Five Azerbaijani citizens have been detained in Chechnya under threat of being sent to fight in Ukraine. In response, Azerbaijan has sent a note of protest to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Chechen authorities recently detained five Azerbaijani men, two of whom — Vugar Maharramov and Elkhan Shirinov —  have since been forced to sign military contracts.

Shirinov and Maharramov were detained with their brother-in-law, Nihad Rzayev. They originally travelled to Chechnya in May in order to make a living.

According to Rzayev’s father, Tafdyg Rzayev, all three were detained on the basis of ‘migration issues’, and have since faced pressure from the military, which has sought to send them to the combat zone in Ukraine. According to Qafqazinfo, Shirinov and Maharramov are currently being held in the Northern Akhmat military unit located in the Chechen capital, Grozny. 

Shirinov told Qafqazinfo that after he was detained due to having ‘inappropriate documents’, he was forced to sign a blank paper, which the authorities later used to claim he had signed a military contract. 

‘In the detention centre, we were offered the choice to join the army, but we refused. After that, we were forced to sign a blank document, and without sufficient knowledge, we signed it. Then we were transported to the military unit where we are now’, Shirinov said.

Shirinov also spoke about the threats and torture he received in the Chechen detention center.

‘We were told that if we tried to escape or refused, we would be taken out into the field and shot. We were thrown into the basement and tortured. For what and for whom should I go to fight in Ukraine? We were threatened in the name of the Chechen minister and his deputy’, Shirinov said. 

It is unclear who the other two detained Azerbaijani nationals are, and what their migration status is. 

According to Apa, Azerbaijan has demanded that Russia look into the situation, and take all the necessary measures to protect Azerbaijani citizens in Russia. 

On 16 September, the Russian Investigative Committee reported raids on markets in Krasnoyarsk, as a result of which 520 people were detained, including citizens of Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The detentions were carried out due to ‘violations of migration laws’. Security forces handed out summons to military registration and enlistment offices to 92 detainees who already had Russian citizenship.

Russia has already sent 10,000 migrants to fight in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin.