During the war in Ukraine, Kadyrov’s personal army grew to 20 units

12 December, 2024 Fighters of the "Akhmat" unit are under the control of Ramzan Kadyrov, illustrative photo Since the start of the Russian Federation's large-scale war against Ukraine, the "personal army" of Russian Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has tripled in size. This is discussed in the investigation "How is Kadyrov's army growing?".

It initially regarded the control over seven units of nominally Russian security forces, and as of December 2023, it was already 20. Previously, these were formations exclusively in the Russian internal affairs system - special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Guard of the Russian Federation.

Kadyrov's army before the start of large-scale Russian aggression in Ukraine. Freeze frame from the video "Project.Detail"

Before the full-scale invasion, the number of security forces directly subordinated to Kadyrov was approximately 6-8 thousand soldiers.

It is unknown how many of the units were manned at the time. The investigation itself does not name the size but cites the number of people who were present at the "inspection." The listed units have different organizational and staffing structures, for example, a police regiment in Russia has about 1,300 soldiers if we take the number announced for a police regiment in Moscow.

That is, the Akhmat Kadyrov Police Regiment may have approximately the same number of personnel. The OMON (Russian for "special police unit") and the regiment of the National Guard of the Russian Federation are estimated to have about 1,000 soldiers, a motorized battalion - up to 500 soldiers, and the Special Rapid Response Units (SOBR) - up to several hundred soldiers. The investigation names the number of about 12 thousand people who attended the "inspection" on February 25, 2022.

It is also unknown who was included in this number; the media reported that representatives of other services from Chechnya, such as personal security, police, and rescuers, were involved. As of the end of 2024, the number of units subordinate to Kadyrov had already reached 20.

Kadyrov's army at the end of 2024. Freeze frame from the Project.Detail video

In addition to the police and units of the National Guard of the Russian Federation listed above, two regiments of the National Guard of the Russian Federation - the 94th and 96th Regiments - have now been added, as well as a special operations battalion and a police regiment for the protection of facilities.

In addition, eight more units from the Russian Ministry of Defense were not previously part of Kadyrov's zone of influence.

At the last "review," journalists cite Kadyrov's words, where he said that 25,000 people participated, but it is unknown whether that number was really there and whether all of them were members of the listed units.