Translated material
Barbarian's Revenge
The Prosecutor General's Office named the person who ordered the murder of Paul Klebnikov
Representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation yesterday officially announced the completion of the investigation into the sensational case of the shooting last summer in Moscow of the editor-in-chief of the Russian version of Forbes magazine, Paul Klebnikov. As the investigation recognized, the very first and most obvious version of the murder of the journalist was confirmed - revenge for the publication of the book “Conversation with a Barbarian”, the main “hero” of which was the Chechen emissary Khozh-Akhmed Nukhaev. Recently, he and several other suspects were charged in absentia with the murder of Klebnikov and put on the wanted list. In addition, as reported by the Prosecutor General's Office, members of this criminal group are accused of several more murders, including the former Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya Yan Sergunin.The ex-official and journalist were killed last summer in Moscow just two weeks apart. The killer on a motorcycle overtook Sergunin on the night of June 25, when he was getting into his jeep with his wife and an acquaintance near the Vostochny Dvorik restaurant. Paul Klebnikov was shot on the evening of July 9 while leaving the editorial office of the Russian Forbes on Dokukina Street near the Botanical Garden metro station. The first piece of evidence in the investigation of the “Khlebnikov case” was a VAZ-2115 car abandoned by the killers. Later, a fingerprint and hair, possibly belonging to the criminals, were found in the car. The investigation also suggested that both murders may be related to the “Chechen theme” - Sergunin worked in Chechnya, and Khlebnikov more than once published materials about the “Chechen mafia.” Soon the detectives had at their disposal the mobile phone number of a certain Kazbek, who, according to intelligence information, could be behind both murders. It turned out that shortly before and shortly after the shooting of the journalist, calls were made from this number from the Botanical Garden metro area. Having found people familiar with Kazbek, investigators found out that no one knows his real name, and Kazbek has three passports, including one with the name Dukuzov. Upon request from Chechnya, Kazbek Dukuzov received a “colorful” description: “He is in Moscow, where he participates in organizing and carrying out contract killings. In criminal circles in Moscow, the issue of “coronating” Dukuzov to the title of thief in law was considered.”
After this, the phones of Kazbek’s friends were tapped. As a result, on September 27, operatives arrested Aslan Sagaev and Kazbek Elmurzaev. By monitoring their conversations, the special services learned that in Moscow, banker Akhmed-Pashi Aliyev was forcibly held in Sagaev’s apartment, from whom a ransom was demanded. At first, detectives assumed that Kazbek Elmurzaev was Dukuzov, but this version was not confirmed.
But a little later, on November 19, they detained another friend of Kazbek, Musa Vakhaev, and his fingerprint matched the print found on the glass in the Zhiguli car from which they shot Klebnikov. After Vakhaev's arrest, detectives searched the apartments of his relatives and found another piece of evidence - a motorcycle helmet and jacket. Where they came from has not yet been established, but an examination showed that these things were on Sergunin’s killer, and the hair found in a motorcycle helmet and on the driver’s seat of a Zhiguli car is identical, but does not belong to Vakhaev. Then investigators became convinced that the murders of Sergunin and Khlebnikov were connected and were committed by the elusive Kazbek.
The police managed to detain him while dealing with a “related” story about the kidnapping of a banker. During interrogations, he named the master of sports in freestyle wrestling Valid Agayev as the organizer of his capture and mentioned that the athlete had a good friend and business partner - again, a certain Kazbek. Detectives established that the wrestler is in Minsk. There, Agayev was detained at the request of Moscow, and another Chechen ended up with him. Russian intelligence services were sure that this was Dukuzov. But according to his passport (a real one, by the way), he turned out to be Muslim Ibragimov. But after comparing Ibragimov’s hair and those found in the helmet and car, experts determined that they belonged to the same person. The Prosecutor General's Office had to put Ibragimov on the wanted list as well. And even then demand from Belarus to extradite him.
And recently, the Prosecutor General's Office considered that Ibragimov-Dukuzov was a participant in another crime - an attempt on the life of businessman Alexei Pichugin in 2003. As part of this case, capital notary Fail Sadretdinov was arrested at the end of May. (According to investigators, Kazbek “worked” at his request.).
In addition to Dukuzov and Vakhaev, as the Prosecutor General’s Office announced yesterday, there are other suspects in this case: Kazbek’s brother Magomed Dukuzov, Magomed Edilsultanov and Khozh-Akhmed Nukhaev himself.
In 2003, Paul Klebnikov wrote an exposing book, which was based on an interview with former criminal Nukhaev, who held the posts of head of the foreign intelligence service and deputy prime minister of “independent Chechnya” under Dzhokhar Dudayev. “Conversation with a Barbarian” was the fruit of a 15-hour interview between Khlebnikov and a militant that took place in the late 90s. Initially, the journalist collected material about Berezovsky and had no intention of publishing Nukhaev’s revelations. But later he decided to publish them too, without any cuts or approval from Nukhaev himself, who in that interview did not hesitate to expose himself as an obvious bandit and extremist. Before the publication of this book for the world community, Nukhaev was an emissary of the legitimate Chechen government. In this status, he even met with Margaret Thatcher and Zbigniew Brzezinski. After the publication of Khlebnikov’s book, Nukhaev’s political career, of course, ended.
The prosecutor's office did not name the motives for Sergunin's murder yesterday, apparently because they do not yet have evidence against the customer. According to unofficial data, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya could have become a victim of an order from another famous Chechen, who at one time occupied responsible positions in both Grozny and Moscow. According to this version, Mr. Sergunin at one time privately loaned about $3 million to a friend who was planning to run for president in Chechnya. This Chechen promised to pay back later, but he never ran for office, without giving any money. When Mr. Sergunin started talking about repaying the debt, according to the unofficial version, the Chechen turned to Kazbek for help.
Lawyers for the detained Chechens were tight-lipped yesterday. Dukuzov's defender Ruslan Khasanov only said that on Monday they were ready to start getting acquainted with the case materials.