Shpigun Nikolai Gennadievich MIA Secrets of the abduction of General Gennady Shpigun. Alleged masterminds of the kidnapping

Svetlana Ivanovna Kuzmina, author of the book "Two Years in Hell", spent two years in Chechen captivity, here is more about the captivity of Svetlana Ivanovna: http://cheshens.blogspot.ru/2017/11/12-1946.html and was a general with him, next to him in the Arun Gorge in early 2000. I personally saw General Shpigun Gennady Nikolaevich. She asked about Shpigun for the first time around July 1999. One of the voluble militants said that his master had money, and therefore the general did not starve, and even cigarettes were not bought for him the cheapest. LaterSvetlana Ivanovna found out that this owner was Bakuev Baudi, and he had money, including from the tribute of the president's representative (Vlasov).The second time she encountered Shpigun in the Argun Gorge in February-March 2000. There were about 12 people who they considered to be marketable. Several field commanders Bakuev Baudi, Arbi Baraev, Ruslan Bekeshev and others. The general looked like an exhausted old man, he was kicked, kicked, they made him work unbearably. But Bakuev somehow protected him a little, when Bakuev died, the general tried to escape, but you couldn’t escape from the mountains in summer, and in winter, and even an elderly exhausted man, of course, he didn’t succeed. He was caught and beaten (as they said, not much), the general turned to the wall, in the morning he was dead.Bakuev-Svetlana Ivanovna saw him several times. He came on horseback to Bekeshev (who held them) and even before the descent of the prisoners from the mountains, Bakuev suggested to Bekeshev-To buy Svetlana Ivanovna from him, since she would not survive the descent anyway, but Bekeshev refused.And what is especially not clear is why the general was not redeemed alive, but the dead was redeemed. Yes, they were afraid of the public along the way. At first, the general was appreciated, not beaten, and then when, over time, not seeing a source of money in him, they began to mock him. But in any case, the death of a military general lies on the conscience of the then leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They refused to redeem the living Shpigun.
Here is the truth about the death of the generalShpigun Gennady Nikolaevich.

Now about General Shpigun:
Born and raised in the Babayurtovsky district of the Dagestan river.
He worked at the Dagdiesel plant as a milling machine operator. Since 1969, he engaged in social and political work: from 1969 to 1980, he held party positions as secretary of the Caspian city committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, deputy head of the department of the Dagestan regional committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, secretary of the Komsomol committee of the Dagdiesel plant. In 1980, Gennady Nikolaevich received the position of instructor of the department, deputy head of the department of organizational and party work of the Dagestan regional committee of the CPSU.
In 1984, he entered the service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, served as deputy head of the Correctional Labor Institutions, then became deputy head of the political department, head of the personnel department, deputy minister, head of the service for working with personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan.
He took part in the First Chechen War, was the head of all pre-trial detention centers in Chechnya. Dzhokhar Dudayev in 1996 included Gennady Nikolaevich in the "list of those responsible for the Chechen tragedy."
From 1996 to 1998, Shpigun was the chief expert-consultant of the department for ensuring the management of forces and means in emergency conditions of the Directorate for Emergency Situations of the Main Headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, then he was promoted to chief inspector. In the same year, he was transferred to the position of head of the inspectorate of the Main Organizational and Inspection Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
In February 1999, Shpigun replaced Adam Aushev, Ruslan Aushev's brother, as representative of the RF Ministry of Internal Affairs in Ichkeria. This caused a protest in Chechnya, Aslan Maskhadov notified the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs about the undesirability of Shpigun's presence in the Republic of Ichkeria.

On March 5, 1999, General Shpigun was kidnapped at the Grozny airport, right from the plane flying to Moscow. he was going to fly home to his wife to celebrate March 8, International Women's Day.
The abduction was pre-planned and well organized. At the Severny airport, on the acceleration strip, three masked men with weapons came out of the luggage compartment of the aircraft, three more men who were in the cabin approached them. The pilot was forced to stop the plane and the general was pulled out and taken away. an empty plane into the hangar, armed people drove up in two UAZ cars and made sure that the plane was empty and only then the pilot was released. On March 17, through intermediaries, they demanded a ransom of $15 million, then reduced it to $7 million, then $3 million
Sergei Stepashin, (Minister of the Interior) gave the word to the officer that they would release the general by any means possible.

