“Our Version” publishes a list of the most dangerous Chechen militants who are being hunted by the special services. Destroyed Chechen militants. Help Tokarzai Ahsan, Tulaev Shaa Saidovich

In chapter

The death of the “great and terrible” militant Said Buryatsky remained almost unnoticed by society. The leaders of the Caucasian separatists have ceased to be recognizable media figures. “Stars” like Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov have sunk into oblivion; now the Islamist underground is led by little-known characters with exotic names who do not evoke any emotions in the average person. They have practically disappeared from television screens and newspaper pages, but the trouble is! – they did not even think of disappearing from reality. As before, they influence the political and social life of the North Caucasian republics, Islamic religious figures and organizations take them into account, and local residents treat them with rather respect. Who are they, the successors of Dudayev, Yandarbiev and Khattab, and what are they famous for – the correspondent of “Our Version” tried to find an answer to these questions.

It must be said that the odious separatist leaders disappeared from television programs for a reason. The same Shamil Basayev acquired his romantic flair as an anti-hero to a large extent thanks to the media. “The press, perhaps unwittingly, largely legitimized the Chechen militants and made them into minus heroes,” says Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Vladimir Zhirinovsky. – Frequent mentions in the press seemed to give reason to consider this or that field commander almost a politician, engaged not in murders, but in some kind of social activity. And a number of Western organizations still continue to follow this speculation, substitution of concepts, classifying bandits as statesmen and demanding that we treat them with the same attitude, which, you see, is strange.” After the operation on Dubrovka in 2002, State Duma deputies adopted a number of legislative measures that were designed to change the situation: the faces of separatist leaders were once and for all removed from the television “picture”, depriving them of recognition and, as a result, of public weight. And this measure turned out to be no less effective than the law according to which the bodies of terrorists were prohibited from being handed over to relatives. From now on, no one had the right to find out what happened to them, where they were buried, and whether they were buried at all, and from now on no one could identify this or that separatist in the bearded man on the television screen.

The recent liquidation of one of the ideologists of the North Caucasian armed underground, the amir of the Ossetian jamaat Said abu Saad - Said Buryatsky, or, if you like, Alexander Tikhomirov, revealed one curious detail: among those who took the bayat (Islamic oath of allegiance) there are many, let’s say, non-indigenous Caucasians. Said abu Saad was Buryat on his father’s side and Russian on his mother’s side, and spent his youth in a Buddhist datsan. Moreover, he lived two-thirds of his life in Ulan-Ude, thousands of kilometers from the Caucasus and its problems. It would seem, where did the guy get his Spanish sadness? Chairman of the Islamic Committee of Russia Heydar Dzhemal considers Tikhomirov “a symbol of a new generation in the epic of the Caucasian struggle”: “We have seen preachers belonging to various ethnic groups before. We saw Avars, Laks, Karachais, Circassians, Arabs... But all these people were either representatives of the Caucasian area, or at least of one or another traditionally Muslim people. In this case, for the first time, a person of Eurasian origin, in whose veins Russian and Buryat blood flows, acts as an ideologist, as an authoritative representative.” However, similar phenomena have happened before. Let’s say, a few years ago, the leader of the Caucasian separatists, Doku Umarov, appointed “commander of the Ural Front”—it turns out there is such a thing now—Amir Assadullah, known in the world as Mikhail Zakharov.

The biography of Said Buryatsky is alarming with an unexpected and incomprehensible turn: the young man, who received a Buddhist religious education, suddenly breaks with Buddhism and from the Ulan-Ud datsan moves straight to the Moscow Rasul Akram madrasah, considered Shiite, and then to a more radical Sunni madrasah located near Orenburg. Was the change in the young man’s worldview so sudden? “There are many emissaries of the North Caucasian armed underground operating in the national republics today,” a representative of the FSB of the Russian Federation, whose competence includes the fight against regional separatism, told a Nasha Versiya correspondent on condition of anonymity. – In Buryatia, for example, there are now at least two hundred such active recruiters. They cleverly manipulate the national identity of the Buryats, convincing them that their worst enemy is Russia. Then there are stories about brave martyrs and evil kafirs-enslavers, religious “reforging” is involved, and the result is obvious: about 1.5–2 thousand Buryats go abroad every year to study. This is a lot. A similar “reforging” is being carried out among the Buddhists of Kalmykia, but the number of recruits there so far is not in the thousands, but in the hundreds. Bye". The main danger of the aggressive “reforging” of infidels into Muslims carried out by separatist emissaries lies in the fact that one or another “scribe” can become a martyr literally in a matter of days. Today he is a quiet and inconspicuous convert with the Koran in his hand, and tomorrow he is a martyr with a machine gun. This was the case with Said Buryatsky: two years ago, the famous Arab field commander Muhannad, better known as the international terrorist Abu Anas, approached him, then still an aspiring theologian. Like, it’s time to serve the Prophet with arms in hand.

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Information on the amount and other terms of payment for printed space provided for the placement of election campaign materials during the election campaign for the election of deputies of the Moscow City Duma of the seventh convocation scheduled for September 8, 2019 in the weekly newspaper “Nasha Versiya” (LLC “Dialan”).

And Said Buryatsky obediently took up arms.

More than anything else, Said Buryatsky was afraid of being beheaded. Almost all of his articles - and he wrote a lot of them - in one way or another touch on the topic of beheading a suicide bomber and the desecration of his body in the form of subsequent wrapping in pork skin. The fact is that militants consider such a death extremely undesirable, even despite the fact that a similar sad fate befell the grandson of the Prophet himself, the Islamic martyr Hussein ibn Ali. “Dead martyrs were beheaded and wrapped in pigskins both before and after Nord-Ost,” Said wrote two months before his death. “The French also did this in occupied Algeria, hoping in this way to stop the jihad. But the infidels (Russians - Ed.) will not be able to stop the jihad, even if they take off their skins when the cloven-hoofed pigs run out."

In general, this is how Said felt: after the operation in the Nazran region of Ingushetia, first the headless corpse of a terrorist was “found”, and only then his head was found separately. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov predicted “the same fate” for the head of the terrorist underground in the Caucasus, Doku Umarov.

