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Who kidnapped and killed the general spygun. The abduction of the general spygun. Alleged customers of the kidnapping

It is worth explaining why the ransom was not paid for the hostage, although there were similar cases before. The most important justification for the government's inaction is its unwillingness to "sponsor" armed bandit formations. Gennady Shpigun himself opposed such a solution to the problem, which is why he became very disagreeable to those who were engaged in such a business. Kidnapping for ransom has become one of the bandits' most important sources of income. At that time, they had about 700 prisoners. And this is one of the main versions of his abduction.

The corruption of the top officials of Chechnya, their close ties with terrorist groups were no secret to anyone. Shpigun, at Moscow's insistence, replaced at the post of plenipotentiary not just anyone, but Adam Aushev himself, who was the brother of the President of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev. The elders of Achkhoy-Martan did not like this appointment, and they expressed their protest, which was not heard. By the way, this variant of kidnapping cannot be denied: for Caucasians to see strangers in a place that was previously occupied by a representative of their people is quite insulting. And ignoring the requests of the elders is generally outrageous.

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 advantageous 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 his representatives at the head of these structures will, in fact, gain power over the country.

The connection of the kidnappers with Boris Berezovsky speaks in favor of the second option. He has repeatedly donated millions of ransom dollars to the bandits through his representatives. As you know, Berezovsky emigrated to England as a refugee. In Russia, he was accused of attempting 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.

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

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 abduction remained unknown. This is the law of politics - the gray generals remain in the shadows.

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 inspired 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. Therefore, he was appointed a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in the very epicenter of hostilities - the Republic of Ichkeria. Further abduction and death of General G.N. Shpigun did not diminish his services to the country in the least.

short biography

From the very beginning, the biography of General Shpigun went exclusively upward (although at the end it ended tragically). The future Major General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was born on February 5, 1947 in the Babayurt region of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. His youthful years passed there. Until 1969, he was listed at the Dagdizel factory, where he perfectly mastered the technique of using a milling machine.

After 1969 he decided to start social and 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 Dagdizel. 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 began work 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 in charge of all pre-trial detention centers in Chechnya. Chechen politician and supporter of the independence of Ichkeria, Dzhokhar Dudayev, even included him on his black list.

Starting in 1996 and for 2 years, Major General Shpigun became a special expert of the Main Staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the department for emergency situations, 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.

Abduction

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 representative.

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 was not destined to come true. On that day, the unexpected happened. Shpigun at the Grozny airport was abducted by militants and taken away in an unknown direction.

According to the testimony of witnesses, when the general was on the plane and the airliner began to accelerate, 3 masked people, armed to the teeth, entered the passenger compartment from the luggage compartment. Two more people from the salon were added to them. Shpigun was forcibly taken out of the plane and taken away. When the pilot was already directing the plane to the hangar, two UAZ vehicles blocked the way. People in military uniforms searched the airliner and, after making sure that the general was not in it, got into their cars and drove away.

Negotiations and searches

Already on March 17, the militants through intermediaries demanded $ 15 million for the captured general. During the negotiations, the amount decreased 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 the criminals. Interior Minister Stepashin said he would make every effort to free General Shpigun. Attempts were made and various options were developed: from negotiations with mediators of the militants to the readiness to launch a missile strike on militant bases in Ichkeria and the involvement of special forces.

The situation was aggravated by the fact that the kidnappers hid the abducted general over and over again. In addition, there were many spies among the Ichkerian militiamen. At the end of December 1999, the elder of Achkhoy-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 declared that it was General Shpigun. The 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 results 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 the militants had kept Shpigun in a nearby basement.

Alleged customers 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 was the customer of the terrible crime. Since Chechnya at that time was the hottest spot in the Russian Federation and was literally swarming with gangster groups, there were plenty of versions.

It is worth recalling that General Shpigun took over the post of plenipotentiary, displacing Adam Aushev, 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 displeasure. However, their request was not heard.

