Contraktnik

The contraktniki are implicated in the worst brutalities. […] On the night of April 7th the contraktniki went into the village. By the next morning over 200 people were dead.

One witness who had been held in a pit last month said: 'It was freezing. At night they would chuck in smoke canisters and let off CS gas. They threw stones down on us. It was the contraktniki – mercenaries – who did it.'

Underpinning that power was a reign of terror the like of which Chechens had not seen since the days of Stalin. Even the Russian contraktniki, or freelance fighters, were not as feared as Mr Kadyrov's private army of kidnappers, torturers and executioners were.

The 331st was also a showcase for Russia's policy of replacing national service soldiers with contraktniki - professionals under contract. It is understandable why the generals should have given it an important role in the invasion.