The Investigative Committee of Russia announced the arrest of two members of the gang, Shamil Basayev and Emir Khattab, who in 1999 participated in the attack on the settlements of the Botlikh region of Dagestan.

"Investigators, together with employees of the Federal Security Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and with the military support of the Russian Guard, detained two natives of the Stavropol Territory - Albert Elakayev and Alimkhan Musaev," the ministry said in a statement.

They are suspected of crimes under Part 2 of Art.

209, art.

279 and Art.

317 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (banditry, armed rebellion, encroachment on the life of military personnel and law enforcement officers).

According to the Investigative Committee, in mid-July 1999, Elakayev and Musaev voluntarily joined an illegal armed group led by Basayev and Khattab, and then took an active part in committing grave and especially grave crimes.

“In the period from August 7 to August 24, 1999, militants armed with automatic weapons, grenades and explosive devices, totaling at least 1,000 people, took an active part in an armed rebellion in order to overthrow the constitutional order and violate the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.

They committed an encroachment on the life of servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, who ensure public security and establish constitutional order on the territory of the Botlikh District of the Republic of Dagestan, ”the Investigative Committee said.

"As a result of a massive targeted shelling, perpetrated by members of the gang, 33 people were killed, bodily injuries of varying degrees of severity were inflicted on 34 citizens," the department added.

They emphasized that the investigators, with the operational support of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, realizing the principle of inevitability of punishment, continue to identify the participants in the attack, who are still hiding from law enforcement officers.

  • Airborne troops on the territory of Dagestan.

    August 23, 1999

  • RIA News

  • © Sergey Pyatakov

In May 2021, the court arrested one of the members of the Basayev and Khattab gang.

The Investigative Committee noted that they have evidence of Bagaudin Kuvanaev's involvement in the 1999 attack on Dagestan.

In early March, the court sentenced to 13 and 14 years in prison two residents of the Stavropol Territory, Takhir Begeldiev and Nariman Otepov, who were found guilty of the August 1999 events.

In October 2020, two more natives of the Stavropol Territory, Rasul Maylubaev and Zagir Yakubov, who participated in the attack on Dagestan, were caught.

In June of the same year, the Investigative Committee reported that from 1999 to 2020.

more than 80 participants in the attack on the Botlikh and Tsumadinsky districts of Dagestan were convicted and sentenced to terms from three to 19 years in prison.

The criminal prosecution against seven militants, including Basayev, was terminated due to their death.

At that time, there were 28 more people on the wanted list.

In June 2021, the Investigative Committee reported on the detention of a militant suspected of attacking Pskov paratroopers from the 6th company of the 104th regiment of the 76th Guards Airborne Division near the Chechen village of Ulus-Kert in 2000.

In March, the FSB announced the arrest in Moscow of German Arbinin, also suspected of involvement in those events.

Recall that on February 29 and March 1, 2000, the 6th company, under the command of the guard of Lieutenant Colonel Mark Yevtyukhin, entered into an unequal battle with a group of militants that significantly outnumbered them under the leadership of Khattab (up to 2.5 thousand people).

In the course of these events, almost the entire personnel of the company was killed.

Of the 90 servicemen, only six survived.

22 paratroopers were awarded the title of Hero of Russia (21 - posthumously), 68 soldiers and officers were awarded the Orders of Courage (63 - posthumously).

In November 2020, officers of the FSB, the Investigative Committee, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Rosgvardia detained two former members of the Basayev and Khattab gang.

According to security officials, they took part in the battles near the village of Chervlyonnaya, Shelkovsky district of the Chechen Republic on October 4, 1999.

At their hands 15 soldiers were killed, and another 28 were wounded.