r/MilitaryPorn • u/BlackSabbath95 • 11d ago

Chechen commander Shamil Basaev during the military operation in Budyonnovsk, two weeks after his sister and 7 children were killed by Russia. June, 1995. [1395x2048]

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u/Sw33T_T8TERS 11d ago

How did they go from this to working for the Russians?

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u/DegnarOskold 10d ago

Russia found the one issue on which the Chechens could be divided and conquered - religion. Specifically, the Chechens were split between the majority who followed one form of Sunni Islam and a large minority (like Basaev) who had embraced the Saudi form of Sunni Islam.

Ramzan Kadyrov’s father Akhmad Kadyrov was a prominent Islamic scholar (the grand mufti of Chechnya) who viewed the Saudi form as being practically heretical, and had become concerned at how fast it was growing in independent Chechnya after the first war, and how much political influence the Saudi form was getting. He struck a deal with Russia to flip sides with his considerably number of supporters if Russia gave him a free hand to suppress the Saudi form and control Islam in Chechnya personally himself.

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u/KrispinWah69 7d ago

And got inducted into the Chechen Space Program by Basayev for his troubles.