Chechen youths are being called up to the Russian armyRuslan Isayev, North Caucasus – Chechens are staging protests against the call-up of their sons to the Russian army. On October 5 some 500 people picketed the building of the district military headquarters in Shali. Similar rallies were held also in other parts of Chechnya. People claimed that in view of the ongoing war they do not want to see their sons joining the army that is fighting in Chechnya. Besides, they fear that young Chechens conscripted into the Russian army will be subject to discrimination and abuses. In Chechnya the call-up to the Russian army was stopped in autumn 1991 when first Chechen President Jokhar Dudayev came to power and proclaimed Chechnya independent republic. Chechen youths that reached the call-up age served in the army of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which was based on the Presidential Guards. Only Chechens who lived in Russia would join the Russian army. In spring 1996, i.e. already during the first Russian-Chechen war, an attempt was made to create Russian army’s formations from the local youths. The conscripts, who numbered some 500, served principally in formations protecting administrative buildings and in military headquarters. However, already in August 1996, after Chechen formations led by Aslan Maskhadov launched a counter-offensive, Chechen soldiers serving in the Russian army left for home. Nowadays, the chief command of the Russian armed forces in Chechnya intends to send Chechen conscripts to regulation companies, railway and construction troops and also to Interior Ministry troops. According to official statements, Chechen youths are joining the army voluntarily. However, their mothers give different stories at pickets. Chechen youths ask the authorities to call them up to the Russian army because they fear that they could be arrested on the grounds that they allegedly participated in combat activities, stress the participants in mass protests in Vedeno, Serzen-Yurt, Shali and Kurchaloy.
Besides, some Chechens consider this option the most acceptable for their sons to avoid the abuses of Russian soldiers during frequent „mop-up operations“. Therefore the statements of some Russian generals according to which Chechens join the Russian army voluntarily are partly well-founded.
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