On a cold January morning earlier this year in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, a man in his 60s, wearing a black suit and flanked by two massive soldiers holding Russian and Chechen flags, delivered a fiery speech to thousands of troops about to be deployed to Ukraine.
“Chechens are the best people. People who want to live in peace,” said the man as he stared into a sea of camouflage, machine guns, and armored cars marked with the Russian Army Z. “But now is the time to do your job.”
