Kadyrov again claims ‘complete victory over terrorism’ in Chechnya despite series of attacks
Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov has once again declared that terrorism in the republic has been completely defeated, adding that the region no longer requires ‘harsh’ governance. The statements follow at least three attacks on security forces over the past year.
In an interview with the pro-Kremlin agency RIA Novosti, Kadyrov said that ‘the system has been set up, when we have completely defeated terrorism, established peaceful life, and are engaged in improvements, development, and plans for the future’. He added that there is now no need to apply measures which might appear ‘tough’ to those who previously criticised him for excessive severity.
He also referred to the spread of rumours in the region that he was seriously ill or had stopped holding meetings. In his words, reports of illness and ‘lack of activity’ do not correspond to reality: the system, he insisted, works ‘like clockwork’.
‘When the system is set up, when we have completely defeated terrorism, established peaceful life, and are engaged in improvements, development, and plans for the future, some Western puppets, who previously reproached me for excessive severity, are now spreading rumours that I am ill and not holding meetings. In fact, our system works like clockwork today, and I see no need to change anything or adopt measures that to outsiders might once again seem harsh’, Kadyrov said.
However, his remarks came off the heels of several incidents that took place mere months apart between 2024–2025.
On the night of 5 October 2024, there was an attack on a traffic police post in Gudermes. An eyewitness reported that a grenade exploded near the post, wounding one officer with shrapnel.
On 24 October that same year, near the village of Petropavlovskaya, in the suburbs of Grozny, unidentified individuals opened fire on a Ural truck carrying members of the National Guard. In the two attacks, two soldiers were killed.
In April this year, two traffic police officers were stabbed in Achkhoy-Martan, one of whom later died in hospital. The attacker, 16-year-old Eskerkhan Khumashev, was killed at the scene. Following his death, a rally was held in Achkhoy-Martan, attended by public sector workers, schoolchildren, and students; a photograph of the deceased teenager was displayed at the event. Relatives of Eskerkhan Khumashev, as well as families of opposition members whom the Chechen authorities deemed connected to the incident, were forcibly expelled from the republic.
Kadyrov has regularly been declaring victory over terrorism since at least 2010, although searches for alleged militants have continued in the republic since then. The most recent attack linked to the terrorist group the Islamic State took place in Grozny in December 2021, resulting in the death of one police officer.
Elizaveta Chukharova
