Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov rejected media reports about Chechens allegedly taking part in the Syrian conflict, the Chechen administration said on its website on Monday.
Opposition forces seized two crossings on the border with Turkey over the weekend. AFP reported on Sunday, citing its own photographer in the conflict zone, that about 150 foreigners took part in an assault on the Bab al-Hawa crossing. Some said they were Chechens.
“Some people on the border allegedly said there were Chechens among them,” Kadyrov said. “Is there documented evidence? There is none because there just can’t be.”
He described the information as “yet another media hoax.”
The United Nations, quoting Syrian rights activists, says some 16,000 people have died in Syria since the start of the now almost 17-month revolt against Assad.