What nationality was Shamil Basayev? Shamil Basayev - biography

Shamil Salmanovich Basayev (1965-2006) - one of the most odious figures in post-Soviet history, one of the leaders of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI), a terrorist included in the lists of international terrorists of the UN, the US State Department and European Union, organizer of a number of high-profile terrorist attacks in Russian cities.

And at the same time, Shamil Basayev, as well as the majority of public and politicians modern Russia- a native of the USSR. And precisely with Soviet Union The upbringing, education and development of this person are connected. They even say that Basayev was a career GRU officer.

Origin

Shamil Basayev was born in the village of Dyshne-Vedeno, Vedeno district, Checheno-Ingush Republic. He graduated from school in 1982, after which he worked for four years as a laborer on a state farm in the Volgograd region. From 1983 to 1985 it took place conscript service in the army, in the airfield service fire brigade. Three times I tried to enter the law faculty of Moscow State University and failed three times.

Education

In 1987 he entered the Moscow Institute of Land Management Engineers, but was expelled a year later. According to some certificates - for academic failure, according to others - for chronic absenteeism. He did not return to his homeland, he worked in Moscow as a controller on a bus, as a watchman in a diner, and then at the Vostok-Alfa company as the head of the computer sales department. He went in for sports, achieved 1st category in football. There is information that from 1989 to 1991 he studied at the Islamic Institute in Istanbul.

Protecting the White House

During the putsch of the State Emergency Committee on August 19-21, 1991, Shamil Basayev was among those who defended the Government House of the RSFSR (“ The White house"). In his interview with the newspaper “Moskovskaya Pravda”, published in the issue of the newspaper on January 27, 1996, Basayev explained this impulse as follows: “I knew that if the State Emergency Committee wins, it will be possible to give up on the independence of Chechnya.” They say that Basayev supervised the creation of barricades near the White House and expressed his readiness to knock out all the tanks stationed near the Government House.

Soon after the defeat of the putschists, Basayev returned to his homeland. According to some reports, he was forced to flee Moscow because he owed a large sum of money here.

"Basayev's Janissaries"

Since the beginning of the 90s, Basayev has not missed a single conflict in the Caucasus. He fought on the side of Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani Colonel Azer Rustamov characterizes Basayev’s role in the battles of the summer of 1992 as follows: “the invaluable role of Basayev and Raduev.” According to his information, the number of Chechen volunteers in Karabakh was about 100 people. However, according to Armenian estimates, about 400 Chechens fought under Basayev. On July 3, 1992, in an operation in the village of Karmravan, this Chechen detachment was defeated, after which Basayev never returned to Karabakh.

In August 1992, Chechen volunteers under the command of Basayev went to the theater of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. Here they fought on the side of Abkhazia against Georgia. Here Basayev also showed himself well and was appointed commander of the Gagra Front, Deputy Minister of Defense of Abkhazia, and Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Abkhazia. For special services, Basayev was awarded the “Hero of Abkhazia” medal.

However, the activities of Shamil Basayev in that war were also of a very odious nature. Gennady Troshev in the book “My War. The Chechen Diary of a Trench General” wrote about Basayev’s activities in the vicinity of Gagra: “Basayev’s “janissaries” (and there were 5 thousand of them) were distinguished by senseless cruelty in that war. In the fall of 1993, in the vicinity of Gagra and the village of Leselidze, the “commander” himself personally led a punitive action to exterminate refugees. Several thousand Georgians were shot, hundreds of Armenian, Russian and Greek families were massacred. According to the stories of eyewitnesses who miraculously escaped, the bandits gladly recorded scenes of abuse and rape on videotape.”

Basayev - poet and chess player

And finally, to complete the portrait of this man, it’s worth mentioning one more thing. After Basayev was eliminated as a result of a complex special operation carried out by Russian special services, the archives of the separatist leader fell into the hands of the FSB. So, there, along with business papers and secret videos, a stack of chess magazines was kept Soviet period school certificate for chess success. Basayev valued this letter and these magazines so much that he carried them through all his wars. School teachers Shamil Basayev they say that he really was good boy and a student, and was interested not only in chess, but also in poetry. Yes, Shamil Basayev wrote poetry!

However, not only poetry, but also prose. Shamil Basayev is the author of a number of well-known open letters, including the “Letter to Putin.” These letters are certainly interesting, as documents of the era, but they are written in extremely mediocre language, in which Islamist vocabulary is mixed with post-Soviet “clericalism.”

Among the most famous literary works Basayev refers to “The Book of the Mujahid,” which is nothing more than a reworking of the very fashionable at one time “Kig of the Warrior of Light” by Paulo Coelho.

