Served in military Air force THE USSR.
In 1987 he entered the Moscow Institute of Land Management Engineers.
Until 1991 he worked in Moscow.
In early 1991, he joined the troops of the Confederation of the Peoples of the Caucasus (KNK).
In August 1991, he took part in the defense of the White House.
In October 1991, a candidate for the presidency of the Republic of Chechnya.
November 9, 1991 participated in the hijacking of a Tu-154 passenger plane from the airport Mineral water to Turkey. In Turkey, the invaders surrendered to the local authorities and, after negotiations, they managed to transfer them to Chechnya.
In 1992, he was appointed commander of the troops of the Confederation of the Peoples of the Caucasus.
From August 1992, he took an active part in military operations in Abkhazia. He was the commander of the Gagra Front and Deputy Minister of Defense of Abkhazia. He commanded a detachment of Chechen volunteers, later called the "Abkhazian battalion".
In the summer of 1994, with the start civil war in Chechnya, Basayev joined the fighting on the side of Dzhokhar Dudayev.
On June 14, 1995, under the leadership of Shamil Basayev, a hospital with hostages was seized in the city of Budennovsk, Stavropol Territory, in order to force the federal authorities to suspend hostilities in Chechnya and enter into negotiations with the Dudaevites. After telephone conversations with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, Basayev's militants left Budyonnovsk and released the hostages on the border of Chechnya.
After the events in Budyonnovsk, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against Shamil Basayev. FGC announced all-Russian search. But Basayev was never arrested.
In the summer-autumn of 1995, Basayev repeatedly threatened the Russian government with new terrorist acts on the territory of the Russian Federation if hostilities were not stopped and negotiations were curtailed.
At the end of April 1996, after the death of Dzhokhar Dudayev, Shamil Basayev was elected commander of the combat formations of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria at a meeting of field commanders.
January 27, 1997 in the presidential election Chechen Republic took second place in the rating, losing to Aslan Maskhadov.
In 1998 he headed the Football Federation of Chechnya.
In July 1998 he was appointed Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic.
In September 1999, gangs led by Shamil Basayev and Chechen field commanders supporting him invaded the territory of Dagestan.
In February 2000, he was seriously wounded when he hit a mine while trying to leave Grozny.
In May 2000, information appeared that Basayev had died.
It turned out that Basayev was alive, but in serious condition - his leg was amputated.
In this regard, there were reports in the media that Basayev wants to negotiate with the federals, because. he is sure that he can still be treated abroad, but the “commander” can no longer get out of Chechnya.
In October 2000, he announced his readiness to send 150 of his "fighters" to the Middle East (according to him, another 1,500 Chechen fighters are ready to join the "holy war for the liberation of Jerusalem").
In March 2001, in connection with the kidnapping of the American Kenneth Gluck, Basayev said that it was the "amateur activity" of some Mujahideen, and asked Gluck "not to give anyone any information that could harm your unwitting kidnappers."
The Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia put him on the federal wanted list, wanted by Interpol.
Citizenship
Calls himself a citizen of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
Education
He graduated from high school in 1982.
* Graduate School
Three times he entered the law faculty of the Moscow state university(MSU), but did not pass on the basis of competitive exams.
He entered the Moscow Institute of Land Management Engineers in 1987. In 1988 he was expelled from the second year for poor progress.
The main stages of the biography
He served in the Air Force of the USSR.
Until 1991 he worked in Moscow.
In early 1991, he joined the troops of the Confederation of the Peoples of the Caucasus (KNK).
In August 1991, he took part in the defense of the White House.
In October 1991, a candidate for the presidency of the Republic of Chechnya.
On November 9, 1991, he participated in the hijacking of a Tu-154 passenger plane from Mineralnye Vody airport to Turkey. In Turkey, the invaders surrendered to the local authorities and, after negotiations, they managed to transfer them to Chechnya.
On June 14, 1995, under the leadership of Shamil Basayev, a hospital with hostages was seized in the city of Budennovsk, Stavropol Territory, in order to force the federal authorities to suspend hostilities in Chechnya and enter into negotiations with the Dudaevites. After telephone conversations with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, Basayev's militants left Budyonnovsk and released the hostages on the border of Chechnya.
After the events in Budyonnovsk, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against Shamil Basayev. FSK announced an all-Russian wanted list. But Basayev was never arrested.
In the summer-autumn of 1995, Basayev repeatedly threatened the Russian government with new terrorist acts on the territory of the Russian Federation if hostilities were not stopped and negotiations were curtailed.
Shamil Basayev at a meeting of field commanders was elected commander of the combat formations of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
On January 27, 1997, in the presidential elections in the Chechen Republic, he took second place in the rating, losing to Aslan Maskhadov.
In 1998 he headed the Football Federation of Chechnya.
In July 1998 he was appointed Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic.
Origin, marital status
Shamil Basayev is called "a Chechen with a Russian tail" behind his back in Chechnya. He really has Russian roots. The family nest of the Basaevs is the village of Dyshne-Vedeno. In 1840, by order of Imam Shamil, it was founded by Russian soldiers who deserted from their units and defected to the side of the Chechens. Among them was the ancestor of the current terrorist N1, who became the founder of the Basayev family. In Dyshne-Vedeno, his distant descendant Shamil was born in 1965. Shamil Basayev belongs to the teip Yalkhoroy, influential in Chechnya. (Magazine "Profile", 2000)
Parents live in Vedeno (Chechen Republic).
In the summer of 1995, information appeared in the media about the death of the Basayev family during the shelling of the city of Vedeno by the Russian military. The information was interpreted as the death of Basayev's parents, wife and children. In fact, only one of Basayev's brothers was killed during the shelling.
* Brothers and sisters
Basayev has three brothers. One died during the shelling of the city of Vedeno in early 1995.
The elder brother - Shirvani (more rare spelling Sharvani or Shervani) Basayev - a militant, was the commandant of the city of Bamut.
* Nationality
* Family status
* Spouse
Basayev's first wife and his children live in Vedeno.
In the spring of 1994 he married a second time. His wife is a native of the Gudauta region of Abkhazia, 20 years old (as of 1996). Basayev confirmed the existence of the family in Abkhazia in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda on July 15, 1995.
On June 10, 1996, the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper expressed the opinion that the first Basayev family had been evacuated to Abkhazia.
The newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" (November 1, 1996) reported that in Abkhazia all fighting girlfriends left behind by Chechen fighters are called "Basayev's wives." According to the newspaper, the newborn children attributed to Basayev by Western journalists are most likely from his militants.
According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta (March 12, 1996), Shamil Basayev has a son and a "newly born daughter" from his second marriage.
Titles and awards
* Honorary and other degrees and titles
The military rank of "colonel" was conferred by the leaders of the Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus. According to other sources, the title was awarded by Dzhokhar Dudayev. (ITAR-TASS, communication dated April 29, 1996).
After the events in Budennovsk, he received the rank of brigadier general from Dzhokhar Dudayev, he usually does not mention this in an interview ("Rural Life", December 5, 1995).
* Rewards
After the operation in Budennovsk, the entire personnel of the armed formation of Shamil Basayev was presented by Dzhokhar Dudayev to the title of "Hero of Chechnya". Three of Basayev's deputies received the Order of Honor of the Nation. And Basayev himself was reprimanded for not fulfilling the assigned combat mission: Budyonnovsk was not the ultimate goal of the operation (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, March 12, 1996)
life path
He served in the Air Force as a firefighter.