Let's try to figure out what the Caucasian separatist underground is these days and who its leaders are. Contrary to the popular belief that some disparate groups are operating in the Caucasus, the militants are even better organized than 10 years ago. From the point of view of the separatists, today a new Islamic Sharia state is being formed in the Caucasus - the Caucasus Emirate*****, or the Caucasian Emirate, which includes Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia. Coincidentally or not, the territory of the Emirate includes almost entirely the recently created North Caucasus Federal District. In February of this year, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, banned the activities of the Caucasus Emirate in Russia as a terrorist organization, but not a word was said about the fact that this is not an organization at all, but an emerging state. Either they got mixed up on purpose, or they got confused themselves. Be that as it may, on February 25, the decision of the Supreme Court entered into legal force, and now Caucasian armed separatists will be caught and destroyed precisely as representatives of the Caucasus Emirate. Either a banned organization, or an unrecognized semi-virtual state.

“There is some danger in the fact that the newly formed North Caucasus Federal District somehow suspiciously fits into the territory of the self-proclaimed Caucasus Emirate,” reflects Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Vladimir Zhirinovsky. – Although, on the other hand, there is an opportunity to more purposefully fight extremism and separatism there. Still, it will be easier to manage now than in the previous framework of the Southern Federal District.”

Two years ago, the self-proclaimed president of the self-proclaimed Ichkeria, Doku Umarov, resigned from his duties as “president” and declared himself the amir - commander-in-chief of the Mujahideen of the Caucasus***. He also renamed the national republics, at the same time lowering their status to the level of counties - vilayats. There are five of them: Dagestan, Nokhchiycho, Galgayche, Nogai steppe and Kabarda-Balkaria-Karachay. The heads of the wilayats - waliyas - were the leaders of autonomous ethnic combat terrorist associations - jamaats. Then a certain mathematical insanity begins, which can only be comprehended by enlightened characters, like Doc Umarov, because there are five wilayats, and eight jamaats (Jamaat Shariat or Derbent jamaat, Galgayche, Kataib al-Houl or Ossetian jamaat, Kabardino-Balkarian jamaat, Nogai battalion , Karachay jamaat and Adygei and Krasnodar sectors). But that’s not all: five wilayats had as many as 11 valiyat leaders. We stocked up for future use, or what? Apparently, having figured out some simple arithmetic operations, six months ago Doku Umarov divided the leadership of jamaats and vilayats - now two seats are even left vacant. And in order not to get confused at all in the hierarchical intricacies, the “Majlis al-Shura” was formed - an advisory body consisting of the heads of wilayats and jamaats.

We have roughly figured out the state within the state and its structure, now let’s take on the leaders. Who are these little-known heirs to the anti-heroes of the 90s?

Today, there are 11 amirs in the North Caucasus - a kind of football team. The most odious of them are Doku Umarov, Supyan Abdullaev, Anzor Astemirov (Seifullah) and Akhmed Evloev (Magas). Doku Umarov is the most famous and, perhaps, the most bloodthirsty. Law enforcement agencies have recorded about 100 (!) murders in which Umarov was directly involved. He shot, cut off the heads, and even strangled the victims. The militants who know him personally note not only the pathological cruelty of their leader, but also a special penchant for sadism. Those he killed with his own hands mostly died slowly. Umarov is matched by his closest associate Magas, the ethnic Ingush Akhmed Yevloev. He is one of the few who went through both the first and second Chechen campaigns. Magas is a kind of money bag of the Caucasian resistance. Directly subordinate to him is the emissary of Al-Qaeda** Muhannad (also part of the 11 amirs), a very rich man whose family manages hundreds of millions of dollars. When one of the militant leadership has financial difficulties, they turn directly to Magas. It is also known that Magas is followed everywhere by two orderlies: one is considered a personal bodyguard, and the other... a porter. In the hands of the porter there are always two bags that look like shopping bags. Each contains $500 thousand in cash. The load is heavy, but the porter is also a former heavyweight weightlifter. The most incredible rumors are circulating about Magas’s personal fortune, but in everyday life he is ascetic, spends practically no money, and has a weakness only for expensive weapons.

Magas is one of the most efficient militants; money helps him quickly move throughout the North Caucasus and even appear in Moscow. The President of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has repeatedly stated that “after the destruction of Umarov and Yevloyev, there will be no known field commanders left among the militants” - so great is Yevloyev’s influence.

If Doku Umarov and Akhmed Yevloev are famous for their cruelty and personal participation in the executions of infidels, then the third “whale” of the separatists, Supyan Abdullaev, is their direct opposite. He did not dirty his hands with executions of infidels, although he had a chance to shoot a lot. Supyan is not only an emir, he is also one of the main ideologists of Wahhabism, revered in Saudi Arabia no less than the local sheikhs. Today, Supyan is considered something of an elder among the separatists. Back in Soviet times, he organized the Islamic Renaissance Party in Chechnya, and since 1991 he took an active part in anti-state actions, heading the Ar-Risal Islamic Center in Grozny before the first war.

On November 26, 1994, Supyan participated in the very first large-scale attack on Russian military units, and in August 1996 he stormed Grozny. Then he served in the rank of Deputy Minister of the MSGB (Ministry of Sharia State Security). Supyan is considered to be Umarov’s successor if he is killed, this information was first announced last year by Akhmed Zakaev. Among the specific characteristics of Supyan, his non-traditional sexual orientation is known.

The fourth leader of Islamic extremists is Anzor Astemirov, nicknamed Seifullah (Sword of Allah). He is one of those who organized the militant attack on Nalchik in October 2005. Astemirov’s involvement in a number of particularly serious crimes has been proven: murder, armed robbery and rape, including of minors. Repeated violation of the law did not prevent Seifullah from becoming the supreme qadi - the head of the Sharia court.

There are several other separatists of lower rank, who nevertheless enjoy respect and some fame in their circles. Israpil Velidzhanov, the head of the Derbent jamaat, became famous for organizing about 100 attacks on law enforcement officers in Dagestan; he is credited with numerous terrorist attacks and executions. Velidzhanov is in a difficult relationship with Doku Umarov: there were even rumors that he was preparing to take the place of the Supreme Amir by organizing an assassination attempt on him. Whether this is true or not is unknown, but it is well known about the fight that followed the appointment of Velidzhanov as head of the jamaat in the fall of 2008. He beat Umarov, who was not weak in appearance, soundly. They say that the reason for this was money that was not given to one of Velidzhanov’s friends by Umarov’s relatives. One way or another, so far this fight has not had any impact on the terrorist’s career; apparently, the special popularity that Velidzhanov enjoys in his homeland, in Dagestan, played a role. They say that he still, especially without disguise, attends all competitions related to wrestling and other martial arts in Makhachkala.