Basayev himself wrote in the preface to this work: “I had two free weeks when Paulo Coelho’s book “The Book of the Warrior of Light” and a computer were at hand at the same time. I wanted to extract benefit from this book for the Mujahideen, and so I rewrote most of it, removing some of the excesses, and strengthened it all with verses, hadiths and stories from the life of the ashabs.”

This book also contains poems by Shamil Basayev himself. Here is one of the samples: “One mujahid is a warrior in the field / Contrary to all Russian tales / And live and die free / Allah bless you!” The poems, in general, are so-so.

Is Basayev a GRU agent?

There are allegations that it was in 1991, when Russian officers began training the Chechen detachment for the war against Georgia, that Basayev began working in the interests of the GRU. Then the militants were assigned military ranks, and Basayev himself became a senior lieutenant. Such statements were made former officer special forces "B" FSK K. Nikitin, former boss Center public relations FSB A. Mikhailov, Chairman of the People's Assembly of Chechnya Duk-Vakha Abdurakhmanov, as well as Ruslan Aushev and Alexander Lebed, retired KGB Major General Yu. I. Drozdov. The same point of view was voiced by television journalist Andrei Karaulov and his guests in the program “Moment of Truth” dated March 14, 2016.

However, Basayev himself, in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta, published on March 12, 1996, denied this information. He claimed that the Chechens did not study at the GRU base because they were not accepted there. Subsequently, Chechen separatists have repeatedly asserted that Basayev’s cooperation with the Russian special services is a myth, invented to discredit the hero of Chechnya in the eyes of his comrades.

Basaev Shamil Salmanovich

Field commander during the First Chechen War and leader of the assault on Grozny (August 1996), organizer of terrorist attacks and hostage-taking in Budennovsk, Stavropol Territory (1995), theater center on Dubrovka in Moscow (2002), school in Beslan (2004, North Ossetia), leader of the militant invasion of Dagestan (1999), which marked the beginning of the Second Chechen War, and the attack on Nalchik (October 2005, Kabardino-Balkaria).

Biography

Born on January 14, 1965 in the village of Dyshne-Vedeno, Vedeno district, Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Father and mother are Chechens. Belongs to the Belgatoy teip, an influential group in Chechnya. (There is information that one of Shamil Basayev’s ancestors was the naib (assistant, authorized) of Imam Shamil). He lived at his place of birth until 1970, then in the village of Ermolovskaya of the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

In 1982, Sh. Basayev graduated high school. Since 1983 he worked as a laborer. Three times he unsuccessfully entered the Faculty of Law of Moscow state university(MSU). Passed valid military service V Air Force THE USSR. Since 1986, he lived in Moscow, where in 1987 he entered the Moscow Institute of Land Management Engineers (Shamil Basaev’s computer classes were taught by teacher Konstantin Borovoy), but in 1988 he was expelled from the 2nd year for poor academic performance. He went in for sports, had a 1st category in football. Until 1991, he worked in Moscow, in a trade and intermediary LLP (one of the so-called “Chechen cooperatives”). Having owed a large sum of money, he returned to Chechnya.

Activities in Chechnya and beyond

At the beginning of 1991, he returned to Chechnya and joined the troops of the Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus (CNK). Since 1991, he independently studied the theory of military affairs “using Russian textbooks.” In an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta (March 12, 1996), he talked 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 Chechnya go just like that, that freedom is an expensive thing and it must be paid for in blood. Therefore, we prepared intensively."

Shamil Basayev's group called "Vedeno" was founded in June-July 1991 to protect the buildings where the congresses of the KNK and the National Congress of the Chechen People (OCCHN) were held. The group included residents of the villages of Benoy, Vedeno, Dyshne-Vedeno, Bamut and other mountain villages.

In August 1991, in Basayev’s own words, he took part in the defense of the White House: “I knew that if the Emergency Committee won, the independence of Chechnya could be put to rest...”.

Basayev was an active participant in the events of the “Chechen revolution” of August-November 1991 (in particular, on October 5, 1991, he took part in the seizure of the KGB building of the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as part of Ruslan Shamayev’s special unit).

In October 1991, during the presidential elections in Chechnya, Shamil Basayev emerged as a rival to Dzhokhar Dudayev as one of the candidates for the post of president of the republic.

On November 9, 1991, as a sign of protest against the introduction of a state of emergency in Checheno-Ingushetia, together with Said-Ali Satuev and Lom-Ali Chachaev (the latter, according to some sources, took part in a terrorist attack in the city of Budennovsk), Basayev carried out a hijacking passenger plane Tu-154 from the airport Mineral water to Turkey, for which he received recognition from the OKCHN leadership. Basayev forced the pilots to fly to Turkey, where the terrorists surrendered to local authorities and, after negotiations, achieved transfer to Chechnya in exchange for the release of the hostages.