In 1987 he entered the Moscow Institute of Land Management Engineers.
In 1988, he was expelled from the second year of the institute for poor progress.
Until 1991, he remained in Moscow - he worked "in one of the Chechen cooperatives" in a trading and intermediary limited liability partnership (newspaper "Segodnya", February 1, 1994).
In early 1991, he returned to Chechnya and joined the troops of the Confederation of the Peoples of the Caucasus (KNK).
Since 1991, he independently studied the theory of military affairs "according to Russian textbooks." In an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta (March 12, 1996), he spoke about it this way: “I started studying because I had a goal. There were about thirty of us guys, we understood that Russia would not let go of Chechnya just like that, that freedom is an expensive thing and you have to pay for it with blood. Therefore, we prepared hard.” In the same interview, he denied the information that he was trained in Abkhazia on the basis of the Russian 345th airborne regiment: "not a single Chechen studied there, because they were not taken."
In August 1991, according to Basayev's own words, he took part in the defense of the "White House": "I knew that if the GKChP won, it would be possible to put an end to the independence of Chechnya ..." (Moskovskaya Pravda, January 27, 1996).
In October 1991, during the presidential elections in Chechnya, he acted as a rival of Dzhokhar Dudayev as one of the candidates for the presidency of the republic.
On November 9, 1991, he participated in the hijacking of a Tu-154 passenger plane from Mineralnye Vody airport to Turkey. In Turkey, the invaders surrendered to the local authorities and, after negotiations, they managed to transfer them to Chechnya. In exchange for this, the plane with passengers was released and sent to Russia. In 1995, after the terrorist attack in the city of Budennovsk, the Stavropol Regional Prosecutor's Office resumed the investigation into the criminal case of the hijacking.
After the action in Mineralnye Vody, Basayev became the commander of a special forces company under Dzhokhar Dudayev (ITAR-TASS, April 29, 1996). According to other sources, the end of 1991 - the beginning of 1992. spent on the road: he fought in Nagorno-Karabakh on the side of Azerbaijan, for some time he was trained at the bases of the Mujahideen in Pakistan.
In 1992, he was appointed commander of the troops of the Confederation of the Peoples of the Caucasus.
From August 1992, he took an active part in military operations in Abkhazia. He was the commander of the Gagra Front and Deputy Minister of Defense of Abkhazia. He commanded a detachment of Chechen volunteers, later called the "Abkhazian battalion".
In January 1993, at a joint meeting of the Presidential Council and the Parliament of the Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus, Shamil Basayev was appointed commander of the KNK expeditionary corps in Abkhazia. He was charged with the responsibility of "coordinating, uniting, directing in the right direction and controlling the incoming flow of volunteers."
In 1993, by decree of the chairman of the Armed Forces of Abkhazia, Vladislav Ardzinba, he was approved as deputy minister of defense in the Gudauta administration (Gudauta district of Abkhazia). According to Basayev, his rights extended only to the mountain volunteers, and not to all the armed forces of the Gudauts (Segodnya, February 1, 1994).
In 1993-1994 Shamil Basayev "took control before him of the scattered and petty robbery of trains passing through the territory of Chechnya" (" Soviet Russia", June 22, 1995).
In December 1993, at the 5th Congress of the Confederation of the Peoples of the Caucasus, he was again approved as the commander of the KNK troops, and Adyghe Amin Zekhov was appointed chief of staff of the KNK troops.
From April to July 1994, according to his own statement, he was in Afghanistan, in the province of Khost, where, together with one of his groups, he underwent training: "The training took place at my expense. I then sold weapons, borrowed from friends and went. By the way, I still owe 3.5 thousand dollars for this trip" ("Nezavisimaya Gazeta", March 12, 1996).
In an interview with the Izvestia newspaper (April 25, 1996), Basayev said that during 1992-1994. traveled three times with his "Abkhazian battalion" to the camps of the Afghan Mujahideen, where he learned the tactics of guerrilla warfare.
In the summer of 1994, with the outbreak of the civil war in Chechnya, Basayev joined the fighting on the side of Dzhokhar Dudayev.
On June 14, 1995, under the leadership of Shamil Basayev, a hospital with hostages was seized in the city of Budennovsk, Stavropol Territory, in order to force the federal authorities to suspend hostilities in Chechnya and enter into negotiations with the Dudaevites. During Basayev's action in Budyonnovsk, at least 128 people were killed.
After telephone conversations with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, Basayev's militants left Budyonnovsk. In the column of seven buses there were over seventy militants and about 130 volunteer hostages. One of the buses was followed by 16 representatives of the domestic media and 9 deputies of the State Duma. 30 km from Mozdok, the column was blocked by a barrier of armored vehicles, installed by order of Deputy Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov: the leadership of North Ossetia refused to let the militants through its territory. The convoy arrived in Chechnya via Dagestan. In Khasavyurt, the militants were given an enthusiastic welcome by local residents and refugees from Chechnya. In the village of Zandak on the border of Chechnya, Basayev released the hostages.
According to Basayev, he personally selected and trained militants for the operation in Budennovsk: “My trip to Budennovsk cost about twenty-five thousand dollars. However, most of it was spent on the purchase of KamAZ trucks and a Zhiguli car - fifteen thousand dollars. And eight or nine thousand were handed out along the way. "They were at a loss for two days, they were even afraid to send someone. Only a day later they came to their senses, and for the first time a Chechen from the city came to us. At the first moment, I was surprised when Chernomyrdin called me. But already by the fact that he asked me not to succumb to provocations, not to respond to them with fire, I realized that he could not control the situation. The Prime Minister, and he did not have much power. Dudayev did not know about the operation. At that moment I had no he has been in touch for the second month.Yes, even if there was, I would not begin to dedicate him to such subtleties. This is my rule" ("Nezavisimaya Gazeta", March 12, 1996).
After the operation in Budennovsk, the entire personnel of the armed formation of Shamil Basayev was presented by Dzhokhar Dudayev to the title of "Hero of Chechnya". Three of Basayev's deputies received the Order of Honor of the Nation. And Basayev himself was reprimanded for failure to fulfill the assigned combat mission: Budyonnovsk was not the ultimate goal of the operation (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, March 12, 1996).
According to the newspaper "Segodnya" (July 1, 1995), shortly before the tragedy in Budennovsk, a certain company rented a plane of a private airline to operate a Minvody-Moscow flight with a stopover at the capital's Bykovo airport. There, the plane was waiting for the buses ordered in advance by another private company. There is no information that the plane and buses were ordered specifically for Basayev's group, however, after the action in Budyonnovsk, the chartered flight did not take off from the Minvod.
After Budennovsk, Shamil Basayev was in one of the mountain villages of the republic, although there were reports in the media that he was hiding in Abkhazia and Pakistan. In the autumn of 1995, interviews with him periodically appeared in the Russian and foreign press.
After the events in Budyonnovsk, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against Shamil Basayev. FSK announced an all-Russian wanted list. However, Basayev was never arrested. Five employees of the Neftekumsk traffic police were arrested, accused of taking bribes from Basayev. The accusation of a bribe was based on the words of Basayev, but he (for obvious reasons) did not appear to testify. The accusation of a bribe fell away, and they decided to try the policemen for negligence: "They let Shamil Basayev's gang with a large amount of weapons through and did not inspect it."