Velidzhanov’s influence is second only to that of another famous separatist and leader of the Dagestan Wahhabis - Bagautdin Kebedov, respectfully called Bagautdin of Dagestan, “the spiritual leader of the Dagestan monotheists.” Supyan Abdullaev has a personality to match: back in Soviet times, he organized illegal circles for the study of Islam, which were smashed by the KGB.

In 1989, Kebedov created the first Muslim community in the North Caucasus - a jamaat in the city of Kizilyurt near Makhachkala. And in 1997 he had to emigrate... to Chechnya. There he escaped persecution by the FSB (he was charged with a list of 30 crimes, from child molestation to incitement to murder). In 1999, Kebedov took a personal part in organizing the invasion of Shamil Basayev’s militants into Dagestan.

Although Velidzhanov and Kebedov compete with each other for the right to be considered the spiritual leaders of Dagestan, they also have a common rival. This is Emir Ibrahim Gadzhidadaev. It is popular mainly among Dagestan youth.

Representatives of law enforcement agencies include Magomed Magomedov, nicknamed Chest, Islam Dadashev, Isa Kostoev, Umar Khalilov and Sadyk Khudaybergenov, nicknamed Uzbek, in the symbolic five of the most odious and bloodthirsty separatists.

At the most, for liquidation upon arrest. These people have hundreds and thousands of atrocities behind them, perhaps even more than the odious Basayev and Khattab. But they do not and will never have even a 10th part of the fame and influence that the separatists of the 90s enjoyed. The current growth, although no less bloodthirsty, is... faceless.

And therefore less viable.

* The Islamic State is recognized as a terrorist organization, whose activities in Russia are officially prohibited by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 2014.

“Imarat Kavkaz” (“Caucasian Emirate”) is an international organization officially banned in Russia.

The Islamic Party of Turkestan (formerly the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) is an international organization officially banned in Russia. ** The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated November 13, 2008 No. GKPI 08-1956, entered into force on November 27, 2008 recognized the Al-Qaeda organization as extremist and prohibited on the territory of Russia *** “The Supreme Military Majlisul Shura of the United Mujahideen Forces of the Caucasus.” Recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of Russia on February 14, 2003, which came into force on March 4, 2003. **** "Imarat Caucasus" ("Caucasian Emirate"), an international organization. Recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of Russia on February 8, 2010. Came into force on February 24, 2010.

Vladimir Barinov

According to official data, there are now up to a thousand militants in Chechnya who continue to actively oppose federal troops. As the intelligence services say, the activity of the bandits depends on the amount of their funding from foreign extremist organizations - mainly the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Haramain. It is in Chechnya that almost all terrorist attacks committed on Russian territory are planned using money received from abroad.

Colonel Ilya Shabalkin, a representative of the regional headquarters for managing the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, reported some information about the situation in the Chechen Republic to GAZETA. According to him, there are now up to a thousand militants left in Chechnya who continue active hostilities and sabotage against federal troops. A year ago there were about 1,500 bandits in the republic, and in 2002 - up to 2.5 thousand.

However, Shabalkin noted that all these figures are quite conditional and directly depend on the financial support coming to gangs from abroad. “Their activity manifests itself after receiving the next tranche from foreign sponsors. Every day, no more than 200 bandits are ready to attack the feds, while the remaining 800 sit out in the mountainous and wooded areas, waiting for money,” said a representative of the Rosh. The number of individual gang groups in Chechnya, according to Shabalkin, now ranges from 3 to 7 people. The last operation to eliminate a truly large gang was carried out in the republic in the spring of 2002. Now the feds are limited to reconnaissance and patrol operations of operatives of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who operate under the cover of special forces groups. Such operations are carried out mainly in remote mountainous areas of the republic. In populated areas, the identification and detention of bandits is carried out by the local police, who carry out targeted “targeted special measures”. At the same time, operational groups, together with members of Akhmat Kadyrov’s security service, headed by his son Ramzan, are negotiating surrender with some field commanders. “Here you need both the availability of operational information from the special services and excellent knowledge of internal customs,” Ilya Shabalkin told GAZETA. “So we act together.” It should be noted that sometimes negotiations actually produce results: not so long ago, the “Minister of Defense of Ichkeria” and Maskhadov’s closest associate, Magomed Khambiev, surrendered into the hands of the legitimate authorities, and a few days later, the “head of the special department of state security of Ichkeria,” Colonel Boris Aidamirov. The day after Aidamirov surrendered, about 10 ordinary militants subordinate to him voluntarily laid down their arms.

The main funds, according to Russian intelligence services, come to Chechen militants from the international organization “Muslim Brotherhood,” which has existed for about 40 years and has unofficial representatives in various Muslim and European countries.

The “Brothers,” in turn, actively cooperate with other terrorists, in particular with the Palestinian Hamas (Russian intelligence services estimate its annual budget at no less than $30 million). A “subsidiary” of the Muslim Brotherhood is the Al-Haramain organization, which also actively “invests” money in North Caucasian extremists.

The volume of investments into the “Chechen jihad” is quite difficult to estimate. However, representatives of the Russian special services believe that at a time when contact with their foreign sponsors was maintained through the Jordanian Khattab, the bandits received monthly from 200 thousand to a million dollars.

However, according to some reports, after the liquidation of Khattab and the transfer of leadership functions to his deputy Abu al-Walid, this amount decreased significantly. This is due, firstly, to the fact that now Chechen bandits are squeezed into mountainous regions and do not have a real opportunity to carry out large-scale actions on the territory of the republic. Secondly, their foreign Islamist partners are now forced to spend considerable sums on other “fronts” - in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Leaders of Chechen terrorists liquidated by federal forces

1) “Black Arab” Khattab, Jordanian by origin, leader of the Arab mercenaries in Chechnya. Destroyed in March 2002 as a result of an “undercover combat operation” by Russian special services. Someone close to the extremist leader gave him a poisoned letter. He was distinguished by rare rigidity. He was one of the key figures among militant leaders. He appeared in Chechnya after the first campaign and was able to take control of most of the gang groups. Creator of a number of terrorist training camps. It was through him that most of the money from foreign “sponsors” came to Chechnya.

2) Ruslan Gelayev. Born in 1964 in the village of Komsomolskoye, Urus-Martan district of Chechnya. Education - three classes. We have been convicted three times - for robbery and rape. In 1992-1993 he fought in Abkhazia. In 1994-1996 he gained fame as one of the most influential Chechen field commanders. In March and August 1996, he led the capture of Grozny. In January 1998, he was appointed Minister of Defense in Maskhadov's government. At the beginning of 2000, after federal forces took Grozny, Gelayev’s detachment went to Georgia, from where it made regular forays into adjacent territories. In March 2000, Gelayev’s gang took part in the battles near Ulus-Kert, during which 84 Pskov paratroopers were killed. A few days later, 1,000 militants under the command of Gelayev captured the village of Komsomolskoye. In October 2001, Gelayev’s detachment invaded Abkhazia. According to some reports, he was going to capture Sochi, however, having met fierce resistance from the local armed forces, he returned to Georgia. Killed in Dagestan by border guards in March of this year.

