Armed Forces" was announced by Zakayev; this unit officially styled itself as continuation of Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. A fourth separatist unit, called "Khamzat Gelayev Joint Task Detachment" was also founded. As the Russo-Ukrainian War continued to escalate, the pro-Ukrainian Chechen separatists increasingly framed the war as a chance to restore the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. On 18 October 2022, Ukraine's parliament recognized the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as temporarily occupied state. At this point, Islamist separatists belonging to Ajnad al-Kavkaz had also moved to Ukraine to fight Russia there. In November, the Ichkerian exile government recognized the Holodomor as a genocide against the Ukrainian people. Military Dudayev spent the years from 1991 to 1994 preparing for war, mobilizing men aged 15–55 and seizing Russian weapons depots. The Chechen National Guard counted 10,000 troops in December 1994, rising to 40,000 soldiers by early 1996. Major weapons systems were seized from the Russian military in 1992, and on the eve of the First Chechen War they included 23 air defense guns, 108 APC/tanks, 24 artillery pieces, 5 MiG-17/15, 2 Mi-8 helicopters, 24 multiple rocket launchers, 17 surface to air missile launchers, 94 L-29 trainer aircraft, 52 L-39 trainer aircraft, 6 An-22 transport aircraft, 5 Tu-134 transport aircraft. Politics Since the declaration of independence in 1991, there has been an ongoing battle between secessionist officials and federally appointed officials. Both claim authority over the same territory. In late 2007, the President of Ichkeria, Dokka Umarov, declared that he had renamed the republic to Noxçiyc̈ó and converted it into a province of the much larger Caucasus Emirate, with himself as Emir. This change was rejected by some members of the former Chechen government-in-exile. The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria was officially a secular state, with its constitution stating, "The Chechen Republic is a secular state. No religion may be established as a state or compulsory religion." Despite this, the criminal code of Chechnya legally established Sharia courts and included Islamic hudud punishments of decapitation, stoning and other punishments for crimes such as alcohol drinking, sodomy, and apostasy from Islam. Foreign relations Ichkeria was a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. Former president of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, deposed in a military coup of 1991 and a leading participant in the Georgian Civil War, recognised the independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in 1993. Diplomatic relations with Ichkeria were