Chechnya
Opinion | How Kadyrov uses the UFC — and its US stars — to normalise his repressive dictatorship
Ramzan Kadyrov has become notorious for co-opting MMA stars, including those from the US, to polish his justifiably tarnished reputation.
Ayman Eckford
Ayman Eckford is a Ukrainian civil rights activist, political expert, and journalist, who currently lives in Sheffield. He is focused on the Chechen-Ukrainian relationship and Russian abuse of the ?
Chechnya
Opinion | Chechen voices are being silenced, even those abroad
Until the fear of collective punishment ends, even the simple act of speaking publicly is a privilege that most Chechens don’t have.
Chechnya
Opinion | Chechen women are speaking up, but is anybody listening?
The first all-women Chechen March highlights how Chechen women are forced to live at the intersection of Islamophobia and xenophobia.
Chechnya
Opinion | Chechen volunteer battalions have been abandoned by Ukraine
Despite verbal support for an independent Chechnya, Ukraine has abandoned Chechen fighters who have been fighting on their side against Russia for a decade. Is Russian cultural influence and propaganda the main reason behind this, and if so, what does it mean for Ukraine’s ability to stand against Russian aggression in general? In October 2022, Ukraine’s parliament recognised the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as an independent state that is ‘temporarily’ occupied by Russia, and condemned ‘t
Chechnya
Opinion | Fighting on two fronts: Chechen activists in the West
Exiled from their republic due to threats to their lives, Chechen activists in the West navigate a difficult balance between visibility and caution, facing erasure by both Russian and Western society. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine might offer Chechnya and its activists a shift in the tides. ‘Ukraine’s incredible incursion into the Kursk region made me finally believe that Russia could soon be defeated’. This is what Ali Bakaev, a Chechen online activist who now lives in London tells m