3) Arbi Baraev, nickname "Tarzan". Killed by special forces in June 2001. Born in 1973 into a poor family in the village of Alkhan-Kala near Grozny. Worked in the traffic police. Barayev’s rise to the top under the militants was helped by his maternal uncle Vakha Arsanov, the future vice-president of Ichkeria and Aslan Maskhadov’s closest assistant. Baraev was Zelimkhan Yandarbiev’s bodyguard and took part in Basayev’s raid on Budennovsk. Commanded the "Islamic Special Purpose Regiment". He became famous for his hostage-taking and exceptional cruelty - on his personal account there were more than 100 killed.

4) Khunkar-Pasha Israpilov, head of the anti-terrorist center of Ichkeria. Killed on February 5, 2000 in the village of Alkhan-Kala. A detachment of militants broke out of the city towards the mountains, but died in a minefield.

5) Salman Raduev. He died in December 2002 in the Perm White Swan prison from internal hemorrhage. He became widely known in January 1996 after his gang captured the Dagestan city of Kizlyar. Organizer of terrorist attacks in Pyatigorsk, Essentuki, Armavir and a number of other Russian cities. He was captured in Chechnya by FSB officers in March 2000, and on December 25, 2001, the Supreme Court of Dagestan sentenced him to life imprisonment.

6) Turpal-Ali Atgeriev. He died on August 8, 2002 in the Yekaterinburg general regime colony. He was one of the key figures in the government of Ichkeria. He held the positions of Deputy Prime Minister, in charge of law enforcement agencies, and the post of Minister of State Security. He was detained in October 2000 by FSB officers. An accomplice of Raduev, who commanded one of the detachments during the attack on Kizlyar in 1996. He was sentenced together with Raduev to 15 years in prison.

Leaders of Chechen terrorists continuing the fight against federal forces

1) Abu al-Walid, Arab by nationality. He became widely known only after the death of his boss, the “black Arab” Khattab, in 2002. Now he is in charge of the overall leadership of the Arab mercenaries fighting in Chechnya. According to Russian intelligence services, it is al-Walid who receives and distributes funds coming to Chechnya from foreign extremist organizations.

2) Aslan Maskhadov, “President of Ichkeria”. A former colonel of the Soviet army, during the “first Chechen war” he headed the headquarters of the armed forces of Ichkeria. Despite the fact that the feds have repeatedly talked about his loss of control over the militants, he is still considered a very influential figure.

3) Shamil Basayev. Former student of the Moscow Institute of Land Management Engineers. He fought in Abkhazia. In 1995, at the head of a detachment of 200 militants, he raided the city of Budennovsk (Stavropol Territory), killing 143 of its residents and taking about 2 thousand hostages in a local hospital. In 1999, together with Khattab, he organized the militant invasion of Dagestan. After the elimination of the main forces of the militants during the “second Chechen” campaign, he focused entirely on terrorist activities, forming the Riyadus Salihin battalion of female suicide bombers. Basayev took responsibility for the hostage-taking in the theater center on Dubrovka and the latest explosions of power lines and gas pipelines in the Moscow region.

4) Doku Umarov, “vice-president of Ichkeria”, “commander of the southwestern front”. He is the commander of a fairly large group of militants. According to some reports, after the death of Ruslan, Gelayev took command of the remnants of his detachment.

5) Rappani Khalilov, commander of the “Dagestan Mujahideen battalion.” Responsible for carrying out more than 10 major terrorist attacks in Dagestan and for many attacks on the federals in Chechnya. The bloodiest crime attributed to Khalilov's militants was the explosion in Kaspiysk during the parade on May 9, 2002, which killed 43 people, including 14 children.

6) Movladi Udugov, the main propagandist of the Chechen militants, minister of information in the Maskhadov government. In recent years, he has been living abroad, creating Internet sites reflecting the position of extremists.

The largest terrorist attacks on Russian territory

March 19, 1999. Explosion at the Central Market of Vladikavkaz. 50 people were killed, about 100 were injured.

September 9, 1999. Explosion of a residential building on Guryanov Street in Moscow. 106 people were killed and more than 300 were injured.

September 13, 1999. Explosion of a residential building on Kashirskoye Highway in Moscow. 124 people were killed and more than 200 were injured.

September 16, 1999. A truck was blown up in the courtyard of a residential building in Volgodonsk. 18 people were killed and more than 65 were injured.

October 23-26, 2002. Chechen terrorists seized the theater center on Dubrovka (Moscow). During the operation of the special services, all the bandits were destroyed, 129 hostages were killed.

December 27, 2002. A truck loaded with explosives drove into the courtyard of the Government House in Grozny. 70 people were killed and more than 200 were injured.

June 5, 2003. A bus carrying service personnel from the airbase in Mozdok was blown up. 18 people were killed, 15 were injured.

July 5, 2003. Explosion during a rock festival in Tushino (Moscow). 16 people were killed, 50 were injured.

September 3 and December 5, 2003. Terrorist attacks on commuter trains in the Essentuki area. 48 people were killed and more than 150 were injured.

February 6, 2004. Explosion in the Moscow metro. According to official data available today, 39 people were killed and 134 were injured.

March 16, 2004. Explosion of a residential building in Arkhangelsk. 58 people died. This incident has not been officially declared a terrorist attack. Although the investigation is inclined to conclude that the damage to the gas pipeline in the entrance of the collapsed house was “intentional.” This is also evidenced by the fact that on the night when the explosion occurred, gas pipelines were damaged in three more houses in Arkhangelsk.

