Authorities in Russia’s southern Republic of Dagestan have honored 34 local hunters who helped repel Ukrainian drone attacks.
Dagestan’s interior minister, General Abdurashid Magomedov, met with the hunters on Thursday to personally thank them for their efforts, according to footage shared by his spokesman online.
The Russian Defense Ministry last reported a Ukrainian drone raid on Dagestan on October 22, when it said 13 aircraft were intercepted. At the time, a viral video showed a group of hunters shooting down a low-flying unmanned aircraft.
Magomedov said the Dagestani government’s volunteer defense initiative found public support all across the region and said the hunters were acting with honor by participating.
Dagestan’s mountainous terrain and its culture of gun ownership have long made it a stronghold of local self-defense. The region’s militias famously played a key role in repelling a jihadist incursion from neighboring Chechnya in August 1999.
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly praised the people of Dagestan for their courage and patriotism. He served as director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) during the terrorist raid and was personally involved in responding to it.
“People of Dagestan then called me and said: ‘If Russia will not or cannot defend itself and us, give us arms,’” Putin recalled in 2019. “Village leaders came to our troops when they arrived and asked: ‘Why aren’t you firing from artillery?’ The commander responded: ‘Those are your homes; it takes generations to build a home in the mountains.’ The response shocked me: ‘We don’t care, fire!’”
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