Alaudinov demanded to toughen the article on extremism

Punishment for inciting ethnic hatred must be toughened, said the commander of the Akhmat special forces, Apti Alaudinov, after a conflict with blogger Max Divnich. The fighter, who claimed to belong to Akhmat after a fight in Lugansk, was sent, according to him, to “forward positions.”

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, the head of the "Akhmat" special forces, Apti Alaudinov demanded an apology from blogger and MMA fighter Max Divnich for denigrating the "Akhmat" special forces and Alaudinov himself by attributing to the "Akhmat" special forces a fighter of Chechen origin who started a conflict in Lugansk.

A serviceman of Chechen origin, Alikhan Bersayev, who took part in a fight near a pool in Lugansk, "was sent to the front lines", and the second participant in the conflict, Maks Divnich, "should also be punished", said Apti Alaudinov.

According to Alaudinov, Divnich is trying to speculate on issues of interethnic strife. The head of "Akhmat" called for tougher punishment for inciting hatred on ethnic grounds.

"In our country, I believe that there should be a very tough punishment for interethnic or interfaith conflict. Therefore, I hope that both the country's leadership and our representatives of all branches of government will do everything possible to ensure that it is not possible to destabilize the situation in our country on interethnic or interfaith grounds,” RIA Novosti quotes him as saying.

Alaudinov emphasized that “not a single criminal should be named by nationality, because crime has no nationality.” He added that “the country is in a state of war with an external enemy,” and “destabilization of the situation from within” by inciting interethnic hatred can lead to irreversible consequences.

Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which covers incitement of interethnic hatred, currently provides for three to six years of imprisonment.

Alaudinov reposted several publications in his support on his Telegram channel today. Thus, the commander of one of the Akhmat battalions, known by the call sign “Scar,” said, that Divnich once “decided to capitalize on ‘Orthodox patriotism’ and since then has been ‘inciting ethnic hatred’ and ‘undermining the country’s defence capability’.

“This character is thus working to destroy multinational Russia (...) We would like the competent authorities to give a legal assessment of the activities of this citizen,” the publication says.

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