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Among the counterintelligence officers he went by the nickname Judas. Ardyshev went over to the side of the Chechen bandits to fight the federals. He was caught and convicted - the first and so far the only werewolf. 5. Among the militants, fellow soldiers recognized him by his ears The regiment from which Ardyshev-Dudayev fled received bread in Grozny. Two “Urals” and two escorting infantry fighting vehicles regularly dusted the countryside of Chechnya once a week. But on October 24, 1995, the regiment was left without bread. When the column passed Tsa-Vedeno, the Urals pulled ahead and disappeared around the bend, and an old Zhiguli car appeared in front of the BMP. The tracks literally crushed the rusty metal. The ringing silence was suddenly filled with the piercing squeals of the villagers. There was nothing left of the two men from the Zhiguli. The woman and child, covered in blood, crawled out onto the road. The Chechens surrounded the infantry fighting vehicles and demanded that the crews surrender. The guys radioed the command. They were advised to get out of the cars and negotiate amicably with the villagers - at that time there was a moratorium on hostilities and new shooting was not needed. It had to happen that a kilometer from the site of the disaster, Basayev’s detachment lay down for a rest. While the officers shouted into the radio about the situation, the boys ran after the militants. 12 Russian soldiers were captured. Only the young mechanic-driver - the culprit of the disaster - refused to get out. He battened down the hatches and swung the gun menacingly. Among the militants who arrived in time, the crew recognized Sashka Ardyshev. He had a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher in his hands, and a Dragunov sniper rifle was hanging on his shoulder. In a black denim suit and high wrestling shorts, he looked no different from the militants. Only his ears gave away his former colleague. Ardyshev approached the regiment commander, Colonel Kurochkin: “Well, you nit, are you done with the war?” Do you remember how you punched me in the mouth? I will personally use you up. Straight from this thing. - And Ardyshev pointed a grenade launcher at the officer. The prisoners were disarmed and taken away. Ardyshev began to command the assault on the BMP - the soldier flatly refused to surrender. - No guys, there is no need for noise. Yes, and technology will come in handy. Look at the top landing hatches. Surely he didn’t have time to batten them down... And that’s true. The soldier was pulled out of his armor. He was all white and no longer offered resistance. A week later ours were exchanged for two fuel tankers. Naturally, full. And the driver was later found in a ravine on the outskirts of the village with a bullet through his head. The command was informed that the relatives of those killed in the disaster personally took care of the boy. However, an examination showed that the bullet was fired from a sniper rifle. And only Ardyshev had such a rifle... 6. So we met... For lunch in the Novocherkassk prison there was pasta. And Ardyshev kept talking and talking. Then the administration promised to save Sasha’s rations and give them out for dinner. Then Sashka-Seraji apologized and began to pray in Arabic. It was strange to hear guttural sounds from the mouth of the Saratov boy. It turned out that in a cell where five other people were sitting, it was somehow not customary to perform namaz. “I saw you somewhere,” Ardyshev smiled from the cage after he had taken his breath away. - Allah punish me! I have a good memory for people and their actions. And I will definitely read your newspaper with the article about me. As soon as I lay back, I’ll definitely find you, then we’ll talk,” and he laughed disgustingly. ...It was only on the way from prison that I remembered where we met. In the winter of 1997, on an editorial assignment, I arrived at a checkpoint near Kizlyar. The time was peaceful. On the other side of the post, Chechnya turned grey. Buses filled with food shuttles freely crossed the Russian-Russian border. As soon as they passed the Kizlyar post, they were surrounded by customs officers from the main road. On the gray concrete was the inscription: “Welcome to hell!” - Guys, I would like to film on the Chechen side... - Go, if you don’t mind the equipment, - the security officer from Tyumen laughed. - And jokes aside, we can’t go there for no apparent reason. Therefore, if anything happens, fall to the ground - we will open fire. In general, today was calm. So go... After such parting words, I felt uneasy... But I still managed to talk with the Chechen customs officers. They vied with each other to praise their lives, boasted that they would soon come to Dagestan, and even forgot about the buses and trucks passing by. Among them there was one big-eared boy. To be honest, I only remember the ears. When I suggested taking a photo, the customs officers ran to their trailer for machine guns - how can you take pictures without weapons? Only the lop-eared one said that he didn’t like cameras and sadly wandered behind the concrete wall. It was Ardyshev... 7. Table scraps Senior investigator for particularly important cases, Lieutenant Colonel of Justice Vladimir Vasin, now does not drink at all. While he was working on the Ardyshev case, he earned not only a promotion, but also two stomach ulcers. - Wolves flock together. So Ardyshev found himself some company. I don’t want to remember how difficult it was to work with him. - Vladimir thoughtfully sips tea from a cracked mug. ...The war has taken Russian militant Seradzhi Dudayev everywhere. Former prisoners said that they saw him in Shaly, and in Argun, and in Vedeno... Russian bullets spared the former Russian soldier. They say that it was during this period that Seraji showed himself as a sniper. But he did not forget about his “hobby” - mocking Russian soldiers. Pavel Batalov suffered more than others from Ardyshev-Dudaev. One day, wanting to amuse the militants, Seraji ordered Pashka to lie down on his belly. Like a doctor, he pulled up his jacket: “Don’t move, who did you tell!” Seraji shook out the gunpowder from two rifle cartridges and poured it onto Batalova’s bare back. - Attention! Deadly number! Choreographic composition “How Russian tank crews burn.” - And struck a match. Pashka rolled on the ground, writhing in pain to the friendly laughter of the Chechens. The wounds did not heal for two months. A medical examination will then determine that Batalov has 3rd degree burns. And during the August assault on Grozny, Seradzhi was assigned to carry out a responsible special operation. It’s easier to do looting. He stripped abandoned apartments down to the wallpaper. The Chechen command valued the newly minted militant. Shamil Basayev himself, before the formation, set him up as an example to his thugs. Once Seraji was even admitted to the table of the legendary field commander. A video recording of this solemn event has been preserved. True, Seraji was there as a servant: he brought tea to the brigadier general. The first Chechen war is over. The “Czechs” began to return home. But Dudaev-Ardyshev had no return to his homeland. He settled in Grozny with the same Khomzat whom he called father. - Okay, we’ll assign you to the border and customs department. - Field commander Movladi Khusain thought about it. - Although there are only thieves there. I’ll put in a good word for you... Soon Seradzhi began to go to serve in the 15th military camp - it was there that the headquarters of the Chechen customs was located. They issued NATO camouflage. I exchanged the rifle for a Makarov pistol in a brand new open holster. The license with a green flag and a lying wolf said: driver-gunner. The service was dust-free. Keep an eye on the KamAZ and go to the border to confiscate contraband. Smuggling meant fuel trucks with “scorched” fuel, which went to Dagestan in caravans using forged documents. After each raid, two or three tanks drove into the courtyard. Gasoline and diesel fuel were drained. The cars were returned to the owners. Once a month, Seraji received a symbolic salary in Russian rubles. But he lived well - there was enough loot from the war. Old comrades did not forget Seraji. They bought him a small two-room house on the northern outskirts of Grozny for next to nothing - he didn’t deserve anything more. Ardyshev summoned his mother. He persuaded me to stay. But the woman lived for a week and began to get ready. - Okay, let's get back to this conversation. - The son was annoyed, but did not contradict his mother. 8. This side of the bars Dimka Sukhanov went on demobilization in 1995. Served in Vladikavkaz. Everyone expected that they would be sent to war, but it happened. The war found him itself - in civilian life. After urgent work, he got a job as a prison guard. Received the rank of ensign. In August 1997, I took a vacation, boarded a train and headed to Grozny for three days. I wanted to earn extra money: they said sturgeon was cheap in Chechnya after the war. Two fish could provide a week's vacation at sea with the family. Dimka was a risky guy. Instead of three days, he stayed in Chechnya for 53 weeks... They picked him up at the Grozny train station. At first he said that he was going to a friend’s wedding. But in his pocket they found a photograph of him and the guys in Vladikavkaz on armor. It’s not written on the tank where it serves. Then the investigator changed, and Dimka began to lie that he slept through the station, and the conductor did not wake him up. - Why are you lying? You were on your way to make contact. We know everything about you. Sukhanov, you are Koshman’s agent (Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic in Zavgaev’s government. - Yu. S.), - the investigator was adamant. He reinforced his point of view with daily beatings. By winter, Dimka was put alone in the basement of the Ichkeria Security Service. They were released only after four and a half months. “When I went down to the basement, it was dark outside and there was snow,” recalls Sukhanov. - And they let me out in the morning. Imagine, there is greenery all around, birds are singing, the air is like honey. My head started spinning and I fell. Dima was sent to town 15. A slave. - We lived behind bars. Seraji often visited us. He was drawn to the Russians. We were his mechanics. The KamAZ was constantly being repaired - the diesel fuel was “scorched”. We are already accustomed to beatings. He took us away one by one and made a fool of us. I tried to hit harder. Hit my joints. Beast! Even the Chechens stopped him. They said: why? They are already in our power. Let them work quietly. They wanted to tie up the blankets and escape through the window. Someone knocked on us. I was declared the instigator,” here Dima falls silent. After the escape attempt, Dima was taken to the basement. “For procedures,” as the guards said. I thought they would beat me. And they hooked me up to the ceiling by handcuffs. Then they pulled down their pants and sprayed it on the crotch from some glass bottle. The bottle contained an acid solution. A minute later it began to burn. By morning, ulcers appeared. Dimka couldn’t even run or walk for the first week. - How is he doing in prison? - Dimka asked about Ardyshev-Dudayev not out of idle curiosity - he himself is a guard in the colony. - I have a video recording. If you want, look. As soon as the TV screen lit up and Ardyshev’s ears appeared from behind the bars, Dimka froze. Nodules extended along the cheekbones. Fists clenched. He resembled a hunting dog in a stance. - Do you know what my dream is? - Dima muttered when the recording of our interview ended. - Transfer to the prison where this bastard is sitting. And look at him from this side of the bars. The way he looked at me then... 9. Brother cocktail So Seradzhi would have served in customs if one of the many relatives of his boss had not landed in a Russian prison for six years. We need to help out. There were no more prisoners to be exchanged at customs. We decided to change to Seraji. ...That same evening Seraji was invited to visit. A good table was set. “Drink, brother, tomorrow is my big holiday,” the boss said lovingly. - Thank you, I can’t have vodka. But the beer... - I'll bring you a cold one now. Seraji never detected the taste of clonidine in the beer. The feds asked the Chechens when they unloaded the snoring Ardyshev: “Don’t you feel sorry?” - Once he sold you, another time he will sell us... Ardyshev woke up a day later in Mozdok. When I saw people in Russian uniforms, I understood everything: “They sold me, bitches... They put Ardyshev under arrest until the circumstances were clarified.” They did not yet know that he was a policeman for the Chechens in Mozdok. We looked at his file and the guy was granted amnesty. He would have been released in a couple of days, but he attacked the sentry. Hit him on the head with a wrench. Okay, help arrived. The military tribunal gave him 9 months. And then the treasured daddy from counterintelligence arrived in time. Instead of 9 months - 9 years. “I understand that they could have given me much more,” Ardyshev repeats sadly. - So I have no complaints. - You probably know what they did with the police after the Great Patriotic War? - military counterintelligence investigator Vasin asks me. - But this is Chechnya. Witnesses, if alive, are hiding in the mountains... In the FSB detention center, Ardyshev unexpectedly wished to be baptized. The investigator went to the Rostov Cathedral, bought a cross for Ardyshev, and invited the priest to the isolation ward. The sacrament took place in the interrogation room. Ardyshev carried the cross for only two weeks. Then, from behind the iron doors, guttural singing began to be heard again. Apparently, I understood: what is cut off cannot be returned...