The most compelling reasons for the accusation of Shpigun's abduction had the most radical Chechen field commander Shamil Basayev. Already in the early days, his name was considered the first among the prospective customers. The surnames of the Akhmadov brothers, Baudi Bakuev and Arbi Barayev were also mentioned. The list of sponsors of the abduction included the commander of the customs and border guards of Chechnya, Magomed Khatuyev, as well as the assistant to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ichkeria, Nasrudi Bazhiev.

The most unexpected thing was the presence of Boris Berezovsky on the list of customers. Shpigun knew about his financial ties with Chechen fighters and for this reason could have been eliminated.

Reasons for refusing to pay the ransom

Despite the fact that the kidnappers reduced the ransom amount several times, the leadership of the RF Ministry of Internal Affairs was not going to pay 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 that. First, kidnapping has become a common occurrence on the territory of Chechnya. By 2000, there were over 700 such cases. Paying a ransom for each prisoner would hit hard on the budget of the still not strong Russia, and in fact it would be an outright financing of the militants. General Shpigun himself once opposed this step. He believed that it was necessary to communicate with gangs from a position of strength. Secondly, the fulfillment of all the conditions of the criminals from the outside looked like an open weakness of the Russian leadership and would undoubtedly undermine its international authority. This could not be allowed, so the buyback option was immediately rejected.

Funeral

The farewell ceremony for General Gennady Shpigun stretched out into 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 republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs, 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, after being captured, he made attempts to escape. And this is with serious injuries. And death, according to the medical examination, came from hypothermia. The leadership of the Russian Federation could not fail to take into account all the merits of this person to the country. General Gennady Shpigun was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, two degrees at once. They did not forget him in their native Babayurt, the main street of the city was named in honor of the hero.

conclusions

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

Svetlana Yakovlevna, do you have any news about your husband's fate?
- Not. I am assured that he is alive, and this is still the main thing for me. And so there is no more information ...
- Yes ... Ex-minister Stepashin recently said that in June-July last year there was a real opportunity to release the general, even a specific date for his release was determined, but for some reason the case fell through. Do you know anything about this?
- I know all this, but as far as this is true, it is not for me to judge. From time to time I communicate with the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Kozlov. Now Gennady's brother is in Moscow, he went through all the instances, but did not find out anything definite. There is only one answer: “all forces are being applied” to free Shpigun.
- But the operation to rescue your husband is under the personal control of Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo. Have you met him?
- Not. They just gave me a greeting card from him on the women's holiday on March 8, but an annoying embarrassment happened to it. The congratulations begin correctly: "Shpigun Svetlana Yakovlevna". And below, after the congratulatory text, it is written: "I sincerely wish you, dear Larisa Vasilievna, health", etc. Probably, the assistants confused something.
- I understand that getting used to the idea that a loved one is not around is impossible, although a whole year has passed ...
- I often dream about Gennady. As if he is still in Dagestan, where we used to live, I always beg him to return home, to Moscow, but for some reason he stubbornly refuses ... And he always dreams of being cheerful, energetic, the way he always was.
Some friends advise me to turn to psychics, they say, they will tell you where Gennady is and what happened to him. But I was brought up in a different spirit and totally against it. I do not believe in all sorts of prophecies, fortune-telling and predictions.
- Do you experience any difficulties from the material point of view? Are you being helped?
- Yes, both the Ministry of Internal Affairs and my husband's comrades. But, you know, I work a lot myself. I am a police captain, I work in the Moscow police department. Business is up to my throat, but I can’t forget even in my official worries about my grief. Although we work, like the rest of the Moscow police, in an intensive regime.
- Did the bandits personally try to find you?
- Never, not once. Neither me nor our relatives. Apparently, they are well aware that we do not have and never had the millions of dollars that they demanded for their husband.
- Who else lives with you?
- Now I live alone, the children have their own families. Of course, being alone is sad. I think about my husband all the time. I come home from work late, until late at night I go through the photographs where we, together with Gennady, watch family videotapes ... And I cry. I remember a lot. I often call my sister Natasha in St. Petersburg, she is also very worried ...
For me, the emotional support of friends means a lot, but they can only sympathize, and they cannot return a husband to the family. All hope is on the authorities ... And special thanks to the journalists. Your attention pleases and gives hope that our family tragedy is not forgotten.
In spite of everything, I continue to believe that everything will be all right, Gennady will return safe and sound. I live by this faith.

