the kremlin said the incident had nothing to do with the russian military operations in syria, and they ve repeatedly denied any links to wagner. u.s. officials say that wagner was started by this man, dmitry utkin, a veteran of the chechen conflict, and allegedly bankrolled by an oligarch so close to russia s leader, he s nicknamed putin s chef. progozhin denies any involvement in wagner, but this senior researcher at the dossier center says wagner is putin s private army. we agreed to hide their identity for their safety. they ve spent years investigating wagner s links to the kremlin. they operate without any law, without any rules. they can do whatever they want. then when there is a call to m.o.d., or there is a call to
The Tragic Truth About Stalin s Aardakh Deportations
By Marina Manoukian/March 9, 2021 11:56 pm EDT
Aardakh, or the genocide of the Chechen and the Ingush people, is one of the many forced deportations that the Soviet Union enacted against ethnic minorities and indigenous people. The majority of the deportations took just a few weeks as people were forced out of their homes in 1944.
Initially, when the soldiers came, people thought it was part of the Red Army celebrations that have occurred since 1919. The NKVD played into this and even invited the Chechen and Ingush men to join the celebration. But instead of festivities, they were met with guns and ordered into exile. Even those who fought against Hitler s army were eventually rounded up and forcibly exiled.