After the action in Mineralnye Vody, Basayev became the commander of a special forces company under Dzhokhar Dudayev. According to other sources, late 1991 - early 1992. Basayev spent time traveling: he fought in Nagorno-Karabakh on the side of Azerbaijan, and spent some time training at Mujahideen bases and Pakistan.

In 1992, Shamil Basayev was appointed commander of the troops of the Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus.

Since August 1992, he took an active part in military operations in Abkhazia. He was the commander of the Gagrin Front and Deputy Minister of Defense of Abkhazia. Commanded a detachment of Chechen volunteers.

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 force in Abkhazia. He was charged with the responsibility of “coordinating, uniting, directing and controlling the incoming flow of volunteers.”

In December 1993, at the 5th Congress of the Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus, Shamil Basayev was again confirmed as commander of the KNK troops, and the Adyghe Amin Zekhov was appointed chief of staff of the KNK troops.

From April to July 1994, according to his own statement, Basayev was in Afghanistan, in the province of Khost, where he and one of his groups underwent training. In an interview with the Izvestia newspaper in 1996, Basayev said that during 1992-1994. traveled three times with his “Abkhaz battalion” to the camps of the Afghan Mujahideen, where he learned warfare tactics guerrilla warfare.

First Chechen War

In the summer of 1994, Basayev joined fighting against the opposition on the side of Dudayev. In July 1994, in Grozny, the “Abkhaz battalion” fought with the group of Ruslan Labazanov. Basayev's formation also played a role during the unsuccessful attempt to storm Grozny by the opposition. Shamil Basayev was considered one of the closest associates of the Chechen president. The personnel of the “Abkhaz battalion” provided security for Dudayev.

By the start of hostilities federal troops in December 1994, Basayev had about two thousand people under his command. 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 of Basayev’s relatives were killed, including Native sister- Zinaida, born in 1964 and seven children.

Hostage taking in Budennovsk

On June 14, 1995, Shamil Basayev, at the head of a detachment of up to 200 people, seized a hospital with hostages in the city of Budennovsk, Stavropol Territory, in order to force the federal authorities to suspend military operations in Chechnya and enter into negotiations with the Dudayevites. According to many sources, the terrorist attack in Budennovsk was an act of revenge for the deaths of people close to him. During Basayev’s action in Budennovsk, at least 128 people died.

After telephone conversations with the Chairman of the Russian Government Viktor Chernomyrdin, Chechen militants led by Basayev left Budennovsk. The convoy of seven buses contained over seventy militants and about 130 volunteer hostages. On one of the buses there were 16 representatives of domestic media and 9 State Duma deputies. 30 km from the city of Mozdok, the convoy was blocked by a barrier of armored vehicles, installed by order of Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Anatoly Kulikov: the leadership of North Ossetia refused to let the militants pass through its territory, so the convoy arrived in Chechnya through Dagestan. In Khasavyurt local residents and refugees from Chechnya organized a solemn meeting for the militants. In the village of Zandak on the border of Chechnya, Basayev released the hostages.

According to Basayev, for the operation in Budennovsk he personally selected and trained militants: “My trip to Budennovsk cost about twenty-five thousand dollars. True, most of spent on the purchase of KamAZ trucks and a Zhiguli car - fifteen thousand dollars. And along the way they gave away eight or nine thousand. When we captured the hospital, all the authorities were at a loss. They report on TV that negotiations are going on, 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 we came to our senses, and for the first time a Chechen from the city came to us. At first I was surprised when Chernomyrdin called me. But just 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, but he didn’t have much power. Dudayev did not know about the operation. At that moment I had no contact with him for the second month. Yes, even if there was, I would not initiate him into such subtleties. This is my rule."

After the operation in Budennovsk, the entire personnel Shamil Basayev's armed formation was nominated by Dzhokhar Dudayev for 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 failing to fulfill the assigned combat mission: Budennovsk was not the final goal of the operation.

After Budennovsk, Shamil Basayev was in one of the mountain villages of the republic, although information appeared in the media that he was hiding in Abkhazia and Pakistan. In the fall of 1995, interviews with him periodically appeared in the Russian and foreign press.

Operations in Chechnya

Basayev’s group enjoyed the greatest authority among the illegal armed groups, and he himself increasingly became a “rallying factor of the individual.” Basayev became a national hero of Chechnya, his authority in the eyes of the Chechens grew significantly. The militant detachment he led had significant material resources, including infantry fighting vehicles, Grad installations, Strela and Stinger MANPADS.