In the summer-autumn of 1995, Basayev repeatedly threatened the Russian government with new terrorist acts on the territory of the Russian Federation if hostilities were not stopped and negotiations were curtailed. He also said that he has 7 containers of bacteriological weapons, 5 shells with binary ammunition, radioactive substances and did not rule out the possibility of their use. The Russian military reacted ironically to his threats, but on November 23, 1995, an NTV film crew, in accordance with information received from Shamil Basayev, found a yellow package with high radioactive radiation in Izmailovsky Park. The radiation level at the find site was five roentgens per hour at allowable rate 15-20 microrengen per hour.
On November 24, Russian Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov said that the package with radioactive materials found was "an ordinary laboratory container used in calibration workshops." According to the analysis carried out by the chemical laboratory of the Research Institute of the Federal Security Service, it contained cesium-137, which was previously widely used in marking special devices.
In early October 1995, Basayev's detachment of 300 people camped in the woods near the village of Chapaevo, Novolaksky district of Dagestan. The head of the district administration asked the militants to leave the territory of the district. To this, Basayev said that this was Chechen land (before the deportation in 1944, Chechens lived on the territory of the present Novolaksky district) and he would stay there as long as he wanted.
In October 1995, Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for the shelling of the Russian armored group of the 506th motorized rifle brigade, which killed 18 people. But the next day Aslan Maskhadov denied this report. Shirvani Basayev also stated that he was not involved in this attack, saying that at the time of the attack he was at the location of the 506th motorized rifle brigade and, on the contrary, suggested that its commander organize a joint rebuff to the attackers.
In the autumn of 1995-winter 1996, Basayev left the Caucasus twice: he went to Siberia for 10 days and to Moscow for a week. In one of the interviews, he later said: “What problems can there be? Not all Chechens know me by sight, so what can we say about Russia! No, I didn’t shave off my beard in principle. a good thing. Hat, glasses. Money - of course. There were five people with me. No, I not only drove a car, but also walked the streets. They never asked for documents. I used to live in Moscow for five years and paid all these years - to traffic cops and everyone else. I know Russia. So there are no problems. If you have normal money, then even from the scene of a crime, if they capture you, any policeman will let you go." (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, March 12, 1996).
In mid-January 1996, an unconfirmed report was published in the media about the assault by Shamil Basayev's detachment of the Vladikavkaz airport.
January 16, 1996 from the Turkish Black Sea port of Trabzon was captured by the ship "Avrasiya". The capture was carried out by the pro-Chechen group of Mohammed Tokchan. Basayev confirmed that three of the group that captured the ship were his old friends: "Fought together in Abkhazia. Not so long ago they were visiting me. So we discussed the plan to seize the ship. I don't know, though, why they surrendered, they didn't finish the job" ("Komsomolskaya Pravda in Moscow", January 31, 1996).
On March 7, 1996, the militants captured most of the city of Grozny for a day. According to unspecified data, they were led by Shamil Basayev. The RIA-Novosti agency published rumors that on March 4, Basayev's militants broke through the encirclement near the village of Bamut and headed for the area of the Khankala military airport on the outskirts of Grozny "allegedly in order to capture Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, who had arrived there."
At the end of April 1996, after the death of Dzhokhar Dudayev, Shamil Basayev, at a meeting of field commanders, was elected commander of the combat formations of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, instead of Aslan Maskhadov. Prior to that, Shamil served as commander of the reconnaissance and sabotage battalion (RDB) of the Armed Forces of Chechnya-Ichkeria.
In the spring and summer of 1996, Shamil Basayev did not participate in Russian-Chechen negotiations. Russian President Boris Yeltsin spoke out against his presence (radio station Ekho Moskvy, May 31, 1996). Shamil Basayev repeatedly refused to stop hostilities against the federal forces.
In June 1996, Basayev's militants arrived in Abkhazia for rest and treatment. The prosecutor's office of the autonomous republic, which left the conflict zone in September 1993 and has been operating in Tbilisi ever since, issued a warrant for the arrest of Shamil Basayev. A criminal case against Basayev was initiated in 1994. According to the General Prosecutor's Office of Georgia, after the fall of the city of Gagra on November 2, 1992, Shamil Basayev and his associates committed a number of grave crimes in the areas they occupied.
In November 1996, Shamil Basayev refused the post of Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya offered to him in the coalition government of the republic. He wished to remain in the position of commander of the central front, at the same time heading the customs committee.
In November 1996, Shamil Basayev announced his intention to put forward his candidacy for the presidency of Chechnya in the January 1997 elections.
In December 1996, in accordance with the election law, he left the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in order to have the right to run for the presidency of Chechnya.
On January 27, 1997, in the presidential elections in the Chechen Republic, he took second place in the rating, gaining 23.5 percent of the vote and losing the election to Aslan Maskhadov.
Wounded 9 times, shell-shocked 7 times (data as of August 1996).
In September 1999, gangs led by Shamil Basayev and Chechen field commanders supporting him invaded the territory of Dagestan.
In February 2000, he was seriously wounded when he hit a mine while trying to leave Grozny.
In May 2000, information appeared that Basayev had died.
It turned out that Basayev was alive, but in serious condition - his leg was amputated.
In this regard, there were reports in the media that Basayev wants to negotiate with the federals, because. he is sure that he can still be treated abroad, but the “commander” can no longer get out of Chechnya.
In October 2000, he announced his readiness to send 150 of his "fighters" to the Middle East (according to him, another 1,500 Chechen fighters are ready to join the "holy war for the liberation of Jerusalem").
In December 2000, Shamil Basayev's brother, Shirvani, was killed in the past, the commandant of Bamut, and in Maskhadov's government, the head of the Chechen State Committee for Fuel and Energy.
In March 2001, in connection with the kidnapping of the American Kenneth Gluck, Basayev said that it was the "amateur activity" of some Mujahideen, and asked Gluck "not to give anyone any information that could harm your unwitting kidnappers."
According to the regional headquarters for the Chechen operation, Basayev is currently (May 2001) based in the village of Duisi, Akhmeta region of the Republic of Georgia.
The Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia put him on the federal wanted list, wanted by Interpol.
Hobbies, hobbies, tastes, style, image
Dreams of eventually becoming a beekeeper.
When I was young, I wanted to be an investigator.
Three times he entered the law faculty of Moscow State University - he did not pass through the competition.
Third party ratings, characteristics
Basayev in July 1998 was appointed Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic. Basayev's appointment to the post, which, given the situation in Chechnya, is quite comparable in importance to the prime minister's, can hardly be considered an accident. Gudermes events, Maskhadov declared war on Wahhabism, dissolution of certain military formations, as well as the President's promised ban on the activities of radical movements and the media once again confirmed that Chechnya is split into two opposing camps. In this situation, Maskhadov is in dire need of the support of former comrades-in-arms, especially those like Basayev. The Congress of the Peoples of Chechnya and Dagestan, headed by Basayev, has at its disposal a so-called "peacekeeping battalion" under the command of Khattab, which has more than two hundred well-trained fighters. By the way, Basayev refuted the assumptions about any disagreements between him and the president. If they were, then Basayev, in his words, "under no circumstances would go to the service of Maskhadov." .(Kommersant, 1998)
In 1998, the Chechen Football Federation was headed by Shamil Basayev. He even played for Terek himself and, as they say, not bad. But the wounded leg did not allow Shamil Basayev to be on the field for more than half an hour. On his behalf, children's tournaments were also held in Chechnya. Khattab also came to the children, always with rich gifts - hours, sportswear, computers. "Basayev never refused to help footballers, no matter what they asked for," says Lom-Ali Ibragimov, president of the Chechen Football Federation. ("Kommersant", 2000)
"Selskaya Zhizn" (December 5, 1995): "Like Figaro, Basayev is here, Basayev is there, distributing interviews like cigarettes. And it seems that those who, on duty, were obliged to quickly handcuff the bandit, do not notice him. So doubts arise. brandishing nuclear-filled containers.<...>The benevolent, sometimes apologetic tone of the questions asked in the interview is directly touching. About the health of the "hero" of Chechnya, about youth and unfulfilled dreams. The thirty-year-old militant, apparently, is captivated by this sheep's bleating, a comradely appeal to "you."
