Two members of Basayev's gang detained for attacks on military personnel in 1999 and 2000

The defendants in criminal cases of armed attacks by members of illegal groups, belonging to the detachments of Shamil Basayev and Khattab Alavdi Batykayev, on Russian servicemen in the Chechen Republic in 1999 and 2000 have been detained. This was announced by the official representative of the Investigative Committee (IC) of the Russian Federation Svetlana Petrenko on December 16.

It is specified that Khamidula Yapov and Minkail Magamadov were detained as part of criminal cases on the facts of armed attacks on servicemen of the Russian Defense Ministry.

They are charged under Article 279 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Organization of armed rebellion or active participation in it"), Part 2 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Participation in a gang"), Article 317 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Attempt on the life of a law enforcement officer").

Officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia and the "E" Center of the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the North Caucasus Federal District (NCFD) took part in the detention.

"In connection with the special gravity of the committed crimes, the court chose a measure of restraint in the form of detention," said the official representative of the IC.

As established by the investigation, Yapov is involved in the attack committed on October 4, 1999 near the village of Chervlennaya of the Shelkovsky village in the Chechen Republic. The second detainee, Magamadov, is believed by the investigation to have been involved in an attack on February 29, 2000 near the village of Ulus-Kert in Shatoysky in Chechnya.

"As a result of the crimes committed by the militants, 99 servicemen were killed and 32 people were wounded of varying degrees of severity," Petrenko added.

She also added that the investigation is establishing the role of the detainees in these attacks, as well as checking their involvement in committing other crimes.

"Investigators of the Investigative Committee of Russia together with officers of the Federal Security Service of Russia and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia continue to establish and other members of the gang involved in these crimes," - concluded the official representative of the agency.

Earlier, on October 11, three members of the Basayev and Khattab gang were detained in the case of the February 29, 2000 attack on servicemen of the 76th Pskov division of the Airborne Forces, which killed 84 servicemen and wounded four others.

Also in September, another member of Basayev's gang, found guilty of attempting to kill servicemen, was sentenced to 16 years in prison. In February 2000, he also took part in an attack on members of the sixth company of the 104th regiment of the 76th Pskov division of the Airborne Troops.

In the same month it was reported that law enforcers had already detained more than a hundred members of Shamil Basayev's gang in cases of terrorist acts and attacks on military and civilian objects. According to the FSB, the search for all participants of armed attacks of the gangs led by Basayev and Khattab continues.

Shamil Basayev is a terrorist, one of the leaders of the Chechen separatist movement. He participated in the fighting in Abkhazia (1992-1993) and Chechnya (1994-1996). He organized a terrorist attack in Budennovsk and was liquidated by security forces in 2006 during a special operation in Ingushetia.