On December 29, 1999, the media circulated a statement by the elders of Achkhoy-Martan, which reported that General Shpigun was alive and was valued at $5 million. It was reported that for some time he was kept in Achkhoy-Martan, later he was transferred to Georgia. This version was supported by the testimony of a resident of Dagestan released from captivity. He claimed that he was kept in the Georgian village of Shatili in the same basement as the kidnapped general. Former Georgian Defense Minister Tengiz Kitovani subsequently confirmed the information that Gennady Shpigun was being held in the Pankisi Gorge. On January 28, 2000, a number of Russian media disseminated a statement by the head of the North Caucasus Department for Combating Organized Crime that Gennady Shpigun was alive and his whereabouts were known.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation reported that the abduction of the general was carried out on the orders of Shamil Basayev by separatists from the gang of Abdul-Malik Mezhidov. According to other sources, Chechen separatists Baudi Bakuev, Arbi Baraev and the Akhmadov brothers were among the organizers of the abduction. It was assumed that assistance in the kidnapping of Shpigun was provided by the "brigadier general", the head of the border and customs services of Ichkeria, Magomed Khatuev, who was in charge of the military camp in Grozny, where dozens of hostages were kept. In addition, it is assumed that Nasrudi Bazhiev, a “brigadier general”, deputy minister of internal affairs of Ichkeria, took part in organizing the abduction. Boris Berezovsky was also charged with involvement in the kidnapping. It was suspected that Gennady Shpigun knew about Berezovsky's financial contacts with Chechen gangs, this could be the reason for the kidnapping.

Why the ransom was not paid for the hostage. Previously, General Shpigun himself was against sponsoring armed gangs. And the government followed suit. Then in Chechnya, kidnapping is the main source of income for militants.

In March of the same year, he was kidnapped right from the plane in which he was going to fly to his wife for the celebration of International Women's Day.

In March of the same year, he was kidnapped right from the plane in which he was going to fly to his wife for the celebration of International Women's Day. The kidnapping was well planned and well organized. On the runway of the Severny airport (Grozny), three masked men with weapons got out of the luggage compartment of the plane, they were joined by three more who were in the cabin. They forced the pilot to stop the plane, dragged the general out and took him away. Then, when the pilot sent the already empty airliner to the hangar, two UAZ vehicles with armed men drove up, who made sure that the plane was empty, and only then released the pilot.

In the course of a journalistic investigation conducted by Glasnost-Northern Caucasus correspondent Ibragim Ugurchiev, some details of General Shpigun's abduction became known. A person who was once close to the leaders of Chechnya, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “The abduction was ordered in Moscow. The deputy prime minister of the CRI government Vakha Arsanov, Shamil Basaev, Ruslan Gelaev and the group of field commander Bukaev were involved in the case. The group of the latter captured the general in Grozny airport, took him to a shelter at the Krasny Molot plant, and then sold Shpigun to V. Arsanov for $ 2.5 million. Moscow customers promised to pay Arsanov $ 6 million. When Shpigun began to guess who the real customer was, an order was issued from Moscow to kill him, for which the perpetrators were paid $3 million."

KGB RETURN?

ACCORDING TO INFORMATION from knowledgeable sources, a decision is ripening in the bowels of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on the partial reunification of the State Security Committee (KGB), which ceased to exist after the collapse of the USSR in December 1991. According to reports, it is planned to separate from the Federal Agency for Government Communications that relatively small unit, which is really responsible for government communications, and to attach to the FSB the remaining gigantic economy, whose various departments are busy listening to the whole world, encrypting and decrypting, analytical work, and many, many other things that are included in the concept of "information warfare."

According to rumors, the Federal Border Service will also return to the new KGB. They even say that the dream of the former director of the FPS, General Andrei Nikolaev, of merging the border districts with the border districts of the Ministry of Defense will finally come true, and thus the "new KGB" will have serious armed forces.

However, we repeat once again: all these plans are still in the development stage. But intelligence officials have no doubt that a new reform will begin as soon as funds are found for it. And they will certainly find them. After all, mergers and "spills" of special services have not stopped since 1991. And at first they were quite reasonable: then the KGB was divided into separate, independent services in accordance with their functional duties: intelligence, counterintelligence, government communications, border protection, protection of state leaders and government members and others.

The Democrats of the first call, who then became the head of the state, believed that the power of the special services, already huge, could not be concentrated among too narrow a circle of people. There should be many special services, and each should operate exclusively in its own narrow area, without going over to someone else's field of activity, but necessarily in interaction with each other.