Izvestia (April 25, 1996): "Shamil Basayev is one of the brightest and at the same time odious figures among the leaders of the Chechen resistance movement."
Viktor Ilyukhin: "Basayev is quite capable of subduing militant groups, putting them under his tight control and leading the resistance, which threatens to turn the conflict into a" sluggish civil, guerrilla war("PostFactum", April 30, 1996).
Minister of Information of Ichkeria Movladi Udugov: "Shamil Basayev has never been at the top. He is not a fool. But he has always been the secret spring of all our affairs" ("Rossiyskaya Gazeta", May 23, 1996).
Permanent contacts, relationships, connections
mass media
The Ukrainian nationalist newspaper "Cherkaska zona", an organ of the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA), put Basayev's name on the list of members of the editorial board.
Journalist Yelena Masyuk (NTV television company) repeatedly interviewed Shamil Basayev and his associates. The Prosecutor General's Office initiated a criminal case against her on the fact of non-information.
Personal
Konstantin Borovoy, in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta (April 20, 1996), said that in 1985, as an assistant professor at the Moscow Institute of Land Management Engineers, he lectured on applied mathematics and "sometimes gave two marks" to Shamil Basaev in exams.
Political views, position
According to Shamil Basayev in 1992, "Russia was interested in the escalation of the Abkhaz-Georgian conflict into a war in order to bring both sides to their knees" ("Today", February 1, 1994).
To the question of the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" (January 31, 1996) why he did not participate in the attacks of militants on Kizlyar and Pervomaisky, Shamil Basayev replied: "I still have brains in place. Do we have little to do in Chechnya? sovereign state, like Dagestan, or, even more so, the Accident. But there are our neighbors, fellow believers. Raduev conceived the operation, but did not think it through.
When asked about his successes in battles with Russian generals who had two or three higher specialized educations, Basayev answered as follows: "They went through a certain school, and this, in my opinion, is their trouble. It lies in the fact that they were taught from the school to conduct full-scale wars, when their units have everything in abundance. If tanks and planes do not help, then, according to textbooks, they can send an atomic bomb. They are brought up on this." ("Nezavisimaya Gazeta", March 12, 1996).
He supported Dzhokhar Dudayev: "He is our president, and the people elected him. By the way, I did not vote for him. At that moment I did not vote for anyone at all. But I support Dudayev" ("Nezavisimaya Gazeta", March 12, 1996). However, in another interview, Basayev claimed that he did not obey Dudayev: "Who is Dudayev?! I obey only Allah alone!" ("Izvestia", April 25, 1996).
He believes that the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya is not enough to end the war: "Russia must pay us compensation for the damage caused." He advocates the secession of all the North Caucasian republics from Russia, and the creation of a single mountain state (Izvestia, April 25, 1996).
Shamil Basayev was born on January 14, 1965. A native of the teip "Yalkhoroy", a native of the village of Dyshni-Vedeno, Vedeno district of the Chechen Republic of the Chechen Republic, a Chechen, lived at the place of birth, has a secondary education, is married, has a daughter.
Wife is a native of Abkhazia. The wife's father is the ensign of the aviation unit in the city of Gudauta (Abkhazia) Dzheniya Yuri Kukunovich. Basayev married his daughter Anzhela in 1993 and took her to Chechnya. (According to other sources, after the war in Abkhazia, he married 17-year-old Indira Dzheniya from the village of Mgundzrykhva, Gudauta region of Abkhazia). Basayev confirmed the existence of the family in Abkhazia in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda on July 15, 1995.
Parents live in the village of Vedeno. Basayev has three brothers. One died during the shelling of Vedeno in early 1995, the elder brother, Shirvani Basayev, was a militant, was the commandant of the village of Bamut.
He was wounded several times, shell-shocked several times, and there were several reports of his death. Suffering from diabetes. By nature, balanced, calm, cautious. The military operations carried out by him were distinguished by audacity. Doesn't smoke, doesn't drink alcohol. A military strategist and tactician unsurpassed in Chechnya. Likes to brag about his knowledge of technology and weapons. Extremely cunning.
He is trying to become famous for his good knowledge of religious dogma. Strives to show himself as a visionary. Likes to flaunt in front of women. In relation to Russia, we are irreconcilable. IN Lately all his statements and speeches are aimed at self-promotion in terms of attributing all the merits to himself personally.
Until 1970 he lived in the village of Dyshne-Vedeno, then in the village of Yermolovskaya, Chechnya. Since 1983 he has worked as a laborer.
Three times he entered the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University, but did not pass according to the results of competitive exams.
Since 1986 he lived in Moscow, where in 1987 he entered the Moscow Institute of Land Management Engineers. His classes in computer technology were taught by teacher Konstantin Borovoy. He went in for sports, had the 1st category in football. In 1988 he was expelled from the institute for academic failure. Was engaged in commerce. Having owed a large sum of money to businessmen, including Chechens, he returned to Chechnya.
From 1989 to 1991 he studied in Istanbul at the Islamic Institute.
August 19-21, 1991 participated in the defense of the White House. In an interview with the Moskovskaya Pravda newspaper on January 27, 1996, he said: “I knew that if the GKChP won, it would be possible to put an end to the independence of Chechnya ...”
Shamil Basayev's group was founded in June-July 1991 under the name "Vedeno" to protect the buildings where the congresses of the Confederation of the Peoples of the Caucasus and the National Congress of the Chechen People were held. The group included residents of the villages of Benoy, Vedeno, Dyshne Vedeno, Bamut and other mountain villages.
Active participant in the events of the "Chechen revolution" of August-November 1991. On October 5, 1991, he took part in the capture of the building of the KGB of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR as part of the special forces of Ruslan Shamaev.
In November 1991, in protest against the imposition of a state of emergency in Checheno-Ingushetia, together with Said-Ali Satuev and Lom-Ali Chachaev (the latter, according to some reports, took part in a terrorist action in the city of Budennovsk), he hijacked an airplane from Mineralnye Vody airport to Turkey, for which he received recognition from the leadership of OKCHN. Basayev forced the pilots to fly to Turkey, where the terrorists surrendered to the local authorities and, after negotiations, managed to be transported to Chechnya in exchange for the release of the hostages.
In the fall of 1991, simultaneously with D. Dudayev, he put forward his candidacy for the presidency of Chechnya. After Dudayev came to power, he created a sabotage and reconnaissance group based in the 12th town of Grozny. The group was created to protect "the freedom and interests of the CRI and its president."
At the end of 1991 - beginning of 1992. Basayev took part in the battles in Karabakh on the side of Azerbaijan.
