| One of the main hostage dealers was detained in Chechnya Representatives of the regional operational headquarters (ROH) for managing the counter-terrorism operation announced over the weekend the capture in Chechnya of one of the most prominent participants in the hostage business, Salavdin Abdurzakov. It was he who, in 1996-1999, was the intermediary in the transfer of ransoms to bandits for journalists from the television companies ORT, NTV, VID, foreign citizens and dozens of other captives. Five years ago, Abdurzakov was arrested for a series of kidnappings, but then he received only four years in prison. At the same time, bandit Alvi Isaev, who was guarding the hostages, was also detained in Grozny.
Salavdin Abdurzakov graduated from one of the Siberian universities in the 80s, then for a long time headed the Tsentrspetsstroy enterprise in the Chechen-Ingush Republic. When Dudayev became president of Chechnya, Abdurzakov switched to the oil business and made acquaintances among officials and businessmen both in Chechnya itself and in Moscow. Later, these connections helped him become one of the main participants in the hostage business.
“Abdurzakov is quite an interesting person. He did not take part in the hostilities,” journalist Andrei Mironov, with whose participation negotiations on the release of some hostages took place, told us. - And in September 1996, Salavdin became the owner of a satellite communication station left by the federals in Chechnya. He charged ordinary citizens $12 for each fax sent and received, and received even larger sums for telephone calls. Abdurzakov was also behind all the kidnappings of journalists and foreigners.”
In September 1996, three employees of the Italian organization InterSOS, Pocaterra, Lombardi and Valenti, were kidnapped in Chechnya. According to Andrei Mironov, the Italian authorities gave Abdurzakov $150,000 for the release of the captives. On January 19, 1997, on the road from Grozny to Nazran, bandits captured ORT employees Roman Perevezentsev and Vyacheslav Tibelius. A month later they were released. As Abdurzakov himself later admitted to journalists, a ransom of $1 million was transferred through him for the release of the hostages.
“Then the guys from this crocodile captured Mauro Galligani, a photo reporter for Panorama magazine,” said Mr. Mironov. - Galligani was going to make a report from Chechnya, and one Moscow Chechen, Bagaev, agreed to assist in this. On February 23, 1997, we flew to Grozny, but they were already “herding” us there. We stopped at a spring in Chernorechye to film women washing clothes. At that moment, the car that was driving behind us overtook us and blocked the road. Masked people jumped out and started firing in the air. One of them shot out the tire of our car. The bandits pulled Galligani out, put him in their car and drove away. Within two hours we were told that two people would contact us about this - either Salavdin Abdurzakov or Mirella Fanti. She herself is Italian, and at that time she lived in the house of Abdurzakov’s cousin and participated in negotiations for the release of InterSOS employees. As a result, the Mandadori publishing house, which publishes the Panorama magazine, allocated 500 thousand dollars, which, with the participation of Mirella, were transferred directly to Abdurzakov.”
Having received such large sums for the hostages, the bandits began to kidnap correspondents of leading television companies located in Chechnya one after another. On May 10, 1997, militants attacked three NTV journalists, Elena Masyuk, Ilya Mordyukov and Dmitry Olchev, as they were returning from Chechnya to Nazran. At first, the prisoners were kept in the basement of a private house, and then transported to a cave in the mountains. According to the intelligence services, behind this attack was a detachment of the field commander Badrudi Uzaev, who was part of the bandit formation of a certain Umar Paizulaev (both of them were later destroyed by federal forces). Alvi Isaev became one of the guards of the hostages, and the negotiations for their release were conducted by the same Abdurzakov. As a result, a ransom of $2.5 million was paid for NTV employees. On June 11, VID television journalists Ilyas Bogatyrev and Vladislav Chernyaev were captured in Grozny. Abdurzakov again joined the process of their release, and after a few months the captives were free. According to some reports, the bandits were paid another $2 million for this.
In 1998-1999, Abdurzakov, according to intelligence services, took part in negotiations on the release of the authorized representative of the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations of the Russian Federation for Dagestan Abdurakhman Adukhov and Raul Chaguchiev - the son of the chairman of the Union of Peoples of the Caucasus Magomed Chaguchiev, English citizens John James and Camila Carr and a French photojournalist Brisa Flityo. Large ransoms were also paid to the militants for all these hostages.
The special services took a close look at Abdurzakov only at the end of 1999, a few months after the kidnapping of Gennady Shpigun, a representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in Chechnya. Then Salavdin was put on the wanted list, after which he changed his last name - he became Khalilov. And in November, Novaya Gazeta journalist Vyacheslav Izmailov managed to lure Abdurzakov into negotiations on the release of a number of hostages - of course, also for ransom. The meeting was to take place in a cafe near the village of Karabulak (Ingushetia). There he was detained on December 1 by employees of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Then something incomprehensible happened. Numerous witnesses testified about Abdurzakov’s involvement not only in the release of people for ransom, but also in their abduction. But they were not invited to the trial in the Stavropol Territory, and Salavdin was given only four years in prison. But he did not serve this term either and was released on parole two years later.
At the beginning of last week, security services detained Alvi Isaev in the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny, who immediately admitted that he was guarding NTV journalists captured by bandits. And on December 16, in the village of Pervomaisky, operatives captured Abdurzakov-Khalilov himself. According to our information, this time he was arrested for the kidnapping of Adukhov and Chaguchiev, whose freedom the bandits valued at 150 thousand dollars. Alexander SHVAREV |
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