Russia went to such specialization with difficulty, by trial and error. So, in 1992, some "wise heads" tried to connect the Second Main Directorate of the KGB, responsible for counterintelligence activities and ensuring the internal security of the state, with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, whose duties include maintaining law and order in the country.

The result was an almost uncontrollable monster, called the Ministry of Security and Internal Affairs, which concentrated in its hands a huge uncontrolled power. Thank God, this idea was quickly abandoned.

But alas, that was just the beginning. The FSB went into internal "perturbations". Units related to the fight against economic crimes, as well as the fight against terrorism, merged and separated, and in fact were destroyed.

Assuming in 1997 the post of director of the FSB, Vladimir Putin, introducing himself to the deputies of the State Duma, almost with tears asked to leave the FSB alone and not to reform anything else. But it did not help. The FSB fell into disrepair, and the oligarchs gradually began to privatize it. Almost half of the central apparatus was lured away by Vladimir Gusinsky, who created a security service in Media Most headed by a KGB general, who set up not only an analytical service at a high professional level, but also intelligence with counterintelligence, which consisted of listening, spying on his own employees ... But the "Bridge" still collapsed.

Unlike Gusinsky, Boris Berezovsky tried to avoid staff turnover at the FSB and did not lure employees from there, preferring to pay for their work on his own without interrupting the main production. And when this scam came to light, the entire unit went to the infamous Atoll firm, whose activities are still being investigated by FSB officers who have retained their shoulder straps.

Fortunately, now all these unfortunate zigzags of the fate of a respected institution are behind us. Having become the president of Russia, the career officer of the KGB Vladimir Putin not only put the presumptuous oligarchs in their place, but is also going to restore their former power to the "authorities". This is the essence of the proposed reforms.

Izvestia, 2000

March 5 marks exactly one year since the special representative of the Russian Interior Ministry in Chechnya, police general Gennady Shpigun, was abducted.

Gennady Shpigun, appointed to the post of special representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in Chechnya in January 1999, was abducted on March 5, 1999 at about 16.00 from a Tu-134 aircraft flying on a Grozny-Moscow flight. The airliner had already taxied to the runway when several armed men in masks jumped out of the luggage compartment. One of them ordered the plane to be stopped. Others, having stunned Shpigun with rifle butts and handcuffed him, dragged him to the emergency hatch. At the bottom of the terrorists were already waiting for two "UAZ", on which the bandits disappeared. Now the terrorists are demanding $3 million for Shpigun.

HOSTAGE TESTIMONY

From October to January, the editors of Moskovskiye Novosti were truly waiting for only one event - the release of their correspondent Dmitry Balburov, who was taken hostage. At the beginning of this year (2000) Dima was released, but another month passed before he could begin to remember.

Remembering now the people who knew me since 1996, who called me “nephew” and “brother” and who cold-bloodedly brought bandits on me, in addition to dull anger, I also feel calm, quiet disappointment. Not so much in their decency, but in their mind. What a stupid and greedy person you have to be to bring me into the clutches of the bandits like this, without disguising yourself at all and without covering your tracks! Sitting in a zindan (a place where prisoners of war and hostages are kept), I found only two explanations - either they themselves considered me a complete fool, or they were told that I would not stay alive. The second explanation made it worse.

Mother and son acted as gunners. Both are currently in jail.

Mother even earlier, in 1996, looked somewhat suspicious - too businesslike, with extensive connections in international humanitarian organizations and among Chechen fighters. She talked about the fact that she had a disinterested and noble nature, that, at the call of her soul, she was engaged in the release of Russian prisoners of war, that in this difficult matter she repeatedly looked death in the eye.

Her son Ruslan, after 1996, was happy to help me move around Ingushetia - first in a “nine”, then in a sports Porsche. There wasn’t much to talk to him about, except perhaps about women, but it’s very convenient for work. Whatever it is, but still familiar. "Brother"...

Zindan

In the garage, dimly lit by a kerosene lamp, there were long plank bunks, a low table with benches, and a gas stove. The bandits who brought me in a car finally took off the bag from my head and untied my hands...

In the morning the bandits shoved half a loaf of white bread and three tomatoes at my door. Thus began my life in captivity. For three days after the capture, I could neither eat nor drink, and the bearded bandit even asked: “Are you on a hunger strike?” Once a bearded man (his name was Isa) gave me a bottle of vodka and ordered me to drink it in three doses - I did not feel the taste of vodka. They hardly forced me to work - only one day I beat off the broken brick from the cement, then dug the ground.

