| The militants began preparing an assassination attempt on Akhmat Kadyrov more than a year ago By the end of the third day of emergency work, investigators and operatives from all the Russian special services that had gathered in Grozny, it seems, had not been able to get on the trail of the terrorists who managed to almost completely decapitate the leadership of Chechnya on the morning of May 9 with just one bomb. By yesterday evening, they did not have a single new suspect of involvement in the terrorist attack at the Dynamo stadium, which killed the President of Chechnya, Akhmat Kadyrov, the Chairman of the State Council of the Republic, Hussein Iasev, and seriously wounded the commander of the United Group of Forces in the North Caucasus, Valery Baranov. And all those detained on the very first day after the tragedy, as officially confirmed yesterday by the prosecutor’s office, were released almost immediately, because, as it turned out, they simply fell into the wrong hands. Moreover, yesterday, judging by the statement of Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky, who was in Grozny, it still remained unclear when and how exactly the explosion itself was being prepared. Investigators continued to check all possible versions, and teams of FSB and Ministry of Internal Affairs experts were still working at the bombed stadium itself, collecting evidence.
According to the final data of the Chechen authorities, a total of seven people were killed and 63 were injured as a result of the explosion at the Dynamo stadium. Of the victims, however, most were released to go home after first aid was provided, and yesterday 14 people remained in hospitals, the condition of three of whom was assessed by doctors as serious. Among them is Colonel General Valery Baranov, whose leg was amputated by doctors. As reported yesterday by the General Headquarters of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, over the past 24 hours his condition has stabilized somewhat, but remains serious. General Baranov was immediately taken to a military hospital in Mozdok after the terrorist attack, and today, as expected, he can be transported to Rostov-on-Don or Moscow on a special aircraft of the Ministry of Defense - the Scalpel flying hospital.
Actually, yesterday the special services did not report anything at all about the progress of the investigation of the case - neither about the search for terrorists, nor about the results of the inspection of the tragedy site. At the same time, official representatives of the “authorities” explained their silence by the secrecy of the investigation, although, judging by unofficial data, the investigation actually did not have any fundamentally new information.
Initially, it was known that a homemade bomb made from a 122-mm artillery shell went off under the VIP stand at 10.32. It was embedded in the concrete structure of the stand. Another similar projectile was also found at the site of the explosion, which investigators believe was also part of a mine, but for some reason did not detonate. The bomb was located almost exactly under the chair on which Akhmat Kadyrov was sitting. On the adjacent stand, another mine was found abandoned on the floor, made from a plastic bottle filled with plastid and equipped with a fuse based on an electronic clock. The timer seemed to be set at 10.50.
Since the bomb was located precisely under the chair of the President of Chechnya, a version immediately naturally arose that there was some betrayal on the part of one of Mr. Kadyrov’s guards (his son Ramzan Kadyrov is the head of the President’s security service, as is known). However, yesterday, after clarifying the circumstances of that tragic day, the intelligence services were more inclined to believe that in fact the terrorists in this case were simply very lucky. Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky, who heads the investigation team, said yesterday: “They were preparing for a terrorist attack regardless of who was on the podium. And we imagine that in any case, sooner or later this explosion would have taken place, because the explosive device, as the first data show, was planted long before the approach of events related to Victory Day. And the events and the presence of officials on the podium simply coincided with the fact that the opportunity presented itself to undermine them.”
Apparently, the investigation made this conclusion based on a simple logical comparison of the work schedule of Akhmat Kadyrov himself and the situation at the stadium that preceded the tragedy. As it turned out, the President of Chechnya appeared at the Dynamo stadium, where a festive concert was organized on the morning of May 9, to a certain extent by accident. According to his associates, he did not intend to go there specifically. On that day, festive events were held in many other places in the republic. For example, the “main” military parade on a local scale was supposed to take place at Severny Airport, and Mr. Kadyrov planned to be there. In addition, on the morning of May 9, his possible appearance was expected at the building of the Republican FSB Directorate at the opening ceremony of a memorial plaque to the fallen intelligence officers, at the commandant’s office at the awarding of war veterans, and in Gudermes at a sports festival. The fact that the president, together with the head of the State Council and the commander of the United Forces, came to Dynamo was simply a coincidence. Accordingly, the terrorists could not possibly be preparing to blow up Mr. Kadyrov at Dynamo. In addition, experts have not yet determined exactly when the ill-fated stadium stand was actually mined. After another “additional” renovation, Dynamo was opened on May 8. At first, information appeared that it was during construction work that the bomb was planted. Even the suspects were named - employees of one of the regional utilities departments of Grozny, who carried out the last repairs. However, yesterday, although this version was checked, it was no longer considered the most important, since experts and detectives were inclined to believe that the bomb had been planted there much earlier. It is possible that several months, or even more than a year ago.
It is worth noting that a similar but unsuccessful terrorist attack on the same Dynamo stadium was carried out by militants on May 9, 2003. A parade and concert were also planned there then. And Mr. Kadyrov and the then prime minister of the republic, Anatoly Popov, were also expected to take part in it. The event was scheduled for 11 a.m., but at 10.20 a.m., a powerful explosion occurred at the main entrance to the stadium, when spectators had not yet arrived. Only three policemen were wounded then. Experts have established that, as now, a landmine was also embedded in the concrete fence of the stadium, and also based on an artillery shell. Then the operatives assumed that the bomb went off prematurely due to a malfunction. It was also possible that the mine in the fence was equipped with a radio-controlled fuse and detonated due to the special services turning on the detonation initialization complex - special radio equipment that causes a spontaneous explosion of radio-controlled mines in a certain area. Based on this, it is quite possible to assume that the mines in the fence and under the stands were laid at the same time. But since the concert was canceled a year ago, the militants left the remaining charges “for later.” And such an opportunity presented itself to the militants a year later. At the same time, as experts have already stated, it was very difficult to find old shells in the structure of the stands. They were not visible from the outside, and the mine detectors, given that the stands are made of reinforced concrete - with reinforcement and a lot of metal fasteners, could not find them. True, how the mine under the podium was activated - with the help of wires or a timer - has not yet been clearly established. In any case, bomb experts immediately stated that one of the terrorists was directly at the stadium. The bottle with explosives found after the tragedy in one of the stands, according to sappers, was absolutely clean, although after the explosion in the VIP stand everything around was covered with a thick layer of dust. Alexey GRISHIN |
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