A Chechen commander has mocked the mothers of young conscripts sent to defend Kursk from Ukraine’s invasion.

Apti Alaudinov, who leads the Akhmat Special forces and is the right-hand man to warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, brushed off growing complaints from the parents of the teenage soldiers.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has promised that conscripts will not be sent to fight abroad. But as Ukraine invaded Kursk, hundreds of fighters under the age of 20 have been deployed to face Ukrainian troops armed with Nato weaponry.

Mr Alaudinov said: “If your 18-year-old children … who are servicemen, should not defend the homeland, even when it is attacked by the enemy and when the enemy is on our land, I have one question for you: why does this country need you and your children?”

He added: “No one will die who is not destined to die. But if you die defending your homeland, your faith in God, you will go to heaven.

“If they are not properly fighting, conscripts just eat the state’s bread for free … and then go home.”

His comments came after mothers of conscripts called on Putin to withdraw their sons from the Kursk region.

A petition, which says the recruits are ill-equipped to defend against the Ukrainian incursion, has received more than 5,000 signatures.

The mothers of soldiers hold an important status in Russian society.

In the 1980s, the first domestic signs of discontent against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan came from the mothers of serving troops.

Putin has avoided drawing too heavily on conscript forces to fuel his invasion of Ukraine. More than 300,000 men were mobilised in late 2022, but there have been no further round-ups.

After they turn 18, all men in Russia must serve in the military, though there are veiled promises that they will never see combat.

Chechen fighters ‘hiding behind young recruits’

Putin has largely stuck to his promise that conscripts will not be sent to Ukraine.

Most have been stationed alongside Russia’s expansive borders, meaning that when Ukraine steamrolled across the frontier into Kursk, the conscripts were the initial layer of defence.

Russian military bloggers have accused Mr Alaudinov’s Chechen fighters of hiding behind the young recruits.

Hundreds of conscripts have been captured as prisoners of war by advancing Ukrainian forces, while 159 had been killed in the first two weeks of fighting, according to the BBC’s Russian service.

Mr Alaudinov said he “understands” that those parents complaining about the fate of conscripts are unhappy with the levels of pay.

The Chechen said those young Russians were as much a part of the fighting force as normal contracted soldiers.

“We don’t need to turn 18-year-old male conscripts into babies who have to be given a dummy and sent to bed,” he said.

He isn’t fighting on the front lines himself, it has been claimed.

‘Potential political crisis for the Kremlin’

The US-based Institute for the Study of War said: “The Kremlin has shown great concern about societal backlash regarding issues concerning conscripts, and Russian president Vladimir Putin has previously taken action to appease the complaints of conscripts’ relatives.

“The continued presence of Russian conscripts in the border areas during the Ukrainian incursion threatens the Kremlin with a potential political crisis regarding casualties among Russian conscripts.

“Blatant calls from Alaudinov — a widely promoted Russian authority — for conscripts’ relatives to stop complaining, for conscripts to participate in combat operations in Russia’s border area, and for Russian citizens to embrace casualties among conscripts and other service members may exacerbate tensions in Russian society and potentially threaten the stability of Putin’s regime,” the think-tank added.