In the summer and 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.

At the beginning of October 1995, Basayev’s detachment of 300 people camped in the forests near the village of Chapaevo, Novolaksky district of Dagestan. The head of the district administration asked the militants to leave the district. To this, Basayev stated that this was Chechen land (before the deportation of 1944, Chechens lived in the territory of the current Novolaksky district) and he would remain 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. The next day, Aslan Maskhadov denied this message. Shirvani Basayev also declared his non-involvement 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.

On July 19, 1995, in an interview, Basayev said that if the population of the republic during the referendum speaks out in favor of joining Russia, he “will not accept it and will continue to fight.”

In December 1995, Shamil Basayev was one of the leaders of the assault on Grozny.

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 military formations of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, instead of Aslan Maskhadov. Before this, Shamil served as commander of the reconnaissance and sabotage battalion (RDB) of the Ichkerian Armed Forces.

In the spring and summer of 1996, Shamil Basayev did not participate in the Russian-Chechen negotiations. Russian President Boris Yeltsin spoke out against his presence. Shamil Basayev has repeatedly refused to stop hostilities against federal forces.

In November 1996, Shamil Basayev refused the post of Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya offered to him in the coalition government of the republic formed by Zelimkhan Yandarbiev. He wished to remain as commander of the central front, while simultaneously heading (since September 1996) the customs committee of Ichkeria. At the same time, Shamil Basayev announced his intention to nominate his candidacy for the post of President of Chechnya in the elections in January 1997.

In December 1996, in accordance with the election law, Basayev resigned as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in order to be eligible to run for the presidency of Chechnya.

Interwar period

Participation in presidential elections in Chechnya

On January 27, 1997, in the presidential elections of the Chechen Republic, Shamil Basayev took second place, gaining 23.7% of the vote (other candidates: Aslan Maskhadov - 59.7%, Zelimkhan Yandarbiev - 10.2%). In the elections, Shamil Basayev ran together with Vakha Ibragimov (adviser to Yandarbiev on foreign policy issues).

On the 20th of February 1997, at the founding congress of the Freedom Party of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (PS CRI), Shamil Basayev was elected its honorary chairman. In its first special statement, the Freedom Party of the Chechen Republic condemned Ruslan Kutaev (Party national independence) for inviting Viktor Chernomyrdin, Akhsarbek Galazov (North Ossetia), Valery Kokov (Kabardino-Balkaria), who are accused of involvement in “unleashing a war against the Chechen people,” to the celebration of the inauguration of Aslan Maskhadov.

Shamil Basayev believed that the conclusion Russian troops from Chechnya it is not enough to end the war: “Russia must pay us compensation for the damage caused.” He advocated the secession of all North Caucasian republics from Russia and the creation of a single mountain state.

In the summer of 1997, the Congress of the Peoples of Chechnya and Dagestan took place in Grozny. The co-chairs of the congress, Movladi Udugov and Magomed Tagaev, declared the territory of the two republics a caliphate, and Shamil Basayev - its imam. The then Mufti of Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov, sharply condemned the ideas of Wahhabism. Soon after this, the Dagestani Wahhabis declared their sovereignty over the territories of the villages of Karamakhi and Chabanmakhi.

In July 1998, Basayev was appointed deputy commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Chechen Republic. In the same year, he headed the Chechen Football Federation. According to the testimony of the current leaders of the Chechen Football Federation, during that period Shamil Basayev did a lot for the development of football and other sports in the Chechen Republic.

Invasion of Dagestan and the beginning of the Second Chechen War

On August 7-22, 1999, Shamil Basayev, together with Jordanian Amir Khattab, led the invasion of armed militant groups into Dagestan, after which a new large-scale military campaign began on the territory of the Chechen Republic.

The Second Chechen War reconciled Basayev and Maskhadov, who verbally condemned the invasion of Dagestan, but did nothing to stop it. However, there was still no particular understanding between them. Maskhadov continued to remain the formal leader of the rebellious Ichkeria, while the real leadership of military operations and the organization of terrorist acts both on the territory of Chechnya and beyond its borders was taken over by Shamil Basayev.

In February 2000, Basayev was seriously wounded when he stepped on a mine while trying to leave Grozny. Basayev survived, but his leg was amputated. In May 2000, information appeared that Basayev died from complications after being wounded, which was not confirmed.

In October 2000, Shamil Basayev announced his readiness to send 150 of his fighters to the Middle East (according to him, to " holy war for the liberation of Jerusalem" another fifteen hundred are ready to join Chechen militants).