BY THE WAY The colonel who transported wounded militants to the rear still receives an officer's salary. The deputy commander of the 19th motorized rifle division of the 58th army, Colonel Alexander Savchenko (Komsomolskaya Pravda told the story of his betrayal on April 18, 2000), was taken into development by military counterintelligence when half of Chechnya was still was under the control of the militants and separated from the advancing troops by a real front line. All operational information indicated that the Russian colonel was taking wounded militants to safe places for money. On April 7, 2000, in the village of Shatoy, Savchenko was caught red-handed. When they tried to resist, the militants who had taken refuge in the back of the truck were shot at point-blank range, which subsequently served the prosecutor's office badly - the investigators actually had no witnesses left. The colonel was immediately taken into custody, and a search was carried out in the dormitory room and the officer's kung where Savchenko lived in Chechnya. 90 thousand rubles and two thousand dollars found in personal belongings spoke for themselves. The 201st Military Prosecutor's Office of the North Caucasus Military District, located in Khankala, opened a criminal case under three articles of the Criminal Code: 33rd (“complicity in a crime”), 208th “(participation in illegal armed groups”) and 285- th (“abuse of official powers”). However, already in June, by decision of the military court of the North Caucasus Military District, Savchenko was released on his own recognizance and completely changed his testimony. Now Alexander Savchenko lives in his own house in the village of Mostovoy, Krasnodar Territory. They say he recently bought a car. Moreover, the officer has not yet been dismissed from the army, receives a salary from the Ministry of Defense and enjoys all the benefits established for military personnel.

The man killed was one of many militants who fled abroad. Western countries are in no hurry to hand them over to Russian justice. Daily Storm talks about the crimes of those who, like Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, managed to escape outside the Russian Federation, and about their new lives.

