Chechen troops trained to fight in Syria

“Novaya Gazeta”, an independent Russian media outlet, may have found evidence that Chechen National Guard troops are being primed for ground fighting in Syria. It has published photos of two brochures it says it has been given by a former member of the Chechen interior ministry’s Akhmad Kadyrov regiment.

One of them is titled “Visual Interpreter (Syrian Arab Republic)” and features a red-white-and-blue star, the emblem of the defense ministry’s army, on its cover.

Among other info, it contains the maps of the Middle East and Syria, the Russian transliteration of Arabic numerals and phrases that can be used for communicating with locals and obtaining information about enemy deployment, armaments and actions.

The other brochure is an affair of ten scarcely illustrated A5-format sheets. It is titled “Recommendations to militaries for implementing tasks in the Syrian Arab Republic” and is comprised of several chapters giving the lowdown on the country’s geography, language, holidays, currency and customs.

The report cites an opinion that the brochures are very much like those soviet militaries would be given during the war in Afghanistan.