From April to July 1994, according to his own statement, he was in Afghanistan, in the province of Khost, where, together with one of his groups, he was trained: “The training took place at my expense. I then sold weapons, borrowed from friends and went. Until now, by the way, I owe 3,500 dollars for this trip” (“Nezavisimaya Gazeta”, March 12, 1996). In an interview with the Izvestiya newspaper (April 25, 1996), Basayev reported that during 1992-1994 he traveled three times with his "Abkhazian battalion to the camps of the Afghan Mujahideen, where he learned the tactics of guerrilla warfare."
In the summer of 1994, he entered into hostilities against the opposition on the side of Dudayev. In July, in Grozny, the "Abkhaz battalion" fought with Labazanov's group. Basayev's formation also played a role during the unsuccessful attempt to storm Grozny by the opposition. Basayev was considered one of the closest associates of the Chechen president. The personnel of the "Abkhazian battalion" guarded Dudayev.
By the beginning of hostilities with the federal troops, there were about 2 thousand people under the command of Sh. Basayev. After the defeat in Vedeno, 200-300 people remained in the battalion. On June 3, 1995, the house of Basayev's uncle Khasmagomed Basayev was destroyed by a missile and bomb attack, as a result of which 12 relatives of Sh. Basayev were killed, including his sister, Zinaida, born in 1964. and seven children.
On June 14, 1995, Basayev, at the head of a detachment of up to 200 people, began a terrorist action in Budennovsk, Stavropol Territory, with hostage-taking and heavy casualties among the civilian population. According to many sources, the terrorist act in Budyonnovsk was an act of revenge for the death of persons close to him. He announced the details of the operation a few hours before it began. The route of the bandit group's movement allegedly ran through the Vedensky district of Novogroznensky, the territory of Dagestan, the Stavropol Territory.
According to Basayev, he personally selected and trained militants for the operation in Budennovsk: “My trip to Budennovsk cost about twenty-five thousand dollars. True, most of it was spent on the purchase of KAMAZ trucks and a Zhiguli car - fifteen thousand dollars. And on the way they handed out eight or nine thousand. When we captured the hospital, all the authorities were at a loss. They say on TV that negotiations are underway, money is being offered, but in reality none of this happened. They were at a loss for two days, they were even afraid to send someone, only a day later they came to their senses, and for the first time a Chechen from the city came to us. At first I was surprised when Chernomyrdin called me. But already by the fact that he asked me not to succumb to provocations, not to respond to them with fire, I realized that he could not control the situation. Prime Minister, and he did not have much power. Dudayev did not know about the operation. At that moment I did not have contact with him for the second month. Yes, even if it was, then I would not dedicate it to such subtleties. This is my rule” (“Nezavisimaya Gazeta”).
According to other sources, after the operation in Budennovsk, the entire personnel of Basayev's armed formation was presented by Dudayev to the title of "Hero of Chechnya". Three of Basayev's deputies received the Order of Honor of the Nation. And Basayev himself was reprimanded for not fulfilling the assigned combat mission: Budyonnovsk was not the ultimate goal of the operation. (“Nezavisimaya Gazeta”, March 12, 1996).
Basayev's gang enjoyed the greatest prestige among illegal armed formations, and he himself increasingly became a "rallying factor of personality." After the event in Budennovsk, Basayev became national hero Chechnya, his authority in the eyes of the Chechens has grown significantly.
The detachment of militants he led had significant material resources, including infantry fighting vehicles, Grad installations, Strela and Stinger MANPADS.
In the summer-autumn of 1995, Basayev repeatedly threatened the Russian government with new terrorist acts (including the use of radioactive substances) on the territory of the Russian Federation if hostilities were not stopped and negotiations were curtailed.
On July 21, 1995, "for special services to the Fatherland, shown courage, selflessness in repelling Russian aggression" by order of Dudaev, he was awarded the rank of brigadier general (early).
In early October 1995, Basayev's detachment of 300 people camped in the forests near the village of Chapaev, Novlaksky district of Dagestan. The head of the district administration asked the militants to leave the territory of the district. To this, Basayev said that this was Chechen land (before the deportation of 1944, Chechens lived on the territory of the present Novolaksky district) and he would stay there as long as he wanted.
In October 1995, Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for the shelling of the Russian armored group of the 506th motorized rifle brigade, which killed 18 people. But the next day Aslan Maskhadov denied this report. Shirvani Basayev also stated that he was not involved in this attack, saying that at the time of the attack he was at the location of the 506th motorized rifle brigade and, on the contrary, suggested that its commander organize a joint rebuff to the attackers.
He is one of the most radical supporters of Chechen independence in the separatist leadership. On July 19, 1995, in an interview, he said that if the population of the republic voted in favor of joining the Russian Federation during a referendum, he "would not accept and would continue to fight."
In December 1995, he was one of the leaders of the assault on Grozny.
In November 1996, Basayev refused the post of Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya offered to him in the coalition government of the republic. He wished to remain in the position of commander of the central front, at the same time heading the customs committee. Since September 1996 - Chairman of the Customs Committee, in the coalition government of the CRI formed by Yandarbiev.
During the 1996 presidential election, Basayev again put forward his candidacy for the presidency of Chechnya. Using significant influence among the Chechens, he was a real competitor to A. Maskhadov and Z. Yandarbiev. In the presidential elections on January 27, 1997, CRI received 23.7% of the votes (other candidates - A. Maskhadov - 59.7%, Z. Yandarbiev - 10.2%). In the elections, he ran in tandem with Vakha Ibragimov (Yandarbiev's adviser on foreign policy issues).
On the 20th of February 1997, at the founding congress of the Party of Freedom of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (PS CRI), Shamil Basayev was elected its honorary chairman.
In its first special statement, Sh. Basayev's party condemned R. Kutaev (Party of National Independence) for inviting V. Chernomyrdin, A. Galazov (RSO-A), V. Kokov (KBR) to the celebration on the occasion of the inauguration of A. Maskhadov, who are accused of involvement in "unleashing a war against the Chechen people."
Sh. Basayev believes that the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya is not enough to end the war: "Russia must pay us compensation for the damage." He advocates secession from Russia of all the North Caucasian republics and the creation of a single mountain state. (“Izvestia”, April 25, 1996).
According to experts, under the command of Shamil Basayev and his allies are more than half of both active and potential Chechen fighters. In late 1996 - early 1997, in connection with the development of the peace process, he begins to lose support among the militants subordinate to him, who can do nothing but fight. His increased contacts with representatives of Osam bin Laden, a Saudi multimillionaire who financed dozens of terrorist attacks by Islamist militants in Afghanistan, Yemen, Egypt and France, were noted.
Basayev is looking for any pretext to accuse the CRI President Maskhadov of neglecting Chechen national interests.
Since April 1977 - First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the CRI (Industrial Block) and in the absence of the Prime Minister, whose duties are performed by the President of the CRI, had to replace him.
Movladi Udugov in an interview " Russian newspaper On May 23, 1996, he said: “Shamil Basayev has never been upstairs. He's not a fool. But he has always been the secret spring of all our affairs.
The Ukrainian nationalist newspaper Cherkaska Zona, an organ of the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA), put Basaev's name on the list of members of the editorial board.
Since the beginning of 1997, Sh. Basayev's "serious health problems have been exacerbated." On July 10, 1997, he resigned from the post of First Deputy Chairman of the CRI Government "for health reasons."
He considers himself a true Muslim: he respects Sharia law, performs namaz (prayer) five times a day, and does not consume alcohol. Writes poetry in Russian and Chechen. Candidate for master of sports in all-around and chess. He considers Che Guevara, Garibaldi, Charles de Gaulle, F. Roosevelt his idols.