In December 2000, Shamil Basayev's brother Shirvani, formerly the commandant of Bamut, and in the Maskhadov government, the head of the Chechen State Committee for Fuel and Energy, was killed.

Hostage takings and terrorist attacks

On January 9, 2001, American Kenneth Gluck, a representative of the humanitarian mission Doctors Without Borders, was kidnapped in Chechnya. On February 3, he was released, and on March 14, 2001, Basayev accepted responsibility for the kidnapping.

At the end of October 2002, Shamil Basayev, being the head of the military committee of the Republic of Ichkeria, took responsibility for the terrorist attack in the Moscow Theater Center on Dubrovka, and also stated that he was resigning all powers except those related to the leadership of the "intelligence and sabotage battalion of martyrs "Riyadh-us-Salihin" ("Gardens of the Righteous"). According to his statement, it was this group that organized the terrorist attack in Moscow. At the same time, reports appeared that Aslan Maskhadov announced the initiation of criminal prosecution against Shamil Basayev on charges of that he, without the knowledge of the leadership of Ichkeria, organized a terrorist attack in the theater center on Dubrovka.

On December 27, 2002, the Government House in Grozny was blown up by a truck bomb driven by suicide bombers. On February 25, 2003, Basayev took responsibility for organizing this terrorist attack.

Shamil Basayev was the organizer of a number of suicide attacks that occurred in 2003: on July 5 at the Wings rock festival in Tushino (Moscow), on December 5 on an electric train in Essentuki, on December 9 at the National Hotel (Moscow).

On May 9, 2004, Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrov was killed in an explosion at a stadium in Grozny. On May 17, 2004, Basayev stated that he was the mastermind of the murder. On June 15, 2006, the Kavkaz Center news agency disseminated a statement by Shamil Basayev, in which he again took responsibility for the murder of Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrov. According to Basayev, the perpetrators of the terrorist attack were paid 50 thousand dollars.

On the night of June 22, 2004, militant detachments led by Shamil Basayev carried out a large-scale military raid on the territory of Ingushetia, as a result of which 97 Russian military and police officers were killed and captured a large number of small arms and ammunition.

On August 25, 2004, two Russian passenger airliners were blown up. Sh. Basayev is suspected of organizing these terrorist attacks.

On September 1, 2004, school No. 1 in Beslan (North Ossetia) was captured by a group of militants. On September 3, 2004, as a result of the assault, some of the hostages were freed, but over 350 people died, most of whom were children. Basayev admitted to involvement in this terrorist attack in an interview, which was included in the attack case as evidence. In the same month, the Russian FSB promised to pay 300 million rubles for information that would “neutralize” Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev.

CRI President Aslan Maskhadov died on March 8, 2005 as a result of an operation carried out by FSB special forces in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt, Grozny district of Chechnya.

On October 13, 2005, an armed rebellion occurred in Nalchik (Kabardino-Balkaria), in which Shamil Basayev announced his participation. Indirect confirmation of this was a video recording in which he, together with one of the leaders of the Kabardino-Balkarian jamaat Anzor Astemirov, was planning a terrorist attack. During two days of fighting in the city, 12 civilians, 35 security forces and about 90 rebels were killed.

After the death of Abdul-Halim Sadulaev, who replaced Maskhadov as President of Ichkeria, on June 17, 2006, and the transfer of presidential powers to the former vice-president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Dokku Umarov, Shamil Basayev was appointed vice-president of Ichkeria on June 27, 2006.

Death of Shamil Basayev

On July 10, 2006, Shamil Basayev died as a result of the explosion of a truck with explosives he was accompanying in the area of ​​the village of Ekazhevo in Ingushetia. Representatives of the FSB of the Russian Federation stated that the truck exploded as a result of a “special operation” - the activation of an explosive mechanism using a radio-controlled beacon built into the plastid.

The details of the operation still remain a secret of the FSB, which has given rise to many different assumptions in the media. According to one version, Basayev died as a result of careless handling of an explosive device. According to another, the leader of the militants was killed as a result of a targeted air strike; according to the third, the destruction of the leader of the militants became possible thanks to an agent embedded among illegal armed groups. There were also suggestions that Basayev could have been killed as a result of a showdown or blood feud.

In October 2007, the president of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Dokku Umarov, published a series of decrees on the separatists’ website on posthumous awards to fallen comrades. Shamil Basayev was awarded the rank of Generalissimo, he was awarded the Order of "Honor of the Nation", and the Grozny district of Chechnya was renamed "Basayevsky".

