Two Chechen soldiers from the Russian army defected to Ukraine, providing intelligence on Russian military plans to Ukrainian Special Services.

Their story is shared by TSN.

The operation was a coordinated effort between the SSU, the Defense Forces, and the Sheikh Mansur Chechen Peacekeeping Battalion. Seyfullakh Alsultanov and Abdullah Malikov made the courageous decision to defect to Ukraine’s side.

“A Russian is a person I hate, an unfair, lying, mean, dirty, unwashed Russian. And this hatred has been going on for centuries. As long as Russia exists, evil is invincible,” says Alsultanov.

He reveals that he had long been planning to defect to Ukraine. To make it possible, he joined the Russian army with the intent to cross the front lines at the first opportunity and fight alongside the Ukrainians.

“I signed the contract with one goal in mind: to join Ukraine and fight against the Russians, who are killing my brothers,” he shares.

He supplied the SSU with vital intelligence, including enemy positions, the number of attack aircraft, and details on the timing and routes of the Russian offensive. According to reports, this was all part of a coordinated operation between the Security Service and the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the front lines. During the assault, he successfully defected to the Ukrainian side, having carefully coordinated his plan with Ukrainian Special Services.

Abdullah Malikov, a 45-year-old Chechen, explains that he never wanted to fight, as it was not his war. He reveals that he was deceptively lured to the police station in Chechnya by a local district police officer.

“They kept me in the basement, beat me and tortured me with electricity. They wanted me to sign a contract. They beat me until I lost consciousness and threw me back into the basement,” Abdullah says.

After torture forced his signature and sent him to the occupied Luhansk region, he decided to go over to the side of Ukraine. Contact was established first with a Chechen battalion, then with military counterintelligence. Operatives and Ukrainian drones helped the man cross 1.5 kilometers of mine-strewn field.

After defecting to the Ukrainian side, both soldiers were handed over to the special services for thorough vetting to ensure they were not Russian agents playing a double game. They underwent extensive testing, including lie detector examinations, to confirm their loyalty.

According to the newspaper, the process for the Russian military is as follows: first, contact the chatbot of the Sheikh Mansur Chechen Peacekeeping Battalion, pass a thorough screening, complete a task assigned by the SSU counterintelligence officer, and then, following specific instructions, safely cross into territory controlled by Ukraine under the protection of the Chechen Battalion.

At the onset of the full-scale Russian invasion, five Chechen volunteer battalions were formed, joining forces with Ukraine in the fight for freedom.