On the second or third day, Isa decided to test me:

- Stand against the wall.

I stood in front of Isa. He took a cartridge out of the magazine and showed me:

- This is your bullet, - he snapped it back, inserted the magazine into the machine gun, pulled the bolt and again unfastened the magazine. The bandits were talking animatedly among themselves about something, one of them translated with pleasure:

- We are arguing here ... Isa says that from the first time you will get between the eyebrows, but we do not believe.

Isa took the machine by the handle, like a pistol, and pointed it at me. The guy is healthy, but his AKM is too heavy for such exercises, he can accidentally pull the trigger. I stood at the wall (literally), lowering my eyes. OK. You're giving up your leg, right? Which one, left or right?

- Do you know that if I shoot the kneecap, then you, even if you remain alive, will always be a cripple? You will limp, you know about it? Well, look, I warned you. - Isa pointed a machine gun at me and fired. I remember a red thread that rushed to my left leg and ricocheted somewhere to the side. I twitched belatedly - I understood with my mind that Isa was not going to hit exactly in the leg, but simply frightened and tested my reflexes, but it was still creepy. Isa and the two bandits laughed contentedly, seeing my miserable body movements.

- Well done, - for some reason Isa praised me and took out a bottle of vodka. He poured generously into a glass. - Drink. Deserved.

- I took you in exchange. My brother was swept up in Volgograd, he needs to be pulled out. What do you think, how much more money to demand for you?

- They won't even give me a torn dollar. I am a small person.

- Ha! I was offered a hundred thousand for your head today. And you say...

What didn't you sell? Do they want my head?

Do you remember what you did to the British? Your head will also be on the road. But don't be afraid: as long as I'm with you, nothing like this will happen to you. Other guys can cut off the head, but I won't. So, five hundred thousand to ask for you? But the main thing is to get my brother out ... Isa explained to me for a long time and with taste what would happen if I tried to escape. Then I will definitely become a cripple.

In such conversations, the first two weeks of captivity passed ...

August 30, 2017

Gennady Nikolaevich Shpigun was one of the few people devoted to his work. He was a determined man, always ready to go to the end and not compromising with the enemy. These qualities aroused confidence on the part of the country's leadership, and active actions in the first Chechen war inspired confidence in the success of his mission. That is why he was appointed representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation to the very epicenter of hostilities - the Republic of Ichkeria. Further abduction and death of General G.N. Shpigun did not in the least underestimate his services to the country.

short biography

The biography of General Shpigun from the very beginning went exclusively up (although it ended tragically at the end). The future major general of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was born on February 5, 1947 in the Babayurt region in the Dagestan ASSR. There he spent his youthful years. Until 1969, he was listed at the Dagdiesel factory, where he mastered the technique of using a milling machine to perfection.

After 1969, he decided to start socio-political activities. Until 1980, his track record included posts in the secretariat of the Caspian Mining Committee, assistant to the head of the regional committee of Dagestan, secretary of the Komsomol Council in Dagdiesel. In 1980, Shpigun was appointed assistant to the head of the department of the Dagestan Regional Committee of the CPSU.

In 1984, he swung even higher and started working in the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. In the future, his career went uphill even after the collapse of the Soviet regime. As mentioned above, General Shpigun did not stand aside during the First Chechen War. He was responsible for all pre-trial detention centers located in Chechnya. Chechen politician and supporter of the independence of Ichkeria Dzhokhar Dudayev even included him in his blacklist.

Starting in 1996 and within 2 years, Major General Shpigun became a special expert of the Main Staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the emergency department, and then an inspector. In 1998, he was appointed to the post of head of the inspection at the main department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. At the end of January 1999, he received a new assignment, which was his last.

kidnapping

In early February of the same year, General Shpigun took the post of Plenipotentiary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in Ichkeria, replacing Adam Aushev in this position. Among the Chechens, this decision caused obvious discontent, and Aslan Maskhadov actually asked the Russian leadership to recall the new plenipotentiary.

On March 5, 1999, General Shpigun was going to fly home to congratulate his wife on International Women's Day in a few days. Unfortunately, his dream did not come true. On this day, the unexpected happened. Shpigun at Grozny airport was abducted by militants and taken away in an unknown direction.

According to witnesses, when the general was on the plane and the airliner began to accelerate, 3 masked men, armed to the teeth, entered the passenger compartment from the luggage compartment. They were joined by 2 more people from the cabin. Shpigun was taken out of the plane by force and taken away. When the pilot was already directing the plane to the hangar, two UAZs blocked the way. People in military uniform searched the airliner and, making sure that the general was not in it, got into cars and left.