Family status

According to some reports, Shamil Basayev was married three times (Kommersant reports about six wives of Basayev), has a son and a daughter. The first wife is a native of Abkhazia. The wife’s father is warrant officer of the aviation unit in Gudauta (Abkhazia) Yuri Kukunovich Dzheniya. Basayev married his daughter Angela in 1993 and took her to Chechnya. (According to other sources, after the war in Abkhazia, he married 17-year-old Indira Dzhenia from the village of Mgundzrykhva, Gudauta region of Abkhazia). Basayev confirmed the existence of a family in Abkhazia in an interview" Komsomolskaya Pravda"July 15, 1995.

According to the head of the criminal investigation department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Abkhazia, Murman Gegiy, until recently, Shamil Basayev’s first wife lived in her father’s house in the village of Duripsh, Gudauta region, but before the start of the 2nd Chechen campaign, she and her two children left. There is information that the Basayev family settled in the Netherlands, where they received a residence permit.

According to information from the Kavkaz Center news agency, in February 2005, Shamil Basayev married a native of the Krasnodar Territory, a native Cossack woman.

On November 29, 2005, Shamil Basayev’s third wife was 25-year-old resident of Grozny, Elina Ersenoeva, an employee public organization"Info-Most" and freelance correspondent for the newspaper "Chechen Society". According to her mother, she was married against her will. A month after Basayev’s death, on August 17, 2006, Elina Ersenoyeva was abducted in the center of Grozny by unknown security forces.

Notes

1. Shamil Basayev. Biography // RIA Novosti, 07/11/2006.
2. "Moskovskaya Pravda", January 27, 1996
3. ITAR-TASS.
4. "Izvestia", April 25, 1996
5. "Nezavisimaya Gazeta", March 12, 1996
6. "Nezavisimaya Gazeta", March 12, 1996
7. Radio station "Echo of Moscow", May 31, 1996
8. "Izvestia", April 25, 1996
9. Genetics identified Basayev // Russian newspaper, 28.12.2006.
10. In Ingushetia, a year ago, the leader of Chechen militants Shamil Basayev was killed // Caucasian Knot, 07/10/2007.

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Shamil Salmanovich Basayev (1965-2006) - one of the most odious figures of post-Soviet history, one of the leaders of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI), a terrorist included in the lists of international terrorists of the UN, the US State Department and the European Union, the organizer of a number of high-profile terrorist acts in Russian cities.

And at the same time, Shamil Basayev, like most public and political figures of modern Russia, comes from the USSR. And it is with the Soviet Union that the upbringing, education and development of this person is connected. They even say that Basayev was a career GRU officer.

Origin

Shamil Basayev was born in the village of Dyshne-Vedeno, Vedeno district, Checheno-Ingush Republic. He graduated from school in 1982, after which he worked for four years as a laborer on a state farm in the Volgograd region. From 1983 to 1985 he served in the army, in the airfield service fire brigade. Three times I tried to enter the law faculty of Moscow State University and failed three times.

Education

In 1987 he entered the Moscow Institute of Land Management Engineers, but was expelled a year later. According to some certificates - for academic failure, according to others - for chronic absenteeism. He did not return to his homeland, he worked in Moscow as a controller on a bus, as a watchman in a diner, and then at the Vostok-Alfa company as the head of the computer sales department. He went in for sports, achieved 1st category in football. There is information that from 1989 to 1991 he studied at the Islamic Institute in Istanbul.

Protecting the White House

During the putsch of the State Emergency Committee on August 19-21, 1991, Shamil Basayev was among those who defended the Government House of the RSFSR (“White House”). In his interview with the newspaper “Moskovskaya Pravda”, published in the issue of the newspaper on January 27, 1996, Basayev explained this impulse as follows: “I knew that if the State Emergency Committee wins, it will be possible to give up on the independence of Chechnya.” They say that Basayev supervised the creation of barricades near the White House and expressed his readiness to knock out all the tanks stationed near the Government House.

Soon after the defeat of the putschists, Basayev returned to his homeland. According to some reports, he was forced to flee Moscow because he owed a large sum of money here.

"Basayev's Janissaries"

Since the beginning of the 90s, Basayev has not missed a single conflict in the Caucasus. He fought on the side of Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani Colonel Azer Rustamov characterizes Basayev’s role in the battles of the summer of 1992 as follows: “the invaluable role of Basayev and Raduev.” According to his information, the number of Chechen volunteers in Karabakh was about 100 people. However, according to Armenian estimates, about 400 Chechens fought under Basayev. On July 3, 1992, in an operation in the village of Karmravan, this Chechen detachment was defeated, after which Basayev never returned to Karabakh.

