June 20, 2011, 11:16 News

Budanov lived in the Moscow region and long before the murder asked for protection from the Chechens, a colleague claims

Colonel Evgeny Demich, who served in the 160th regiment with Yuri Budanov, who served nine years for the murder of an 18-year-old Chechen woman and was killed in Moscow in June of this year, said in an interview with Gazeta.Ru that after his release from the colony Budanov noticed he was under surveillance and asked to be provided with security.

The colleague does not doubt the Chechen trace in the murder of Budanov and claims that some people are now collecting information about the rest of the military from the regiment .

“Back in 2000, the Chechens set the task of capturing all the personnel of the 160th regiment. For this reason, you rarely see guys from our regiment on Odnoklassniki; they don’t post their photos,” he claims.

According to Demich, recently demoted Colonel Budanov lived in the Moscow region. “That’s where I worked – in one of the HOAs (homeowners’ associations – Gazeta.Ru), recalled Gazeta.Ru’s interlocutor. — He was a foreman, supervised plumbers and mechanics. He repeatedly told friends that they would not hire him for another job. He didn’t hide the fact that he wanted a better job.”

Demich denies that Budanov drove a Lexus car. “This is already a myth,” he said. He also denied the version that after his release the colonel could have moved to Ukraine, where it would have been safer. “According to the law, within a year after his release, he must come and report that he is alive and well. He simply could not leave,” he recalled.

“I am sure that there was surveillance from the very beginning - from the moment he was released,” Budanov’s colleague continued. “The fact is that the regiment dealt a crushing blow to the militants at the very turning point. There is reliable information that information is still being collected about people from the regiment.”

When asked if he allowed any doubt that Budanov was killed by people from Chechnya who were taking revenge for what the colonel did during the hostilities, Demich replied: “I don’t doubt it at all.”

According to his information, Budanov asked to be provided with security in connection with the threat that he felt from Chechnya.

“Yes, I did. Such facts really exist, no matter what they say. But Budanov’s death, it seems to me, was inevitable. If not today, then tomorrow. They don’t forgive this,” Demich said.

Budanov lived in the Moscow region and long before the murder asked for protection from the Chechens, a colleague claims - Gazeta.Ru