Authorities in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Chechnya will impart training to Gaza refugees to learn manufacturing of assault vehicles known as Jihad Mobiles. Chechen fighters are using assault vehicles in Ukraine, according to local state-run media.
Known as “Jihad Mobiles,” the assault vehicles are being assembled at the Chechenavto plant, modeled on converted off-road vehicles that Russian troops used in Syria.
About 200 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip have settled in Chechnya since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.
Chechens have boasted that some of the refugees had been employed at medical institutions across the majority Muslim republic.
Chechnya’s state-run news agency Grozny Inform reported that senior regional cabinet officials met with still-unemployed Palestinian refugees and promised to offer them training at local engineering schools and then provide them jobs at Chechenavto.
“They’ll become full-fledged citizens of the [Chechen] republic, they’ll receive wages and make retirement contributions along with the rest of us,” the republic’s industry and energy minister Adam Khakimov was quoted as saying.
According to the officials, the training program was part of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s pledge to find employment for the Palestinian refugees.
Kadyrov, a loyal Kremlin ally whose rule has been marked by an array of rights abuses, voiced support for Palestine after Israel launched a brutal siege on Gaza that has seen tens of thousands killed in retaliation for Hamas’ October 2023 assault that claimed more than one thousand lives.
