Bandraskoye

There was a split among the Caucasian extremists. Now a bloody competition can begin between them: whoever blows up the most is the most important

He has never been seen like this. As if for support, he turns to his colleagues sitting next to him: confusion on his face, fussy hand movements. A shabby sweater instead of the usual camouflage. The usually monumentally calm and supremely self-confident head of the Caucasian Mujahideen and enemy of the Russian state No. 1 Doku Umarov looks frightened for the first time. The meaning of his lengthy video message posted on the Internet can be conveyed by Yeltsin's "I'm tired, I'm leaving."

The dismay of the Caucasian Emir was caused not by the successes of the fighters against terrorism and not by poor health, but by the position of his associates, who tried to arrange a coup in the virtual state of the Caucasus Emirate, created by Umarov three years ago. The Emirate has come to an end, experts have begun to speak with each other, but the hopes that the Caucasus will become calmer due to dissension between extremists have not materialized. Last Tuesday, two explosions thundered at once - at a checkpoint between Ingushetia and North Ossetia, one policeman was killed, and more than 30 were wounded in Pyatigorsk.

Anatoly Safonov, the president's special envoy for combating terrorism, has already made an assumption: Umarov's supporters are trying to raise his shattered authority with the terrorist attack in Pyatigorsk and show that the split did not hurt them. Alexander Torshin, a member of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, on the contrary, believes that the explosion in Pyatigorsk was organized by Umarov's opponents, while he and his people are behind the terrorist attack at the Ossetian checkpoint.

All these versions are based on one consideration: whatever tasks the extremists set for themselves, they have to act in very difficult conditions of a split. The Caucasus Emirate has matured to its first serious internal conflict, and even if the Emarat itself disintegrates and collapses, its fragments can cause even more problems and damage. Yesterday's comrades in arms begin a bloody competition: whoever “terrorizes” whom is the most important.

STRANGE GAMES

The scandal among the underground began to gain momentum after Umarov's second video message, which is dated August 2, the day after the first video. In the first, a frightened Umarov asked to support the candidacy of his successor Aslambek Vadalov. In the second, he renounced everything and said that his first statement was fabricated. Soon an order arose to reshuffle the leadership of the militants' main information resource, the Kavkaz Center website. Its editor, "Goebbels" of the Caucasus Emirate Movladi Udugov, was temporarily removed from his post. It was alleged that it was his fault that Umarov's first video was published without authorization.

And a week later, another appeal appeared on the network, this time not by Umarov, but by Chechen field commanders Hussein Gakaev and Aslambek Vadalov, who had recently been predicted to be Umarov's successor. Another very important figure participated in this appeal - the Arab volunteer Khaled Yusuf Mohammed al-Khalitat, also known as Muhannad.

The text was spoken by Hussein Gakaev. He said that the militants were refusing the oath of allegiance given to Umarov, and about his second appeal, that it was disrespectful to the Majlis, that is, to the meeting at which the decision was made to dismiss Umarov. The Chechens declared that henceforth they would wage jihad on their own and called on all members of the underground to support them. Moreover, they hinted that the head of the Caucasus Emirate was almost an agent and that someone gave him the command to withdraw his resignation.

Even at the beginning of the year, no one questioned Umarov's right to be in charge. Arbi Evmirzaev, the only commander who did not recognize the Caucasian Emir, was killed in February during a special operation. According to Newsweek, the split emerged only after the terrorist attacks in the Moscow metro on March 29. In circles close to the underground, they say that Umarov's announcement that he takes responsibility for the explosions in the Moscow metro came as a complete surprise there. Some criticized the attack as inexpedient and not entirely in line with the norms of Islam, others said that women should not be involved in this matter. At the same time, a version arose that Umarov for some reason covered up with his authority the initiative of another amir, who organized the explosions.

Then the dissatisfied had more claims and questions. For example, a month after the Moscow terrorist attacks in Dagestan, Magomed Isagadzhiev was killed, who was accused of having organized them. A source close to the underground told Newsweek that Isagadzhiev really brought suicide bombers to Moscow, on the same day, March 29, he was detained, immediately released, and then liquidated. “Some strange games,” the source explained.