In August 1992, Chechen volunteers under the command of Basayev went to the theater of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. Here they fought on the side of Abkhazia against Georgia. Here Basayev also showed himself well and was appointed commander of the Gagra Front, Deputy Minister of Defense of Abkhazia, and Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Abkhazia. For special services, Basayev was awarded the “Hero of Abkhazia” medal.

However, the activities of Shamil Basayev in that war were also of a very odious nature. Gennady Troshev in the book “My War. The Chechen Diary of a Trench General” wrote about Basayev’s activities in the vicinity of Gagra: “Basayev’s “janissaries” (and there were 5 thousand of them) were distinguished by senseless cruelty in that war. In the fall of 1993, in the vicinity of Gagra and the village of Leselidze, the “commander” himself personally led a punitive action to exterminate refugees. Several thousand Georgians were shot, hundreds of Armenian, Russian and Greek families were massacred. According to the stories of eyewitnesses who miraculously escaped, the bandits gladly recorded scenes of abuse and rape on videotape.”

Basayev - poet and chess player

And finally, to complete the portrait of this man, it’s worth mentioning one more thing. After Basayev was eliminated as a result of a complex special operation carried out by Russian special services, the archives of the separatist leader fell into the hands of the FSB. So, there, along with business papers and secret videos, a stack of chess magazines from the Soviet period and a school certificate for chess success were kept. Basayev valued this letter and these magazines so much that he carried them through all his wars. Shamil Basayev's school teachers say that he was indeed a good boy and student, and was interested not only in chess, but also in poetry. Yes, Shamil Basayev wrote poetry!

However, not only poetry, but also prose. Shamil Basayev is the author of a number of well-known open letters, including the “Letter to Putin.” These letters are certainly interesting, as documents of the era, but they are written in extremely mediocre language, in which Islamist vocabulary is mixed with post-Soviet “clericalism.”

Among Basayev’s most famous literary works is “The Book of the Mujahid,” which is nothing more than a reworking of the very fashionable at one time “Kig of the Warrior of Light” by Paulo Coelho.

Basayev himself wrote in the preface to this work: “I had two free weeks when Paulo Coelho’s book “The Book of the Warrior of Light” and a computer were at hand at the same time. I wanted to extract benefit from this book for the Mujahideen, and so I rewrote most of it, removing some of the excesses, and strengthened it all with verses, hadiths and stories from the life of the ashabs.”

This book also contains poems by Shamil Basayev himself. Here is one of the samples: “One mujahid is a warrior in the field / Contrary to all Russian tales / And live and die free / Allah bless you!” The poems, in general, are so-so.

Is Basayev a GRU agent?

There are allegations that it was in 1991, when Russian officers began training the Chechen detachment for the war against Georgia, that Basayev began working in the interests of the GRU. Then the militants were awarded military ranks, and Basayev himself became a senior lieutenant. Such statements were made by the former officer of the special unit "B" of the FSK K. Nikitin, the former head of the FSB Public Relations Center A. Mikhailov, the chairman of the People's Assembly of Chechnya Duk-Vakha Abdurakhmanov, as well as Ruslan Aushev and Alexander Lebed, retired KGB Major General Yu. I. Drozdov. The same point of view was voiced by television journalist Andrei Karaulov and his guests in the program “Moment of Truth” dated March 14, 2016.

However, Basayev himself, in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta, published on March 12, 1996, denied this information. He claimed that the Chechens did not study at the GRU base because they were not accepted there. Subsequently, Chechen separatists have repeatedly asserted that Basayev’s cooperation with the Russian special services is a myth, invented to discredit the hero of Chechnya in the eyes of his comrades.

He served in the USSR Air Force.
In 1987 he entered the Moscow Institute of Land Management Engineers.
Until 1991 he worked in Moscow.
At the beginning of 1991, he joined the troops of the Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus (CNK).
In August 1991, he took part in the defense of the White House.
In October 1991, he was a candidate for the post of President 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 local authorities and, after negotiations, achieved transfer to Chechnya.
In 1992, he was appointed commander of the troops of the Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus.
Since August 1992, he took an active part in military operations in Abkhazia. He was the commander of the Gagrin Front and Deputy Minister of Defense of Abkhazia. He commanded a detachment of Chechen volunteers, which later became known as the “Abkhaz battalion.”
In the summer of 1994, with the beginning civil war in Chechnya, Basayev entered into hostilities 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 military operations in Chechnya and enter into negotiations with the Dudayevites. 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 Budennovsk, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against Shamil Basayev. FSK announced a nationwide manhunt. But Basayev was never arrested.
In the summer and 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 at a meeting of field commanders was elected commander of the military formations of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
On January 27, 1997, in the presidential elections of the Chechen Republic, he took second place in the ranking, losing to Aslan Maskhadov.
In 1998 he headed the Chechen Football Federation.
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 the Chechen field commanders supporting him invaded the territory of Dagestan.
In February 2000, he was seriously wounded when he fell on 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, reports appeared in the media that Basayev wants to come to an agreement with the feds, because he is sure that he can still be cured 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 fifteen hundred 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 an “independent act” of some Mujahideen, and asked Gluck “not to give anyone any information that could harm your unwitting kidnappers.”
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has put him on the federal wanted list and is wanted by Interpol.

