Two days after clashes in Grozny between Chechen security personnel and Chechen insurgents under commander Khamzat (Aslan Byutukayev), the militant leadership still has not formally claimed responsibility for the attack or revealed its objective.Just hours after the battles began early on December 4, a two-minute video clip was posted on YouTube in which a man claiming to be one of the fighters at large in Grozny identified them as having pledged loyalty to Ali Abu-Muhammad, the Avar theologian chosen to succeed Doku Umarov as Caucasus Emirate leader.
Speaking in Chechen, the man said "many" fighters had entered Grozny on orders from Amir Khamzat, and had killed "many" of the enemy, destroyed vehicles, and seized more weaponry than they could carry away. But he also said it was a suicide mission and that "we shall fight to the death."
Chechen parliament speaker Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov dismissed that video and other footage filmed by Grozny residents as fakes "filmed far from Grozny and long before today."