Kadyrovites

The 141st Special Motorized Regiment (141-й специальный моторизованный полк ), also known as the Kadyrovites, Kadyrovtsy (from Кадыровцы) after Akhmad Kadyrov, and the Akhmat special forces unit is a paramilitary organization in Chechnya, Russia, that serves as the protection of the Head of the Chechen Republic. The term Kadyrovtsy is commonly used in Chechnya to refer to any armed, ethnically-Chechen men under the control of Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov, although nominally they are under the umbrella of the National Guard of Russia. Akhmad Kadyrov, the then chief mufti of separatist Chechnya, defected to the Russian side in the Second Chechen War in 1999, and the Kadyrovites began fighting separatists and jihadists during the "guerrilla phase" as a de facto unit of the state police after he was appointed Chechen President in July 2000. Kadyrov was assassinated in 2004. Control of the militia was inherited by his son, Ramzan Kadyrov. In 2006, the Kadyrovites were legalized as a motorized regiment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as the 141st Motorized Regiment. When Kadyrov was elected Chechen President in 2007 its current official role as a personal protective service was established. Besides the 141st, units considered "Kadyrovites" also include the Chechen branches of OMON and SOBR. The Kadyrovites have been criticized as being Ramzan Kadyrov's private army, and have been accused of committing widespread human rights abuses such as kidnapping, forced disappearances, torture and murder. Critics claim the Kadyrovites use extrajudicial punishment to cement Kadyrov's autocratic rule. By mid-2000s they surpass Russian federal servicemen as the most feared organization among Chechnya's civilian population. Under Kadyrov's orders, the Kadyrovites committed anti-gay purges in Chechnya, including operating concentration camps for gay men. The Kadyrovites have also been involved in international conflicts including the Syrian Civil War in 2017 and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.