On July 3, 1998, he submitted to Maskhadov a letter of resignation from the post of prime minister. The reason for the resignation of the government was the failure of the cabinet of ministers in the implementation of the program of economic reforms, but it is possible that one of the reasons was disagreement with the personnel policy of Maskhadov (in June 1998, instead of several ministers represented by Basayev, other persons were appointed) and the harsh actions of the authorities to disarm opposition formations.
On July 4, 1998, together with Khattab, he conducted demonstration exercises of the Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade (a military unit of the KNID).
In 1999, together with Khattab and a number of commanders opposed to the CRI government, he formed the Supreme Military Majlisul Shura (VVMSH) and was elected its leader (amir).
In the interwar period, he became close to the Wahhabis. Publicly spoke about the possibility of using weapons against Russia mass destruction, called for the creation of a "caliphate" from the Caspian to the Black Sea. In an interview with the BBC in 1998, he stated: “Personally, I would not want Russia to recognize the independence of Chechnya today, because if this happens, then we will have to recognize Russia - that is, the colonial empire - within its current borders. I would not like to confirm their right to govern Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria or Tataria.”
In August and September 1999, together with Khattab, he led the Islamic peacekeeping brigade and the united detachments of field commanders during raids on the territory of Dagestan.
In late 1999 - early 2000, together with Aslan Maskhadov, he led the defense of Grozny. In early February 2000, he commanded the withdrawal of the main forces of militants from Grozny. At the same time, the militants suffered heavy losses, and Basayev himself was blown up by a mine and was seriously injured in his right leg, which later had to be amputated in military field conditions. Despite being wounded, he continued to carry out military leadership of the actions of the militants. According to federal forces, until the spring of 2001, Basayev's base was located in the village of Duisi in the Akhmeta region of Georgia.
In the middle of the summer of 2002, together with Maskhadov, he organized the Great Majlis (conference) in the mountains of Chechnya, which brought together a large number of field commanders. The Majlis adopted amendments to the constitution of the CRI, approved in 1992. Also formed State Committee defense - Majlisul Shura CRI, which was integrated led by Basayev VVMSh. Basayev took the post of head of the military committee of the GKO-Majlisul Shura.
In the early autumn of 2002, he formed the Riyadus-Salihiin sabotage and terrorist detachment. After Movsar Baraev's group carried out a mass hostage-taking in Moscow, he resigned from all his posts in the official leadership of the CRI and called on the Chechen people to rally around Maskhadov. As journalists noted, in the course of hostilities in Chechnya, and especially after the death of Khattab in 2002, Basayev became closer to Maskhadov, Basayev became more loyal to the president of the CRI. He was the only Chechen in Majlisul Shura, who was responsible for distributing finances between militant groups (all the rest were Arabs). Financial issues became one of the reasons for the disagreement between Basayev and Maskhadov - the first had independent sources, and the second faced a serious lack of funds when a number of Western countries blocked the financial flows of terrorists after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Since 2003, often moved around the territory North Caucasus, most of the time, presumably, spent outside Chechnya. From July to the end of August 2003, with his wife Maryam and two guards (one of whom, Khamid Basaev, was Basaev's nephew), he lived in a private household in the town of Baksan in Kabardino-Balkaria. At the end of August, the special services received information about Basayev's whereabouts, and on the night of August 24, special units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB surrounded the house and attempted an assault. But Basayev and his wife, one of the guards and a guest managed to break out of the encirclement with a fight (Basayev himself was wounded in the leg). Khamid Basayev was seriously wounded and remained in the house. When a policeman approached him, he blew himself up with a grenade.
On August 23, 2005, by decree of the President of the CRI, Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev, he was appointed Vice-Premier of the CRI (curator of the power bloc). He was also appointed head of the military committee of the GKO-Majlisul Shura (“military amir of the Mujahideen of Ichkeria”).
On July 10, 2006, on the Kavkaz Center terrorist website, with reference to the so-called Military Committee of Ichkeria, a message appeared that Shamil Basayev had died in the village of Ekazhevo, Nazran District of Ingushetia, as a result of an accidental spontaneous explosion of a truck with explosives. According to the Military Committee of the separatists, no special operation was carried out against Basayev.
According to the official version, which subsequently received numerous confirmations, Basayev's elimination was the result of a special operation carried out by Russian special services during preparations for a terrorist act in Ingushetia by militants led by Basayev. According to the same version, the FSB special operation, which resulted in the elimination of Basayev and other militants, was prepared ahead of time, even at the stage of manufacturing weapons sold to the militants.
Reports of the death of Shamil Basayev, as in the case of many other militant leaders, appeared repeatedly (the first time back in 1995). In particular, messages appeared in May 2000, February 3, 2005, October 13, 2005.
Shamil Basayev was liquidated on the night of July 10, 2006 in the area with. Ekazhevo (Nazranovsky district of Ingushetia) as a result of the explosion of the KamAZ truck accompanied by it with weapons and ammunition. According to one version, the truck was intended to blow up the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia. Together with Basayev, the commander of the Ingush sector of the Caucasian Front, Isa Kushtov, and three more Ingush militants (Tarkhan Ganizhev, Mustafa Tagirov and Salambek Umadov), as well as the owner of the sector, Alikhan Tsechoev, died.
A few hours after the Ingush police discovered and inspected the explosion site, FSB director Nikolai Patrushev officially announced that Basayev, along with other militants, had been killed as a result of a secret special operation, and linked the planned explosion to the upcoming G8 summit.
The blown up truck was transporting a large number of unguided rockets, grenade launchers and cartridges of various calibers. Based on this, a version arose in the press that some special explosive device was added to the batch of weapons during transportation by FSB agents, which detonated at a certain moment.
Representatives of Chechen fighters claim that the detonation of ammunition occurred involuntarily, due to careless handling of weapons or for some other reason. This version was also confirmed by officers of the FSB of Ingushetia, who were the first to examine the site of the explosion.
Basayev's body was finally identified only six months later, after a molecular genetic examination.
Act of terrorism
On June 14, 1995, together with Aslanbek Abdulkhadzhiev and Aslanbek Ismailov, he organized and led a raid by a gang of 200 militants on Russian territory, during which they captured the city of Budyonnovsk in the Stavropol Territory. When large forces of the Russian army approached the city, the militants took about 1,500 local residents hostage, fortified themselves in the city hospital and demanded an end to hostilities in Chechnya and the start of negotiations between the Russian government and Dzhokhar Dudayev. On June 17, special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB made several unsuccessful attempts to storm the hospital. On June 18, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Viktor Chernomyrdin personally held talks with Basayev, during which he partially agreed to the conditions of the militants.
On June 19, Basayev's detachment freed most of the hostages and returned by bus to the mountainous part of Chechnya. More than 130 local residents died during the attack. According to Basayev, the militants planned to reach Moscow, but were forced to start hostilities in Budyonnovsk due to the discovery of them by local traffic police.
Kidnapping January 9, 2001 American Kenneth Gluck, representative of the humanitarian mission "Doctors Without Borders" in Chechnya. On January 27, Basayev wrote a letter to Gluk apologizing for the kidnapping, claiming that it was "an amateur activity by some of our Mujahideen" who considered Gluk a spy. On February 3, Gluck was released. It was assumed that he was kidnapped by militants from the detachment of field commander Rizvan Akhmadov.
