Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov has announced the launch of what he described as an ‘unprecedented humanitarian operation’ for residents of the Gaza Strip.
According to a statement published on his Telegram channel, the delivery and distribution of aid is being organised by the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation.
Kadyrov claimed that ‘colossal volumes’ of assistance would be sent to Gaza, including 50,000 portions of ready meals, 250 tonnes of rice, 200 tonnes of flour, 168 tonnes of sugar, 243 tonnes of pasta, and 500 tonnes of drinking water. Oversight of the operation has been assigned to Akhmed Dudaev, Chechnya’s Minister of Press and Information, and Zamid Chalaev, commander of the Grozny special police regiment named after Akhmat Kadyrov. Both officials, who have been sanctioned by the US, travelled to Egypt to coordinate the delivery.
It has not been publicly disclosed how much money has been allocated for the humanitarian aid, the timeframe for delivery, or who the final recipients will be. As of publication, independent sources had not confirmed the crossing of the claimed shipments through border points in Egypt or Israel.
A month earlier, authorities in Chechnya banned private initiatives to raise funds for Palestinians. Officials justified the restrictions by saying assistance needed to be ‘centralised’ to ‘prevent abuse’. Shortly afterwards, several organisations were nevertheless permitted to engage in charitable activity, but oversight of the ‘humanitarian mission’ was formally placed under Kadyrov’s 17-year-old son, Adam Kadyrov.
The Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation and its president Aimani Kadyrova, Kadyrov’s mother, are subject to sanctions from the EU and the US. Kadyrova was first sanctioned by the US in June 2023, but the fund has been under sanctions since 2020.
Questions also remain over the scale and origin of the foundation’s funds. In June, Chechen officials stated that since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation had spent ₽40.5 billion ($500 million) — including ₽4.5 billion ($56 million) in the previous six months alone — on military support. These sums are not reflected in the foundation’s official financial reports, and their provenance has repeatedly been questioned by human rights groups and journalists.
In June 2024, the EU added them to its blacklist for supporting Russia’s military actions and the so-called ‘re-education programmes’ for minors deported from occupied areas of Ukraine. The EU’s justification stated that the foundation ‘provides material and financial support’ to combatants and supplies food and equipment to Russian and separatist units.
Chalaev was placed under US sanctions in August 2023, while Dudaev was designated in February 2024.
The feasibility of delivering the declared volumes of aid amid ongoing hostilities remains unclear. Since early August, Israel has expanded its ground operation around Gaza City. On 20 August, the Israel Defence Forces announced ‘first steps’ of a plan to seize control of the city, calling up tens of thousands of reservists. The following day, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) head Philippe Lazzarini warned of a dramatic deterioration in the humanitarian situation and risks to malnourished children if the escalation continued.
On 21 August, Reuters cited UNRWA as saying the number of malnourished children in Gaza City had increased six-fold, adding that the aid that had arrived was insufficient. Israeli officials maintain that they are coordinating and scaling up deliveries, and argue that structural issues within Gaza are to blame for the disruptions.
Elizaveta Chukharova
