A Drone Struck the Barracks of Ramzan Kadyrov’s Regiment Overnight

The Telegram channel Baza reported a drone attack on the territory of the Kadyrov Police Patrol Regiment. The explosion occurred around 5 a.m. Later, a photo emerged confirming the damage to the barracks of the Kadyrov Regiment.

IStories discovered that Barracks No. 6 was hit, the basement of which, in January 2017, saw the extrajudicial killing of 13 detained Chechens. This was confessed to Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina by regiment sergeant Suleyman Gezmakhmaev.

The building where Chechens were executed in 2017 sustained damage

The explosion hit the central part of the barracks. A satellite image shows a distinctive roof structure matching the street-level photograph

This was how the Barracks No. 6 appeared in Novaya Gazeta’s investigation, where journalists used a frame from a local TV report

A layout of the Kadyrov Regiment compound from the inspection protocol of the Main Investigative Department for the North Caucasus Federal District

All those killed were regarded by security forces as “amirs” — commanders of militant cells — but their testimonies were extracted under torture. For about two weeks, they were held in the basement of the gymnasium on the regiment’s grounds.

Before the execution, the detainees were transferred to the basement of Barracks No. 6. Gezmakhmaev was present at the start of the executions and saw the bodies of two Chechens in one of the rooms. Later, one of Gezmakhmaev’s comrades recounted the circumstances of the other detainees’ killings.

“At first, one or two of the ‘amirs’ were shot by Ibragimov [the head of Shali District], after which the regiment commander Iraskhanov entered the ventilation room and said it would be better to kill in a way that wouldn’t stain the premises with blood. It doesn’t wash off well and leaves a smell,” Gezmakhmaev recounted, quoting his comrade.

According to Novaya Gazeta, a total of 27 people were executed on the grounds of the Kadyrov Regiment in January 2017.