The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria was de facto liquidated in 2000, and its authorities were included in the list of terrorist organizations. Those of its leaders who survived and were not arrested live in Europe, the USA, Turkey and other countries. In 2007, the self-proclaimed president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Doku Umarov, announced its abolition and proclaimed the formation of the Caucasus Emirate. The unrecognized republic itself continues to exist virtually: its “rulers” are based in Great Britain and Austria. On the Internet there is a website of the state news agency of the ChRI, blocked in Russia, and on social networks there are pages to which one and a half to two thousand people are subscribed. There is even a page explaining how to obtain citizenship and a passport from the unrecognized republic.

Khangoshvili, who was killed in Berlin, was one of the fugitive militants. During the second Chechen campaign, he led a detachment controlled by Shamil Basayev. After the liquidation of the latter, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili returned to the Pankisi Gorge of Georgia along mountain paths through Dagestan and Azerbaijan. He was put on the federal wanted list, but was of interest not only to Russian law enforcement officers, but also to his former comrades in arms - the Chechens.

The fact is that in August 2012, together with field commander Akhmed Chataev, nicknamed One-Armed, Akhmed Khangoshvili invited former comrades who were hiding from Russian justice in Austria. From Georgia, the militants went on foot to Chechnya, but in the Lopota River gorge they met peasants. They took the witnesses hostage and demanded from the authorities a corridor to the Russian border. Negotiations lasted for a week until Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili decided to eliminate the militants. 11 Chechens and four Georgian security forces were killed in the shootout. Then Chataev was hospitalized with serious injuries, and Khangoshvili left for Tbilisi. Last Friday, he was killed in central Berlin while walking in a park: a killer rode up behind him on a bicycle and shot him in the back of the head with a silenced Glock-26 pistol.

However, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili is not the only member of terrorist groups who has found refuge outside the Russian Federation.

Journalists first wrote about Zakayev in 1995, in the context of the seizure of a maternity hospital in Budennovsk by militants. Then 129 people were killed and more than 400 injured. Zakaev was once an actor at the Grozny Drama Theater, and during the years of the Chechen conflicts, he was the chairman of the cabinet of ministers of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Zakayev personally gave orders for the execution of captured Russian soldiers. He shot off the fingers of one of them himself. Former members of gangs said that during the First Chechen War, on the orders of Zakayev, two priests, the rector of an Orthodox church in Grozny, were kidnapped. They were tortured into converting to Islam.

Now Zakaev lives in London. He has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. There he posts statements on behalf of the ChRI, comments on world events, and information about participation in events. Thus, at the end of June 2018, “a meeting of European Chechens took place near Brussels.” “People came here from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France. As from the organizing country, from Belgium, of course, there were more,” Zakaev wrote. In Russia he is accused of creating a gang, criminal offenses and terrorism.

Said-Hasan Abumuslimov (no information about official charges)

Abumuslimov was the second vice-president of the unrecognized ChRI in 1996-1997, then - assistant and special representative of Aslan Maskhadov. In August 1996, he was one of four people who signed the Khasavyurt agreements on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. Moreover, Said-Khasan Abumuslimov is the only survivor of that four: Maskhadov, General Lebed, and his assistant died in the 2000s.

According to media reports from 2004, Said-Hasan Abumuslimov emigrated to Germany. In English-language search engine results, he now appears with the prefix “doctor.” On the Internet you can find videos posted in 2019 in which Abumuslimov talks about the history of Chechnya and discusses the Chechen conflict.

Ilyas Akhmadov (aiding terrorism)

Akhmadov was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the unrecognized Chechnya. During the first Chechen campaign he joined Basayev's detachment. He served as an assignment officer for Maskhadov's general staff and became his confidant. In 2002, he was put on the federal wanted list on charges of involvement in organizing a militant attack on Dagestan in 1999. The possibility of his involvement in the capture of Budennovsk in 1995 cannot be ruled out.

In 2004, he received political asylum in the United States. In 2010 he published the book “The Struggle of Chechnya: Victory and Defeat.” To write the book, Akhmadov received a Reagan-Fussell grant from the American National Endowment for Democracy. In Russia, Akhmadov is accused of aiding terrorism. Russian law enforcement agencies stated that they had evidence of Akhmadov’s connections with Maskhadov and the leader of Chechen gangs, Shamil Basayev.

Apti Batalov (participation in illegal armed groups)

Batalov was the “head of the presidential administration of the ChRI” from 1998 to 2000. He was responsible for the defense of the Naur region as a field commander, but failed in his task - the region was taken almost without a fight. In April 2000, Batalov was detained during a special operation in the southwestern part of the Shalinsky district of Chechnya and placed in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center, but was soon amnestied.

In 2002, he left Russia and received political asylum in the UK. Lives in London. On his Youtube channel he posted videos with his monologues on the topic of Chechnya, but the last of them dates back to 2011. Later, his video messages to Ramzan Kadyrov and Akhmed Zakaev appeared on the Internet. Batalov abandoned the idea of ​​an independent Ichkeria and supports the idea of ​​the Caucasus Emirate. In Russia he was put on the wanted list for participation in illegal armed groups.

Aslambek Vadalov (banditry, illegal production of weapons, theft of weapons, use of violence against a government official)

Participated in the First Chechen War on the side of the separatists. During the Second Chechen War he was under the command of Khattab, and was the commander of the Gudermes sector of the Armed Forces of the ChRI. Later he was the commander of the Eastern Front of the Armed Forces of the ChRI. In 2004, he took part in an armed attack on his native village of Ishkhoy-Yurt. Five police officers and several civilians were killed then. After the shootout, the terrorists managed to escape; during the retreat, they shot at the car of the acting head of the Nozhai-Yurtovsky District Department of Internal Affairs. Vadalov was the commander of this group.

In 2008, Vadalov attacked the village of Benoy-Vedeno in the Nozhai-Yurt region of Chechnya: then the militants killed three people and burned the houses of Chechen police officers. After the proclamation of the “Caucasus Emirate”, Vadalov took the oath to Doku Umarov. However, later, after Doku Umarov announced the cancellation of his decision to appoint Vadalov in his place in the event of his resignation, he resigned and left Umarov’s subordination.

Vadalov is listed on the international wanted list in the Interpol database. In November 2016, he was detained in Istanbul along with seven militants from the North Caucasus, but was soon released, despite requests from the Russian leadership and Ramzan Kadyrov personally to hand over the terrorists to the Russian authorities.

