Murad Dadaev, also known as Noah Krieger, has posted videos and messages on Instagram saying that he is on Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. In his videos and captions, he stated support for the Russian armed forces and criticised the West.

Krieger published several videos allegedly filmed in Avdiivka and occupied Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. In the footage, he is seen holding an assault rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest with a patch reading: ‘We are Russians, God is with us’. He used the Russians word that refers to Russian by ethnicity, rather than a similar word that refers to Russian by nationality.

‘Our false policy in [Germany] is destroying our German values. I am in Ukraine and for Russia, against Western policy that wants to destroy peace. Germany above all’, Krieger wrote under one of the posts.

However, he did not explicitly say that he had signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defence, nor did he clarify the purpose of his presence in occupied Ukrainian territory.

Krieger was previously linked to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. In his videos, he used the word ‘Kamerad’, associated with members of the NSDAP, and used Nazi slogans: ‘Gott mit uns’ (‘God with us’) and ‘Deutschland über alles’ (‘Germany above all’).

He also visited Chechnya, where he appeared publicly alongside representatives of security structures linked to the regional leadership, including presenting a dagger adorned with a swastika to Chechen Deputy Prime Minister Akhmed Dudaev.

Following the visit, proceedings were initiated to expel him from the party, after which he left Germany and returned to Grozny. The Lower Saxony branch of the AfD, where Krieger was registered, confirmed the initiation of his expulsion proceedings but did not specify the reasons behind his dismissal.

Investigations by independent journalists point to his contacts with representatives of the Chechen diaspora in Europe and figures linked to Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov’s inner circle.

He hosted a number of figures associated with Kadyrov at a rented villa in Hanover, from which he was evicted in October 2025 due to significant rent arrears. According to German media reports, the former AfD member is also under investigation in connection with illegal street racing. He posted a social media video showing a car driving on the autobahn at a speed of over 370 kilometres per hour.

Krieger’s family is also linked to high-profile crimes in the EU. In 2011 in Vienna, his brother Suleiman (Muslim) Dadaev was sentenced to 19 years in prison. The court found him guilty of involvement in the murder of Umar Israilov, a former bodyguard of Kadyrov’s and a critic of the Chechen leadership.

An Austrian investigation concluded that the organiser of the murder was Kadyrov himself. Suleiman Dadaev did not serve the full sentence; on the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Suleiman Dadaev returned to Russia. Krieger has previously stated that he does not maintain contact with his brother.