. In the first week of the conflict, Kadyrov sent more than 10,000 troops into the war, and since then, Kadyrov has repeatedly conscripted troops and sent them to the front lines of the conflict. This time, Putin reorganized 3,000 experienced Wagner soldiers and sent them to Chechnya, and integrated them into the "Akhmat" special forces, which obviously had the meaning of "returning the favor".
[Putin sent 3,000 Wagner soldiers to Chechnya]
It should be added that the "Akhmat" special forces are, to a certain extent, the equivalent of Kadyrov's "private army", and the soldiers in this army are mostly Chechens, or North Caucasians from the neighboring Chechen regions. Although nominally under the jurisdiction of the Russian department, its actual control was in the hands of Kadyrov. Previously, the personnel of the "Akhmat" special forces were between 2,500 and 3,000 people, but now with the addition of more than 3,000 people, the number has directly doubled, and the size is almost equal to half a division of the Russian army. It also meant that Kadyrov's personal power was doubled. In this case, it is not at all too much to call these 3,000 people a gift from Putin to Kadyrov.
Of course, in addition to sending a "return gift" to Kadyrov, the Kremlin also has a second purpose, which is to ensure the stability of Chechnya. The Caucasus region, where Chechnya is located, is a high incidence of terrorist activities in Russia and even in the world. However, after the recent saffron terrorist attacks, terrorist groups in the area have become more and more active, and in just one month, there have been three major conflicts. If, at this time, Chechnya allows terrorists to take advantage of the loophole due to insufficient troops, not only will Russia's previous anti-terrorist operations fall short, but Russia's front-line battlefield will also be greatly affected.
[Macron meets with members of the Foreign Legion]
At the moment, the French legion is eager to join the ground war between Russia and Ukraine. A Russian diplomatic spokesman said that according to the intelligence they gathered, at the beginning of March this year, France had formed a foreign legion of about 1,500 people, which is expected to be put into the battlefield in Ukraine by the middle of this month.
As the vanguard of the French overseas military, the combat effectiveness of its Foreign Legion cannot be underestimated, and all of them are equipped with first-class French equipment, such as the "Famas" automatic rifle, the "Leclerc" main battle tank, etc., and its specifications are even higher than the regular troops of the French army. Once they join the battlefield, the pressure on the Russian army will be even greater, and in this case, the most important thing that the Russian side needs to ensure if it wants to maintain the concentration of its front-line energy is that there will be no accidents in its own territory.
In our view, Russia's move is a reasonable response to reduce its own risks, and France, as one of the P5, should shoulder its responsibilities as a major country and ensure global security.