Negotiations and searches

Already on March 17, the militants, through intermediaries, demanded 15 million dollars for the captured general. During the negotiations, the amount was reduced more than once, in the end, the kidnappers settled on the amount of 3 million. However, the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation did not intend to pay money to criminals. Interior Minister Stepashin said he would make every effort to release General Shpigun. Attempts were made and various options were developed: from negotiations with militant intermediaries to readiness to launch a missile attack on militant bases in Ichkeria and the involvement of special forces.

The situation was complicated by the fact that the kidnappers repeatedly hid the kidnapped general. In addition, there were many spies among the Ichkerian policemen. At the end of December 1999, the elder of Achkhoi-Martan announced through the press that Shpigun had recently been transported to Georgia and they were demanding 5 million for him. At the end of January 2000, information appeared about the whereabouts of the captured general, but it turned out to be false. The search continued.

body detection

On the last day of March 2000, in the village of Itum-Kali, thanks to the help of local residents, the body of a prisoner was found, who, according to them, managed to escape and then froze to death in the forest. The captured militant said that it was General Shpigun. Medical examination confirmed this fact. The brother also recognized General Shpigun in the deceased. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was in no hurry to confirm the result of the medical examination and even tried to deny this information. At the end of April of the same year, an operation was carried out to rescue the nephew of the Makhachkala governor from captivity, who claimed that militants were holding Shpigun in a nearby basement.

Alleged masterminds of the kidnapping

The kidnapping of General Shpigun in Ichkeria was a kind of protest act on the part of the local population. Along with the search for the kidnapped general, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation tried to find out who ordered the terrible crime. Since Chechnya at that time was the hottest spot in the Russian Federation and was literally teeming with bandit groups, there were plenty of versions.

It is worth recalling that General Shpigun took the post of plenipotentiary, having removed Adam Aushev, the brother of Ruslan Aushev, the president of Ingushetia. The change of a local person to a stranger was not welcomed by the Caucasians and was considered an insult. The elders of Achkhoy-Martan expressed their dissatisfaction. However, their request was not heard.

Shamil Basayev, the most radical Chechen field commander, had the most compelling reasons for accusing him of kidnapping Shpigun. Already in the early days, his name was considered the first among the prospective customers. The names of the Akhmadov brothers, Baudi Bakuev and Arbi Baraev were also mentioned. The list of sponsors of the kidnapping also included the commander of customs officers and border guards of Chechnya, Magomed Khatuev, as well as assistant chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ichkeria, Nasrudi Bazhiev.

The most unexpected was the presence of Boris Berezovsky in the list of customers. Shpigun knew about his financial connections with Chechen fighters and for this reason could be eliminated.

Reasons for refusal to pay ransom

Despite the fact that the kidnappers reduced the amount of the ransom several times, the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation was not going to pay the money to the militants. If earlier the conditions of the criminals were fulfilled, then in the case of General Shpigun, the situation has changed. There were good reasons for this. First, kidnapping has become a common occurrence in Chechnya. By 2000, there were over 700 such cases. Paying a ransom for each prisoner would hit the budget of a still fragile Russia hard, and in fact would be frank financing of the militants. At one time, General Shpigun himself opposed this step. He believed that it was necessary to deal with gangs from a position of strength. Secondly, the fulfillment of all the conditions of the criminals from the outside looked like a frank weakness of the Russian leadership and would undoubtedly undermine its international authority. This could not be allowed, so the option with a ransom was immediately rejected.

Funeral

The farewell ceremony for General Gennady Shpigun stretched over several stages and began in Makhachkala at the airport. It was attended by the head of the People's Assembly of Dagestan, Mukhu Aliyev, the highest staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic, as well as representatives from their native region. The body of the deceased was brought to Moscow and in June 2000 was buried at the Preobrazhensky cemetery.

Awards and memory

Major General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Gennady Nikolaevich Shpigun always did his job conscientiously. According to some witnesses, having been captured, he attempted to escape. And this is with serious injuries. Yes, and death, according to the medical examination, came from hypothermia. The leadership of the Russian Federation could not but take into account all the merits of this person to the country. General Gennady Shpigun was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, two degrees at once. He was not forgotten in his native Babayurt either, the main street of the city was named after the hero.

conclusions

The abduction and then death of General Shpigun clearly demonstrated to the leadership of the Russian Federation that one should deal with militants only from a position of strength. The second Chechen war, which started back in 1999 and practically dragged on until 2009 at intervals, returned Chechnya to Russia. The independent Republic of Ichkeria ceased to exist. To date, life in the Chechen Republic has returned to normal. Badly damaged during the war, Grozny was gradually restored and now looks much better than before the war.

