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Overall DNA-Data Harvesting for Chechens to Help Search for Children Kidnapped by ISIS

Head of the Chechen Republic Kadyrov visits a polling station during the presidential election in Tsentoroy © Said Tsarnayev / Reuters
Head of the Chechen Republic Kadyrov visits a polling station during the presidential election in Tsentoroy © Said Tsarnayev / Reuters
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Overall DNA-Data Harvesting for Chechens to Help Search for Children Kidnapped by ISIS

Head of the Chechen Republic Kadyrov visits a polling station during the presidential election in Tsentoroy © Said Tsarnayev / Reuters
Head of the Chechen Republic Kadyrov visits a polling station during the presidential election in Tsentoroy © Said Tsarnayev / Reuters

The head of the Chechen Republic has ordered an "overall DNA harvesting" to help identify and retrieve Russian children who had been taken to terrorist-control territories in the Middle East.

“We are now actively working to establish the fates of Russian citizens – women and children – who have ended up in Iraq and Syria, and help them to return. At present, in order secure the return to Russia of children who were born in Middle Eastern countries, I have ordered a collective gathering of DNA test material,” Ramzan Kadyrov wrote in his latest post on popular Russian social network, Vkontakte.

“This would not only help to establish the children’s relatives, but also would help to give the kids Russian citizenship,” he added.

Russian authorities have recently pointed to the presence of dozens of women detained in Iraq's prisons of Iraq and the technical complications facing their return with their children. This prompted Kadyrov's call for DNA analysis, which would be an easy way to establish the kinship of the children of the militants and facilitate their retrieval.

During the past year, Kadyrov has made intensive efforts to repatriate the families of the militants who joined ISIS taking with them their wives and children to the area. Several private flights were organized from Iraq with more than 150 women and children on board, as well as two similar flights from Syria.

Kadyrov also says that his representative in the Middle East and North Africa Ziyad Sabsabi has agreed that all cases of Russian citizens in Iraq will be considered by one judge. "This will greatly facilitate and shorten the time for consideration of cases on the return of Russian children to their homes," Kadyrov added.

"On the instructions of the Russian leadership, we will be engaged in the return of our young citizens, doing our best. This is our sacred duty to protect the life and freedom of Russian citizens!"

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, from 50 to 70 Russians accused of participation in the ISIS terrorist organization and more than 100 of their children are in the jails of Iraq. The Chechen authorities have repeatedly stated that they will seek the return of these children to Russia. At the end of April, Iraq sentenced 19 Russians to life imprisonment for ties with ISIS.

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Danish General Says He Is Not Losing Sleep over US Plans for Greenland

FILE - A view of a Greenland flag in the village of Igaliku in Greenland, Friday, July 5, 2024. (Ida Marie Odgaard/ Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
FILE - A view of a Greenland flag in the village of Igaliku in Greenland, Friday, July 5, 2024. (Ida Marie Odgaard/ Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
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Danish General Says He Is Not Losing Sleep over US Plans for Greenland

FILE - A view of a Greenland flag in the village of Igaliku in Greenland, Friday, July 5, 2024. (Ida Marie Odgaard/ Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
FILE - A view of a Greenland flag in the village of Igaliku in Greenland, Friday, July 5, 2024. (Ida Marie Odgaard/ Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)

The head of Denmark's Arctic command said the prospect of a US takeover of Greenland was not keeping him up at night after talks with a senior US general last week but that more must be done to deter any Russian attack on the Arctic island.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested the United States might acquire Greenland, a vast semi-autonomous Danish territory on the shortest route between North America and Europe vital for the US ballistic missile warning system.

Trump has not ruled out taking the territory by force and, at a congressional hearing this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not deny that such contingency plans exist.

Such a scenario "is absolutely not on my mind," Soren Andersen, head of Denmark's Joint Arctic Command, told Reuters in an interview, days after what he said was his first meeting with the general overseeing US defense of the area.

"I sleep perfectly well at night," Anderson said. "Militarily, we work together, as we always have."

US General Gregory Guillot visited the US Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on June 19-20 for the first time since the US moved Greenland oversight to the Northern command from its European command, the Northern Command said on Tuesday.

Andersen's interview with Reuters on Wednesday were his first detailed comments to media since his talks with Guillot, which coincided with Danish military exercises on Greenland involving one of its largest military presences since the Cold War.

Russian and Chinese state vessels have appeared unexpectedly around Greenland in the past and the Trump administration has accused Denmark of failing to keep it safe from potential incursions. Both countries have denied any such plans.

Andersen said the threat level to Greenland had not increased this year. "We don't see Russian or Chinese state ships up here," he said.

DOG SLED PATROLS

Denmark's permanent presence consists of four ageing inspection vessels, a small surveillance plane, and dog sled patrols tasked with monitoring an area four times the size of France.

Previously focused on demonstrating its presence and civilian tasks like search and rescue, and fishing inspection, the Joint Arctic Command is now shifting more towards territorial defense, Andersen said.

"In reality, Greenland is not that difficult to defend," he said. "Relatively few points need defending, and of course, we have a plan for that. NATO has a plan for that."

As part of the military exercises this month, Denmark has deployed a frigate, F-16s, special forces and extra troops, and increased surveillance around critical infrastructure. They would leave next week when the exercises end, Andersen said, adding that he would like to repeat them in the coming months.

"To keep this area conflict-free, we have to do more, we need to have a credible deterrent," he said. "If Russia starts to change its behavior around Greenland, I have to be able to act on it."

In January, Denmark pledged over $2 billion to strengthen its Arctic defense, including new Arctic navy vessels, long-range drones, and satellite coverage. France offered to deploy troops to Greenland and EU's top military official said it made sense to station troops from EU countries there.

Around 20,000 people live in the capital Nuuk, with the rest of Greenland's 57,000 population spread across 71 towns, mostly on the west coast. The lack of infrastructure elsewhere is a deterrent in itself, Andersen said.

"If, for example, there were to be a Russian naval landing on the east coast, I think it wouldn't be long before such a military operation would turn into a rescue mission," he said.