| Magomed Khambiev did not serve, did not support and did not meet The former commander of the National Guard of Ichkeria, General Magomed Khambiev, whose surrender to the official Chechen authorities was announced with pomp on March 8, yesterday confirmed his intention to take the path of correction. “If my help is needed, I will provide full support to Kadyrov and will serve honestly, as I did honestly when I was Minister of Defense under Maskhadov and Dudayev,” Mr. Khambiev said at a press conference in Gudermes. “I was appointed Minister of Defense by the current President of Ichkeria, I did not break the law, and I will continue to be an honest and respectable citizen.”
Mr. Khambiev denied press reports that he surrendered in exchange for the release of his relatives, who were taken hostage by Akhmat Kadyrov's security forces. “There were no hostages or innocent relatives detained,” the general explained. - People were detained, but to some extent they helped those in the mountains. They were also released, fulfilling the promises they made to me.”
Magomed Khambiev said that he feels confident and calm, is not afraid of anyone and is provided with security. The ex-minister believes that his conscience is clear: he emphasizes that although he fought with Russia for 13 years, he was not a member of illegal armed groups, did not support Wahhabism and never met with “bandits and terrorists” Shamil Basayev, Zelimkhan Yandarbiev and Movladi Udugov .
Federal law enforcement agencies appear inclined to share Hambi's optimism. Yesterday, Deputy Prosecutor of Chechnya Alexander Nikitin said that arrest was not applied to the surrendered general, although he is “under the control of law enforcement agencies.” The prosecutor's office is going to check how clean the ex-minister's biography really is for another ten days, although Mr. Nikitin has already announced that “Khambiev’s involvement in committing serious crimes has not yet been established.”
This statement sounds somewhat unexpected, since just a few years ago federal law enforcement agencies quite confidently named Khambiev in connection with the assassination attempt on the then mayor of Grozny Supyan Makhchaev in the spring of 2000, as well as the attack by militants on the regional center of Nozhai-Yurt in August of the same year. In November 2000, information appeared in the press about the detention of the general by Russian special services, which, however, was not officially confirmed. Subsequently, information about Magomed Khambiev was fragmentary and unclear: they said that he had seriously quarreled with Shamil Basayev and was now either holed up in the Georgian Pankisi Gorge with several hundred selected militants, or had completely retired and was quietly living at home in Benoy.
The sudden desire of the prosecutor's office to forgive the general all his past sins can only be explained by the fact that the repentant Magomed Khambiev became the first major leader of the Chechen resistance to voluntarily surrender to the authorities. By the way, the general himself yesterday called on his former boss Aslan Maskhadov to follow his example. But even if he suddenly decides to seize the moment, it is unlikely that Kadyrov’s “security guarantees” will apply to him. Ivan SUKHOV |
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