In Chechnya. In March of the same year, he was kidnapped right from the plane in which he was going to fly to his wife for the celebration of International Women's Day. The kidnapping was well planned and well organized. On the runway of the Severny airport (Grozny), three masked men with weapons got out of the luggage compartment of the plane, they were joined by three more who were in the cabin. They forced the pilot to stop the plane, dragged the general out and took him away. Then, when the pilot sent the already empty airliner to the hangar, two UAZ vehicles with armed men drove up, who made sure that the plane was empty, and only then released the pilot.

Shpigun was kidnapped on March 5, and less than two weeks later, on March 17, the kidnappers demanded $15 million for the general through intermediaries as a ransom. Then the amount was reduced to 7 million and finally settled on three. Sergei Stepashin, who then held the post of Minister of Internal Affairs, gave the word of the officer that the general would be released and that every opportunity would be used for this.

On March 10, 1999, the minister, at a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Defense, proposed firing at the militant gangs. For this purpose, it was planned to use Tochka-U missile systems, the maximum deviation of projectiles of which is 170 meters. However, representatives of Chechnya at the Ministry of Internal Affairs assured that Shpigun would be released in the coming days. Pinpoint shelling, they said, would only exacerbate the already tense situation in the state. “We are talking about conducting “rather tough operations” against kidnappers and structures supporting them,” said Alexander Mikhailov, head of the information department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Where do legs grow from?

It is worth explaining why no ransom was paid for the hostage, although there had been similar cases before. The most important justification for the government's inaction is the unwillingness to "sponsor" armed gangs. Gennady Shpigun himself opposed such a solution to the problem, which is why he became very objectionable to those who were engaged in such a business. Kidnapping for ransom has become one of the most important sources of income for bandits. At that time, they had about 700 people in captivity. And this is one of the main versions of his abduction.

The corruption of the first persons of Chechnya, their close connection with terrorist groups was not a secret to anyone. Shpigun, at the insistence of Moscow, replaced not just anyone, but Adam Aushev himself, who was the brother of the President of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev, as plenipotentiary. The elders of Achkhoy-Martan did not like this appointment, and they expressed their protest, which was not heard. By the way, one cannot deny such a variant of abduction: for Caucasians to see strangers in a place that was previously occupied by a representative of their people is rather insulting. And ignoring the requests of the elders is generally an outrageous act.

Another option is the struggle for a zone of political influence between Russia and Western countries, in particular, England. The destabilizing factor located close to Russia, the favorable geopolitical location of Chechnya, the possibility of establishing NATO bases there in close proximity to the borders of the Federation - all this attracts political opponents of the state. Power structures are practically the only opportunity to influence political and economic life in a country where the war has just ended. Whoever puts their representatives at the head of these structures will, in fact, gain power over the country.

The connection between the kidnappers and Boris Berezovsky speaks in favor of the second option. He repeatedly gave the bandits millions of dollars in ransom through his representatives. As you know, Berezovsky emigrated to England as a refugee. In Russia, he was accused of trying to seize power through a coup. The press reported that the oligarch owns a joint business with Khozh-Akhmed Nukhaev and Movladi Atlangeriev, leaders of organized criminal groups. [S-BLOCK]

As the direct organizer of the kidnapping of the general, Baudi Bakuev, a participant in both Chechen wars, was called kidnapping in the interval between them. The field commander went through intermediaries to the Russian special services and put forward his own conditions. Also connected with this high-profile case are the well-known criminals, the Akhmadov brothers, Arbi Baraev. Participation in the abduction of Shpigun and Magomed Khatuev, who was the head of the border and customs services of Chechnya, is not ruled out.

It is impossible to say unequivocally that Shpigun was killed. Doctors who examined his corpse, found in March 2000, claim that he died of cardiac arrest due to hypothermia. Numerous fractures and injuries of internal organs were not fatal and allowed the general to escape from captivity, but he was not prepared to survive in the mountains in such a cold time, and his heart could not stand the last test.

Be that as it may, the true customers of the kidnapping remained unknown. This is the law of politics - the gray generals remain in the shadows.