Khusein Iskhanov (no information about official charges)

Aslan Maskhadov's comrade-in-arms, Khusein Iskhanov, fought on the side of the armed forces of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and rose to the rank of colonel. He held the position of ensign of the main headquarters of the army and personal adjutant of Maskhadov. He was a member of the parliament of the ChRI. Participated in hostilities near the village of Gekhi and in the battles for Grozny.

Iskhanov now lives in Austria and heads the Ichkeria cultural center in Vienna.

The first great success in decapitating Chechen separatism after the murder of Dzhokhar Dudayev was the capture of terrorist No. 2 Salman Raduev, who was arrested by FSB representatives on the territory of Chechnya in March 2000. Raduev became widely known in 1996, after on January 9, under his leadership, militants attacked the Dagestan city of Kizlyar. True, the “laurels of fame” in Kizlyar went to Raduev “by accident.” At the last stage, he replaced the wounded field commander Khunkarpasha Israpilov, who was the leader of the operation.

The capture of Raduev was carried out masterfully by counterintelligence officers and in such a top-secrecy regime that the bandit “did not expect anything and was shocked,” said FSB director Nikolai Patrushev. According to some reports, Raduev was “tied up” the moment he left his shelter “out of need.” There is a version that Raduev was betrayed by an agent who promised to sell him a large batch of weapons cheaply.

On December 25, 2001, the Supreme Court of Dagestan found Raduev guilty of all charges except “organizing illegal armed groups.” The demands of the state prosecutor - Vladimir Ustinov - were fulfilled, and Salman Raduev was sentenced to life imprisonment. Raduev served his sentence in the Solikamsk penitentiary, in the famous White Swan colony.

In December 2002, Raduev began to complain about his health. On December 6, he developed bruising under his left eye and abdominal pain. A few days later, Raduev became worse, and on December 10, GUIN doctors decided to place him in a prison hospital in a separate ward. Raduev was in the hospital and died on December 14 at 5.30 am. The forensic medical report on death states the following: “DIC syndrome, multiple hemorrhages, retroperitoneal hematoma, hemorrhage in the brain and left eye.”

Raduev’s body was buried in the general Solikamsk cemetery.

In April 2002, it became known that the field commander Khattab, who was known as an ideologist and organizer of terrorist activities, was killed in Chechnya. He was liquidated as a result of an “undercover combat operation” by the FSB back in March 2002. The top-secret operation to destroy Khattab was prepared for almost a year. According to the FSB, Khattab was poisoned by one of his confidants. The death of the terrorist was one of the most serious blows for the militants, since after the liquidation of Khattab the entire system of financing gangs in Chechnya was disrupted.

In June 2001, in Chechnya, as a result of a special operation, the leader of one of the most combat-ready units of Chechen militants, Arbi Barayev, was killed. Along with him, 17 people from his inner circle were destroyed. A large number of militants were captured. Barayev was identified by his relatives. The special operation was carried out in the area of ​​Baraev’s native village of Ermolovka for six days - from June 19 to 24. During the operation, which was carried out by the regional operational headquarters with the involvement of special forces of the FSB and the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, in particular the Vityaz group, one Russian serviceman was killed and six were injured. After Barayev was mortally wounded, the militants carried his body into one of the houses and covered it with bricks in the hope that the federal forces would not find him. However, with the help of a search dog, Barayev's body was discovered.

In November 2003, FSB representatives officially admitted that one of the leaders of the Chechen militants, the Arab terrorist Abu al-Walid, was killed on April 14. According to intelligence services, on April 13, information appeared about a detachment of militants who, together with several Arab mercenaries, stopped in the forest between Ishkha-Yurt and Alleroy. This area was immediately attacked from helicopters, and special forces shot at the bandits’ camp using grenade launchers and flamethrowers. On April 17, soldiers combed the area between Ishkhoy-Yurt and Meskety, and about 3-4 kilometers from these villages in the forest they found six killed militants. They were all able to be identified - they turned out to be Chechens. A kilometer from those six corpses they found a dead Arab. With him, in particular, they found a map of the area made from a satellite and a satellite navigator for moving around the area. The body was badly burned. In April, al-Walid's body could not be identified. The intelligence services did not have the terrorist’s fingerprints, his relatives did not respond to investigators’ requests, and the detained militants who met him could not say with certainty that the body was his. All doubts disappeared only in November.

On February 13, 2004, Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, whom Chechen separatists declared the president of Ichkeria after the death of Dzhokhar Dudayev, was killed in Qatar. Yandarbiev's car was blown up in the Qatari capital Doha. In this case, two people from his escort died. The separatist leader himself was seriously injured and died some time later in the hospital. Yandarbiev has lived in Qatar for the past three years and has been on the international wanted list all this time as the organizer of the attack on Dagestan. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office demanded his extradition from Qatar.

The Qatari special services immediately started talking about a Russian trace in the murder of Yandarbiev, and already on February 19, three employees of the Russian embassy were arrested on suspicion of committing a terrorist attack. One of them, who is the first secretary of the embassy and has diplomatic status, was released and expelled from the country, while the other two were sentenced to life imprisonment by a Qatari court, and the court concluded that the order to liquidate Yandarbiev was given by top officials of the Russian leadership. Moscow denied the accusations in every possible way, and Russian diplomats did everything possible to take the unlucky bombers home as soon as possible.

They were sentenced to life imprisonment, which under Qatari law means a 25-year prison term, which can later be reduced to 10 years. A month after the trial, an agreement was reached that the convicted Russians would be taken to their homeland, where they would serve their sentences. The return of Russian intelligence officers actually took place; Anatoly Yablochkov and Vasily Pugachev flew to Russia on a special flight of the Rossiya State Transport Company in December 2004.

In March 2004, it became known about the death of an equally odious militant leader, Ruslan Gelayev, who in May 2002 was again appointed by Aslan Maskhadov as commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Ichkeria and restored to the rank of “brigadier general.” True, he was killed not as a result of a special operation by the special services, but in a banal shootout with border guards. Gelayev was killed by a border guard consisting of only two people in the mountains of Dagestan on the Avaro-Kakheti road leading to Georgia. At the same time, the border guards themselves were killed in the shootout. The field commander's corpse was found in the snow a hundred meters from the bodies of the border guards. This happened, apparently, on Sunday (February 28, 2004). A day later, Gelayev’s body was taken to Makhachkala and identified by previously arrested militants.

Thus, only one “odious militant” remains alive among the major Chechen leaders - Shamil Basayev.

Alexander Alyabyev