Three times he entered the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University (MSU), but did not pass the competitive exams.

In 1987 he entered the Moscow Institute of Land Management Engineers. In 1988, he was expelled from his second year for poor academic performance.

Until 1991 he worked in Moscow. At the beginning of 1991, he joined the troops of the Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus (CNK). In August 1991, he took part in the defense of the White House.

In October 1991, he nominated himself for the post of President 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 local authorities and, after negotiations, achieved transfer to Chechnya.

In 1992, he was appointed commander of the troops of the Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus. Since August 1992, he took an active part in military operations in Abkhazia. He was the commander of the Gagrinsky Front and Deputy Minister of Defense of Abkhazia. He commanded a detachment of Chechen volunteers, which later became known as the “Abkhaz battalion”.

In the summer of 1994, with the outbreak of the civil war in Chechnya, Basayev entered into hostilities on the side of Dzhokhar Dudayev. On June 14, 1995, under the leadership of Shamil Basayev, a hospital with hostages was seized in Budennovsk. After this, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against Shamil Basayev. FSK announced a nationwide manhunt, but Basayev was never arrested.

In the summer and 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 at a meeting of field commanders was elected commander of the military formations of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.

In August 1996, a detachment of militants numbering about three thousand people under the leadership of Basayev captured the city of Grozny. According to data at that time, Basayev had nine wounds and seven concussions.

On January 27, 1997, in the presidential elections of the Chechen Republic, he took second place in the ranking, losing to Aslan Maskhadov.

In 1998 he headed the Chechen Football Federation.

In July 1998, he was appointed deputy commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Chechen Republic.

In September 1999, at the direction of the leaders of the gangs Basayev and Khattab, house explosions were carried out in Moscow and Volgodonsk, as a result of which more than 240 people were killed.

In September 1999, gangs led by Shamil Basayev and the Chechen field commanders supporting him invaded the territory of Dagestan.

In October 2000, he announced his readiness to send 150 of his fighters to the Middle East.

In March 2001, in connection with the kidnapping of the American Kenneth Gluck, Basayev said that it was an “independent act” 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 was based in the village of Duisi in the Akhmeta region of Georgia until May 2001.

On October 23, 2002, at the Theater Center on Dubrovka, on the instructions of Basayev, a detachment of terrorists led by Movsar Barayev took hostage all the spectators and actors in the building - more than 800 people in total. During the operation to free the hostages on October 26, all the terrorists - 32 men and 18 women - were killed. 128 of the hostages were killed and later died in hospitals

On December 27, 2002, Basayev was involved in the bombing of the Government House of Chechnya, which killed 80 people and injured about 210 people.

From September 1 to September 3, 2004, more than 330 people were killed as a result of the terrorist attack at school No. 1 in Beslan. The organizers of this terrorist attack were Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev.

Basayev has been put on the national and international wanted list and is included by the UN Security Council in the list of persons involved in terrorist activities.

According to intelligence services, Basayev was behind the most major terrorist attacks in Russia, including the terrorist attack in Beslan and the assassination of Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov.

Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov died on May 9, 2004 as a result of a terrorist attack in Grozny. Basayev publicly accepted responsibility for this crime.

Information about the destruction of the terrorist appeared repeatedly.

In the summer of 1995, the media reported the death of Basayev’s parents and family during an artillery shelling of the village of Vedeno (in reality, only one of his brothers died).

In May 2000, information appeared about Basayev’s death, but it soon became known that he was alive, but had lost his leg as a result of a wound.

In April 2002, the chief General Staff Anatoly Kvashnin announced the destruction of Basayev, however, this information was not confirmed.

In 2004, the Russian FSB announced a reward of 300 million rubles for reliable information about the whereabouts of Maskhadov and Basayev.

Maskhadov was killed on March 8 last year in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt in Chechnya as a result of a special operation by the Russian FSB. Soon the FSB of the Russian Federation paid $10 million for information that made it possible to detect and eliminate the leader of the Chechen separatists.