The FSB announced the detention of four individuals whom the investigation calls former militants of Shamil Basayev and Amir Ibn al-Khattab. According to the investigation, Batyr Arsanov, Arsen Koldasov, Rajab Khasaev, and Rasul Takhtamirov, detained in Ingushetia, Dagestan, Astrakhan region, and Stavropol Territory, participated in attacks on the Botlikh and Tsuntinsky districts of Dagestan, in a battle in the Shelkovsky district of Chechnya, as well as in a shootout with Pskov paratroopers in 2000 near the village of Ulus-Kert. The Investigative Committee claims that the detainees are involved in attacks that resulted in more than 130 Russian servicemen being killed and more than 80 wounded, and that "an irrefutable evidence base" of their guilt has been formed.
In the case, which has been ongoing for more than twenty years, new figures constantly appear, so-called participants of illegal armed formations allegedly involved in the deaths of servicemen. Researchers of the Chechen wars claim that the company of Pskov paratroopers fell victim to artillery fire arranged by the Russian military themselves due to negligence by the commanders. However, to cover up this crime, a legend was created about the heroic battle of the Pskov paratroopers against superior militant forces from Basayev and Khattab's group. Later, to reinforce this version, the detention of members of the armed underground from the "Kavkaz" training camp, located in a completely different part of Chechnya, was used.
The Insider found out some details of the lives of the detainees, before the detention at least three of them were constantly under the watch of Russian law enforcement, while they were not accused of any crimes related to terrorism. Batyr Arsanov was barely 18 years old in 2000. 58-year-old Rajab Kasaev was declared wanted back in 1993 on suspicion of a crime under Art. 103 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (murder). According to the publication, he was sent for compulsory psychiatric treatment. In 2014, he and his lawyers appealed the extension of his stay in a closed-type psychiatric hospital and went through all instances up to cassation. 44-year-old Arsen Koldasov was prosecuted under criminal articles for intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm and hooliganism. All this time he was under the watch of Russian law enforcement agencies, registered with law enforcement agencies as a destructive element. After 2000, he constantly lived in Norilsk, often traveled home through the Mineralnye Vody airport. 53-year-old Rasul Takhtamirov underwent compulsory treatment in a psychiatric hospital no later than 2012, and a court in the Astrakhan region ruled to extend his stay in a special hospital.
The FSB regularly reports on the "capture" of militants allegedly involved in the attack on Pskov paratroopers. As indicated by the human rights center "Memorial"**, the institution of the "secret witness" was actively used, allowing a person to be accused of any crime.
One such case was the case of Alavdi Batukaev, initiated in 2022, 22 years after the events. He was accused of participating in the battle at height 776.2, although he claims he never fought and surrendered to federal forces on March 5, 2000, to fall under amnesty during his stay in a training camp. "Memorial" emphasizes that Batukaev's case is based on unsubstantiated testimony of "secret witnesses" and numerous procedural violations. The indictment in Batukaev's case includes testimony from a "secret witness" with the pseudonym "Kalugin Pavel Petrovich," who claimed that on March 5, 2000, he participated in the reception of captured militants in the village of Selmentauzen in the Vedensky district of Chechnya as part of a group of Russian military. Kalugin stated that each of the approximately 71-72 surrendered militants allegedly confirmed participation in the battle with the paratroopers. These claims formed the basis of many criminal cases, although human rights activists call them absurd: it is unlikely that militants hoping for amnesty would voluntarily confess to participating in the killing of more than 80 Russian military personnel. Moreover, the witness testimonies raise questions about geographical and chronological accuracy.
All four secret witnesses stated that after 23 years they recognized Batukaev in photographs from 2023, despite not being acquainted with him, allegedly seeing him only briefly in 2000 and not communicating with him. Batukaev's relatives, however, could not identify him in these same photographs.
"Memorial" notes that the number of those convicted in the case of the battle with the Pskov company already exceeds the number of militants who actually participated in that clash. According to human rights activists, over the past 15 years, at least 30 people have been convicted, and there is reason to believe that this conveyor continues. Identical fragments are used in the materials of some cases, and the eyewitness testimonies often contradict the logic, geography, and chronology of those events.
* Recognized in Russia as a "foreign agent" and "undesirable" organization.
** Recognized in Russia as a "foreign agent".