Hostage-taking at the theater center on Dubrovka in Moscow on October 23, 2002, in which 129 hostages died. Basayev, in a special statement, took responsibility for organizing the seizure. He later made another statement regarding this, in which he claimed that the group was supposed to take over the buildings. State Duma and the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.
The explosion of a truck with explosives near the Government House in Grozny on December 27, 2002, as a result of which 72 people were killed (employees of the Chechen government and military personnel), and the building itself collapsed. On February 10, 2003, Basayev claimed responsibility for the explosion on behalf of the Riyadus-Salihiin detachment, and on February 24, in a separate statement, he gave details of the attack and provided a video of the explosion of the building. According to Basayev, the truck was driven by a Chechen family (father, daughter and son), part of which died during the fighting.
A series of terrorist attacks using suicide bombers in 2003 - July 5 at the rock festival "Wings" in Tushino (Moscow), December 5 in the train in Essentuki, December 9 near the National Hotel (Moscow). Basayev took responsibility for all these attacks on behalf of the Amir (commander) of the Riyadus-Salihiin detachment. But later it was established that all these explosions were carried out by the autonomous group "Jamaat of the Mujahideen of Karachay."
The explosion on May 9, 2004 at the Dynamo stadium in Grozny, as a result of which the President of the Chechen Republic Akhmat Kadyrov and the Chairman of the State Council of the Chechen Republic Khusein Isaev were killed, and the commander of the Joint Group of Forces in the North Caucasus, Colonel-General Valery Baranov, was seriously wounded (his leg was torn off). On May 16, Basayev claimed responsibility for this explosion. On June 15, 2006, the Kavkaz Center website posted a video about Basayev's meeting with Dokka Umarov, during which Basayev confirmed his involvement in the assassination attempt on Kadyrov. According to this statement, the perpetrators of the explosion were paid $50,000.
In September 2004, Basayev, on behalf of Riyadus-Salihiin, claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks in Moscow - an explosion on Kashirskoye Highway on August 24 and a suicide bombing near the entrance to the Rizhskaya metro station on August 31. Later it was established that these and some other attacks were committed by the autonomous group "Jamaat of the Mujahideen of Karachay".
Explosions of two Russian passenger liners Tu-134 on August 24, 2004. According to Basayev, the terrorists he sent did not blow up the planes, but only captured them. In an interview with Andrei Babitsky, Basayev claimed that the planes were shot down by Russian air defense missiles, as the Russian leadership feared that the planes would be directed at some objects in Moscow or St. Petersburg (similar to the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States).
Capture of School No. 1 in Beslan ( North Ossetia) September 1-3, 2004, as a result of which more than 330 hostages died (of which 182 were children). Basayev claimed responsibility for organizing this attack in a statement released two weeks after the capture. He later made another statement about this.
Major military operations
The assault on the city of Grozny by Chechen fighters on August 6, 1996. Basayev was one of the organizers of the operation and personally commanded the main forces of the militants. After three weeks of continuous fighting, the Russian government came to an agreement with the separatists and soon began the withdrawal of troops from Chechnya.
Incursions of militants into the territory of Dagestan in August-September 1999. Basayev led the united militant detachments together with Khattab and, according to him, personally conducted preliminary reconnaissance activities.
On February 23, 2004, Basayev reported that on February 18, saboteurs from the Riyadus-Salihiin detachment in the vicinity of Moscow blew up 60 grenade launchers and a certain amount of plastite, with the help of which two main gas pipelines were put out of action (one of them - in the Ramensky district of the Moscow region) and the Moscow water heating power plant. Three high-voltage power transmission lines that fed the water heating station were also blown up. According to Basayev, the purpose of the operation was to disable the heating system in Moscow and thereby cause freezing of communications.
The Russian leadership, according to Basayev, managed to avoid freezing of the system by sending gas to Moscow during the repair work, which was intended for supplies to other countries (in particular, the interruption in gas supplies to Belarus was 4 days). On April 8, a video recording of the preparation of militants to carry out explosions was presented. As a result of damage to the gas pipeline, the gas supply to individual houses of nearby villages, towns and villages was temporarily interrupted. Nikolai Tulaev, a member of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Security, said that Basaev's statement was "propaganda hype."
On March 15, 2004, several power transmission towers were blown up in the Moscow region.
As a result of the explosions, three power transmission towers collapsed, and cumulative charges from shots to an underbarrel grenade launcher were found near the fourth tower. A representative of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of the Moscow Region stated that the explosions of power transmission towers were carried out by the same group that had blown up the gas pipeline on February 18.
On the night of June 22, 2004, militants led by Basayev raided Ingushetia, capturing or blocking a number of large administrative and military facilities in Ingushetia for several hours. According to official figures, 97 people were killed in the attack, including 28 civilians. The losses of the militants amounted, according to them, to 6 people killed and several wounded (in total, 570 members of local and Chechen armed groups were involved in the operation). On July 26, a video was circulated showing Basayev in the warehouse of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia on the night of the attack.
On May 27, 2005, Basayev stated that the power outage in Moscow, the Moscow Region and some other regions was the result of explosions carried out on May 24-25 by a special sabotage group of militants. On May 28, Basayev stated that the burned-out Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater was also set on fire by a sabotage group, which "has been tasked with destroying economic, political, administrative, cultural and propaganda centers in the cities of Rusnya and especially in Moscow." Representatives of the Russian authorities have always denied Basayev's involvement in the energy crisis and the theater fire.
The attack on the city of Nalchik (Kabardino-Balkaria) on October 13, 2005, as a result of which, according to official data, 12 civilians and 26 law enforcement officers were killed. In total, over 100 militants attacked the city. Of these, approximately 70 were killed, 27 were arrested. Later, a video recording of a meeting of militant commanders that took place on the eve of the attack on Nalchik was distributed. In August 2007, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Russia for the Southern Federal District officially announced that Basayev was one of the leaders of the attack.
Shamil Basayev was awarded the highest awards of the self-proclaimed CRI: "Kyoman Siy" (Chech. "Honor of the Nation") and "Kyoman Turpal" (Chech. "Hero of the Nation"). He was posthumously awarded the title of "Generalissimo" by Dokku Umarov, the president of the self-proclaimed "Chechen Republic of Ichkeria".
Until 1970 he lived in the village of Dyshne-Vedeno, then in the village of Yermolovskaya, Chechnya. Since 1983 he has worked as a laborer.
From 1989 to 1991 he studied in Istanbul at the Islamic Institute.
Shamil Basayev's group was founded in June-July 1991 under the name "Vedeno" to protect the buildings where the congresses of the Confederation of the Peoples of the Caucasus and the National Congress of the Chechen People were held. The group included residents of the villages of Benoy, Vedeno, Dyshne Vedeno, Bamut and other mountain villages.
In the summer of 1994, Basayev entered into hostilities against the opposition on the side of Dudayev. In July, in Grozny, the "Abkhaz battalion" fought with Labazanov's group. Basayev's formation also played a role during the unsuccessful attempt to storm Grozny by the opposition. Basayev was considered one of the closest associates of the Chechen president. The personnel of the "Abkhazian battalion" guarded Dudayev.
By the beginning of hostilities with the federal troops, there were about 2 thousand people under the command of Sh. Basayev. After the defeat in Vedeno, 200-300 people remained in the battalion. On June 3, 1995, the house of Basayev's uncle Khasmagomed Basayev was destroyed by a missile and bomb attack, as a result of which 12 relatives of Sh. Basayev were killed, including his sister, Zinaida, born in 1964. and seven children.
