Putin's top commander bans beards on battlefield as critics call rule 'stupid'

24 January 2023 , 09:24

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A Chechen special force instructor (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Vladimir Putin's right-hand man has issued an order banning beards, saying troops must be clean-shaven on the battlefield in Ukraine.

General Valery Gerasimov, the newly appointed war commander for Russian forces, has ordered soldiers to improve their "day-to-day discipline" and has clamped down on uniform enforcement.

According to the British Ministry of Defence, Gen Gerasimov has ordered Russian soldiers to stop wearing “non-regulation uniform, travelling in civilian vehicles and using mobile phones”.

But Putin's allies, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and ambitious henchman Yevgeny Prigozhin, have dismissed Russia’s top generals as a “bunch of clowns” and said it was a distraction from trying to win the war.

Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov (R) speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin (Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)

Kadyrov said: “I can only imagine the sense of astonishment among our fighters, who didn’t know about such a dangerous enemy in their ranks as facial hair.

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“Drop your machine guns, let’s go and shave. As if there are no problems at the front. What kind of stupid thing is this?”

Mr Kadyrov, who does Putin's dirty work in Ukraine, called the order an insult to his Muslim troops, who he said grew their beards in honour of Allah and the Prophet Muhammad.

However, Viktor Sobolyov, a member of the Russian parliament’s defence committee, said last week that even during the “most intense” battles soldiers should find “15 to 20 minutes to put their appearance in order”.

Sobolyov later said he had met Kadyrov’s representatives and had nothing against Chechen fighters with beards.

Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov (R) speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin (SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

Mr Prigozhin then urged Mr Kadyrov to double the length of his beard and said that his fighters were too busy battling Ukraine's army to stop for a shave.

He said: "War is the time of the active and courageous, and not of the clean-shaven."

The news comes as Russian forces continue to “endure operational deadlock and heavy casualties”, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.

Its latest intelligence update also said new disciplinary measures introduced by Mr Gerasimov, including the beard edict, had been met with “sceptical feedback."

Russia claimed to have made advances in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, while the Ukrainian army reported that 15 settlements had come under artillery fire.

“During offensive operations in the direction of Zaporizhzhia, units of the eastern military district took up more advantageous ground and positions,” the defence ministry said on Sunday.

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Russian state-owned news agency Tass has said that Russian forces claim to have destroyed a large Ukrainian ammunition depot in the Kherson region.

Will Stewart