Umarov's supporters rejected the accusations that the Moscow bombings were inappropriate, while his opponents were accused of "Ihvanism"—replacing Sharia norms with arguments about benefits and harms. But even among militants loyal to Dok Umarov, not everyone supported his statement, in which he justified and took responsibility for the terrorist attack against civilians. For example, in June, the leader of the Kabardino-Balkaria militants, Asker Dzhappuev, in a special address, emphasized that the women and children who had recently suffered from militants under his control were accidental victims.

CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE REVOLT

But the point, apparently, is not only in the Moscow terrorist attacks. A source close to the Chechen Interior Ministry says that before Umarov's first video message was published, there was a meeting between leaders of the underground. At it, the schismatics Vadalov, Gakaev and Mukhannad accused the chief amir of a whole series of recent failures. It was about the arrest of the Ingush commander Magas, and the elimination of influential figures like Anzor Astemirov and Said Buryatsky. The militants were worried about whether the further financial support of the Emirate from abroad, for which the Arab Muhannad was responsible, would stop due to the rapid purge of the leaders.

Based on the results of this debriefing, Umarov was offered to leave. This conversation, apparently, took place in such a way that Umarov simply had no choice. He was actually forced to declare on record that he was ceding his post to Aslambek Vadalov. At the same time, it was decided that the video recording would not be published, but simply shown to specific amirs. And when they express their opinion, Umarov will make an official statement on the transfer of power.

However, the splitters, apparently, were not sure that their comrades would support them, and played ahead of the curve. The very next day, the video got to the leadership of the Kavkaz Center and was posted on the website. Then Umarov, who by that time had apparently already been released from their custody, made his second statement. Vadalov, Gakaev and Mukhannad realized that the coup had failed, resigned all partisan posts and announced their withdrawal from subordination to Umarov. This statement of theirs, unlike the previous ones, was published not on the Kavkaz Center, but on a little-known site associated exclusively with the Chechen underground.

Subsequent events showed that the Caucasus Emirate is a much more solid entity than it seemed to the same Ramzan Kadyrov, who repeatedly claimed that Umarov had not commanded anyone for a long time. Almost all the Caucasian amirs hastened to swear allegiance to Umarov. Among them, the main heavyweight is Magomedali Vagabov, recently declared Amir of Dagestan. In his message, he says that Umarov never gave orders that contradicted Islamic principles, and even if he made mistakes, they could be taken to the Sharia court. Vagabov called on the Chechen amirs to return under the wing of Umarov. He made it clear to the rebels that for the time being no action would be taken against them, but if they continued to bring confusion, they would become enemies.

THERE WILL BE NO MERCY

So far, not a single field commander outside of Chechnya is known to support the schismatics. However, this can only mean that Umarov and his inner circle have good control over the Internet resources of the Emirate. This is indirectly evidenced by Vagabov's order, which appeared last week. He declared the website of the Sharia Jamaat the only official media of the Dagestan underground. The order also states that any message from the leadership of the Dagestan front that is not published on the website of the jamaat should be considered invalid and considered as a possible provocation. Most likely, Vagabov understands that there are potential opponents of Umarov in his patrimony, and in this way he is trying to deprive them of the platform.

Despite the parade of loyalty to Umarov, it is unlikely that the conflict between such major figures, moreover, put on public display, can simply be hushed up. Three rebel commanders, according to various sources, together control up to 700 militants, this is a third of the entire Caucasian asset of the underground. The most influential of them is Khusein Gakaev, who until recently was considered the Emir of the Chechen front. It was at its bases that the suicide bombers who committed a series of self-explosions in Chechnya last summer were trained. In August 2009, Ramzan Kadyrov gave the security forces a special order "to destroy the leaders of the bandit underground", where Hussein, his brother Muslim and Doku Umarov stood in the same row.

Grigory Shvedov, editor-in-chief of the Caucasian Knot portal, believes that now the anti-Umarov opposition can return to the national liberation political platform, on which all Chechen fighters stood until 2007. In the London entourage of the Ichkerian ex-minister Akhmed Zakaev, they are already saying that Vadalov and Gakaev have long been tired of this "Wahhabi adventure with the Caucasus Emirate, started by Umarov three years ago." Avraam Shmulevich, an Israeli expert on Caucasian issues, sees another way out for the rebels: to go over to the side of Ramzan Kadyrov. Kadyrov himself, however, has already managed to declare that there will be no quarter for anyone, and regardless of who considers himself an amir, everyone will be found and destroyed.

Splits among Caucasian militants are very rare. Russian Newsweek decided to recall five high-profile quarrels.