The detachment of militants he led had significant material resources, including infantry fighting vehicles, Grad installations, Strela and Stinger MANPADS.
On July 21, 1995, "for special services to the Fatherland, shown courage, selflessness in repelling Russian aggression" by order of Dudaev, he was awarded the rank of brigadier general (early).
In early October 1995, Basayev's detachment of 300 people camped in the forests near the village of Chapaeve, Novlaksky district. The head of the district administration asked the militants to leave the territory of the district. To this, Basayev said that this was Chechen land (before the deportation of 1944, Chechens lived on the territory of the present Novolaksky district) and he would stay there as long as he wanted.
In December 1995 he was one of the leaders of the assault on Grozny.
On the 20th of February 1997, at the founding congress of the Party of Freedom of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (PS CRI), Shamil Basayev was elected its honorary chairman.
In its first special statement, Sh. Basayev's party condemned R. Kutaev (Party of National Independence) for inviting V. Chernomyrdin, A. Galazov (RSO-A), V. Kokov (KBR) to the celebration on the occasion of the inauguration of A. Maskhadov, who are accused of involvement in "unleashing a war against the Chechen people."
According to experts, under the command of Shamil Basayev and his allies there were more than half of both active and potential Chechen fighters. In late 1996 - early 1997, in connection with the development of the peace process, he begins to lose support among the militants subordinate to him, who can do nothing but fight.
Since April 1977 - First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the CRI (Industrial Block) and in the absence of the Prime Minister, whose duties are performed by the President of the CRI, had to replace him.
Since the beginning of 1997, Sh. Basayev's health problems have been aggravating. On July 10, 1997, he resigned from the post of First Deputy Chairman of the CRI Government "for health reasons."
On August 23, 2005, by decree of the President of the CRI, Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev, he was appointed Vice-Premier of the CRI (curator of the power bloc). He was also appointed head of the military committee of the GKO-Majlisul Shura (“military amir of the Mujahideen of Ichkeria”).
Reports of the death of Shamil Basayev, as in the case of many other militant leaders, appeared repeatedly (the first time back in 1995). In particular, the messages appeared in May 2000], February 3, 2005, October 13, 2005.
Personal
Eight times wounded, seven times shell-shocked. Suffered from diabetes. By nature, balanced, calm, cautious. The military operations carried out by him were distinguished by audacity.
Owned an oil refinery in Benoy. According to Sh. Basayev, it is known that in 1997 he earned 2 million US dollars, of which he gave 90%, and bought a house for the rest.
He considered himself a true Muslim: he respected Sharia law, performed namaz (prayer) five times a day. He wrote poetry in Russian and Chechen. Candidate for master of sports in all-around and chess. He considered Che Guevara, Garibaldi, Charles de Gaulle, F. Roosevelt to be his idols.
There are many rumors about Shamil Basayev regarding his life and work. Some of them confuse the origin of the field commander. According to one version, the fighter for the independence of Chechnya had Russian roots.
who "resurrected"
Shamil Basayev is perhaps the most famous leader of the Chechen fighters who participated in the war with the federal forces for the independence of the unrecognized Republic of Ichkeria. He became the only one of the Chechen field commanders who was awarded the title of Generalissimo (posthumously). As the organizer of resonant terrorist attacks on the territory of Russia, he was included in the lists of the most dangerous terrorists not only by the Russian government, but also by the UN, the US State Department and the European Union.
Despite the pathological hatred for everything Russian, which Basayev elevated to the rank of a life credo, many who knew the field commander personally call his ancestors the descendants of ethnic Russians who were accepted into “Chechenism”, or more precisely, into the Belgatoy teip - one of the largest Chechen teips, which is part of the Nokhchmakhkahoy tukhum.
It is curious that the legend about the origin of Belgatoy tells that the representatives of this teip died out in a not so distant time due to an outbreak of an epidemic, but then restored their numbers, largely due to newcomers. The legend is also confirmed by the etymology of the name: "bel" - "to die", "gatto" - "to resurrect".
Basayev's life seems to confirm the fate of his native teip: several times he was counted among the dead, and he miraculously "resurrected". However, according to other sources, Basayev's ancestors joined the Benoy teip.
With a "Russian tail"
Shamil Basayev was born on January 14, 1965 in the village of Dyshne-Vedeno on the banks of the Khulhulau River. It is noteworthy that Basayev was born in a place that does not indicate clan affiliation, like Benoy-Vedeno, but in a village named "nokhchiin orsash" - "Chechen Russians."
According to the writer Yuri Gavryuchenkov, this farm was once a settlement of Russian defectors, who in the 40s 19th century built defensive fortifications for the leader of the highlanders of the period of the Caucasian wars, Imam Shamil, as well as a residential building, in which he later settled. There is a hypothesis that one of Shamil Basayev's ancestors was a naib - an assistant and authorized representative of Imam Shamil.
The RIA Novosti agency, in an article dated October 13, 2005, citing its sources, writes that on the territory of Chechnya, the field commander Basayev had the nickname "Chechen with a Russian tail", which hinted at his roots. According to these data, the founder of the Basayev family was a Russian soldier who deserted from the army in the first half of the 19th century and went over to the side of the rebel highlanders.
Common surname
However, even if we assume that there were Russians in the Basayev family, then by the time of his birth there was not much Russian blood left. The surname Basaev is quite common not only among Chechens, but also, for example, among the Ingush and Ossetians. This gives some reasons to rank the field commander among other Caucasian peoples.
There is an opinion that Shamil Basayev was born from the marriage of a Chechen and an Avar, which gives rise to all sorts of speculation, including about the "purity of blood." For Caucasians, “purity of blood” is an important component of the pedigree, it largely depends on it, what fate will be prepared for the one who enters the life path mountaineer.
Magomed Khambiev, a former divisional general and defense minister of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, on the contrary, said that Basayev's father was an Avar. Considering that among all the peoples of the Caucasus, nationality is determined by the father, Basayev's nationality is obvious. However, Shamil Basayev himself put everything in its place in one of his interviews. The field commander stated that his father, Salman Basayev, and mother, Nura Basaeva, are Chechens by nationality.
Why is the Cossack here?
Despite Basayev's statement, many versions of his origin surfaced in the future. The most exotic one, who calls the mother of the future terrorist a native of the Cossack village, can be counted among them. However, it is possible that this version was confused with a persistent rumor that spread in 2005, according to which a Kuban Cossack became Basayev's third wife.
The marriage was allegedly concluded in one of the remote villages of the Kuban, where Basayev was recovering his health, and the celebrations themselves took place on St. Valentine's Day on February 14, 2005. The press even gave details: the bride, they say, is a hereditary Kuban Cossack, the sister of one "Russian Mujahideen." The list of guests present at the wedding was full of eminent and influential Muslim residents of Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia, Rostov Region, Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories.
Correspondent " Komsomolskaya Pravda» Alexander Kots tried to clarify this issue by contacting representatives of three Cossack organizations in Krasnodar. “This cannot be, this is a vile provocation, setting the task of disrupting holiday season", - assured the capital journalist.
A member of the Cossack Association, Mikhail Zarubin, according to Alexander Kots, convinced him that under no circumstances could a hereditary Cossack woman marry a Chechen terrorist. Such women are very rare today, they will not be able to marry not only a Muslim, but even a Russian groom from another region.