Russia in 'Holy War' in Ukraine Against 'Satanic' West, LGBT: Commander

Apti Alaudinov, the commander of Chechen forces fighting for Russia, praised Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, calling it a "holy war" against the "Satanic" values of Europe and the United States as well as the LGBTQ community.

Alaudinov made the remarks during a recent segment of Russia's state-run Russia-1 television channel. A clip of his remarks were shared to Twitter on Sunday by Julia Davis, a columnist for The Daily Beast and creator of the Russian Media Monitor. Chechnya, where Alaudinov hails from, is a Republic of Russia under the jurisdiction of Moscow.

In his comments, the Chechen commander praised Putin for standing up against the West and NATO, describing them as evil. He praised the Russian president for preventing LGBTQ rights from advancing in their country, contending that the fight in Ukraine was a war against the marginalized community.

"This is a holy war our saints and elders spoke of," Alaudinov asserted, who went on to say that he praises God to live in Russia and that the country is led by Putin. "He is the man that refused to accept the so-called European values," the commander added.

"In reality, those are Satanist values that are imposed on the entire world," he said. Alaudinov noted that he is "grateful" that Putin is following the values of "the Most High," referring to God. "We are not under the flags of the LGBT and as long as he's alive, we won't be under those flags."

He also called American democracy "the main enemy of mankind." Continuing, he said the U.S., Europe, and NATO carry within them "everything that is Satanic," and that they are "the army of the anti-Christ."

Kyiv/Warsaw Pride
A Chechen commander leading fighters in support of Russia praised President Vladimir Putin for being opposed to the LGBTQ community, describing the war in Ukraine as a "holy war" against the West's "Satanist" values. Above,... Maciej Moskwa/Getty Images

The Chechen commander described his forces fighting with Russia against Ukraine as "the army of Jesus." He praised Putin for doing "what the Islamic countries should have done" by fighting back against the U.S. and NATO.

Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly five months ago on February 24. The Russian leader and other Moscow officials bizarrely claimed that Kyiv is led by Nazis in a bid to justify their unprovoked assault.

In reality, the Eastern European nation's President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish and had family members killed in the Holocaust genocide perpetrated by the German Nazis in World War II. When Zelensky was first elected in 2019—with nearly three-quarters of the vote—Ukraine's prime minister was also Jewish.

Human Rights Watch reported in its World Report 2021 that "the government [in Russia] continued its trajectory of homophobic discrimination and used the 'gay propaganda' ban to justify a criminal prosecution."

"As a result of the 2020 constitutional reform, the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman was incorporated into the constitution. A bill submitted to parliament includes a ban on same-sex marriage and changes that will negatively affect transgender people's rights, including to marry and raise children," the report explained.

In 2019, Zelensky shut down a homophobic heckler at an event.

"We all live together in an open society where each person...can choose their sexual orientation. Leave those people [in the LGBTQ community] be, for God's sake," the Ukrainian president said at the time.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian foreign ministry for comment.

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


Jason Lemon is a Weekend Editor at Newsweek based in Brooklyn, New York. Prior to taking on the editor role, Jason's reporting focused on ... Read more

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