Targeted as a relative

Three people were killed and two were wounded as a result of an attack by unknown assailants on the evening of February 18 on a minibus near the village of Zayukovo in Kabardino-Balkaria, in the Elbrus region. The minibus contained residents of Moscow who were planning to go skiing. According to Kommersant, there were eight tourists in total; they hired two minibuses, the drivers of which were residents of the Elbrus region. A Gazelle was driving ahead, followed by a Sobol, and when the Gazelle entered the territory of Zayukovo, a foreign car (possibly a Ford) stopped between it and the Sobol, two people in camouflage, masks and with machine guns came out and opened the side door to the Sobol salon and demanded to show documents, introducing themselves as riot police. Among the passengers of the Sobol was 37-year-old Irina Patrusheva, who, as the newspaper writes from the words of one of the survivors, demanded in response that the unknown persons also present documents. They began to pull Patrusheva out of the car, the rest of the passengers stood up for her, and the unknown people began to shoot. Patrusheva, Denis Belokon and Valery Kara were killed on the spot. Denis's father Valery Belokon and another passenger Sergei Efremov were seriously injured. The driver jumped out of the car and hid under it; they did not touch him. After that, he took the wounded to the nearest supermarket, where there was a first aid station. Belokon Sr. and Efremov are now in Nalchik hospitals, their condition is stable.

This crime is unusual in that, as a rule, representatives of law enforcement agencies become victims of such attacks; the bandits try not to touch civilians. According to one version, published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta with reference to a source in the special services, the killers knew that a woman named Patrusheva was traveling in the minibus, and considered her a relative of the Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev (in fact, she was his namesake). A short time after the murder, a message appeared on the militants’ website, where the dead were called “kafirs,” who were sent by the special services under the guise of tourists.

A few hours after the attack on the minibus on the second stage of the cable car to Elbrus, between the Stary Kruzor and Mir stations, 30 of the 45 cabins collapsed to the ground. At first there was information that it was an explosion, then representatives of the Elbrusturist company said that the cable fell due to strong winds.

Finally, on the evening of February 19, not far from the Cheget clearing, next to the New Turn hotel, a dozen without license plates with three improvised explosive devices were discovered. It turned out that it belonged to Ruslan Uyanaev, who was killed last November.

A counter-terrorist operation regime has been introduced on the territory of the Elbrus and part of the neighboring Baksan districts.