It is reported that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov says his three sons, aged 14, 15 and 16, will soon travel to the Ukraine front line to fight with Russian forces.
Kadyrov is a strong ally of Vladimir Putin, although has recently criticised Russian military leadership.
On social media, he wrote that a father should teach his sons how to protect their family, people and fatherland.
Russia has signed a UN treaty aimed at preventing children under the age of 18 from taking direct part in hostilities.
Using children under the age of 15 to participate in hostilities is considered a war crime by the International Criminal Court.
According to reports, Kadyrov said his sons’ military training began when they were much younger, and the time had come for them to experience a real battle.
He also took aim at those “empty-worded” people who claimed the Chechen leader’s loved-ones were not taking part in the military operation in Ukraine.
The post was accompanied by a slickly-produced video of his sons firing various weapons at a training ground.
Kadyrov has ruled the southern Russian republic since 2007, when he was named the region’s president by Vladimir Putin.
It has been a period of stability in Chechnya, which fought unsuccessfully for independence for a decade.
Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, close to the Caspian Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federal District, and shares land borders with the country of Georgia to its south; with the Russian republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia, and North Ossetia-Alania to its east, north, and west; and with Stavropol Krai to its northwest.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Checheno-Ingush ASSR split into two parts: the Republic of Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic. The latter proclaimed the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which sought independence.
Following the First Chechen War of 1994–1996 with Russia, Chechnya gained de facto independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, although de jure it remained a part of Russia.
Russian federal control was restored in the Second Chechen War of 1999–2009, with Chechen politics being dominated by Akhmad Kadyrov, and later his son Ramzan Kadyrov.