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 inspired 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. Therefore, he was appointed a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in the very epicenter of hostilities - the Republic of Ichkeria. Further abduction and death of General G.N. Shpigun did not diminish his services to the country in the least.

short biography

From the very beginning, the biography of General Shpigun went exclusively upward (although at the end it ended tragically). The future Major General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was born in 1947 in the Babayurt region of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. His youthful years passed there. Until 1969, he was listed at the Dagdizel factory, where he perfectly mastered the technique of using a milling machine.

After 1969 he decided to start social and 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 Dagdizel. 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 began work 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 in charge of all pre-trial detention centers in Chechnya. Chechen politician and supporter of the independence of Ichkeria, Dzhokhar Dudayev, even included him on his black list.

Starting in 1996 and for 2 years, Major General Shpigun became a special expert of the Main Staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the department for emergency situations, 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.

Abduction

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 in fact asked the Russian leadership to recall the new plenipotentiary representative.

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 was not destined to come true. On that day, the unexpected happened. Shpigun was abducted by militants and taken away in an unknown direction.

According to the testimony of witnesses, when the general was on the plane and the airliner began to accelerate, 3 masked people, armed to the teeth, entered the passenger compartment from the luggage compartment. Two more people from the salon were added to them. Shpigun was forcibly taken out of the plane and taken away. When the pilot was already directing the plane to the hangar, two UAZ vehicles blocked the way. People in military uniforms searched the airliner and, after making sure that the general was not in it, got into their cars and drove away.

Negotiations and searches

Already on March 17, the militants through intermediaries demanded $ 15 million for the captured general. During the negotiations, the amount decreased 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 the criminals. Interior Minister Stepashin said he would make every effort to free General Shpigun. Attempts were made and various options were developed: from negotiations with mediators of the militants to the readiness to launch a missile strike on militant bases in Ichkeria and the involvement of special forces.

The situation was aggravated by the fact that the kidnappers hid the abducted general over and over again. In addition, there were many spies among the Ichkerian militiamen. At the end of December 1999, the elder of Achkhoy-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 declared that it was General Shpigun. The 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 results 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 the militants had kept Shpigun in a nearby basement.

Alleged customers 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 was the customer of the terrible crime. Since Chechnya at that time was the hottest spot in the Russian Federation and was literally swarming with gangster groups, there were plenty of versions.

It is worth recalling that General Shpigun took up the post of plenipotentiary, having displaced Adam Aushev, brother of Ruslan Aushev - 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 displeasure. However, their request was not heard.

The most compelling reasons for the accusation of Shpigun's abduction had the most radical Chechen field commander Shamil Basayev. Already in the early days, his name was considered the first among the prospective customers. The surnames of the Akhmadov brothers, Baudi Bakuev and Arbi Barayev were also mentioned. The list of sponsors of the abduction included the commander of the customs and border guards of Chechnya, Magomed Khatuyev, as well as the assistant to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ichkeria, Nasrudi Bazhiev.

The most unexpected thing was the presence of Boris Berezovsky on the list of customers. Shpigun knew about his financial ties with Chechen fighters and for this reason could have been eliminated.

Reasons for refusing to pay the ransom

Despite the fact that the kidnappers reduced the ransom amount several times, the leadership of the RF Ministry of Internal Affairs was not going to pay 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 that. First, kidnapping has become a common occurrence on the territory of Chechnya. By 2000, there were over 700 such cases. Paying a ransom for each prisoner would hit hard on the budget of the still not strong Russia, and in fact it would be an outright financing of the militants. General Shpigun himself once opposed this step. He believed that it was necessary to communicate with gangs from a position of strength. Secondly, the fulfillment of all the conditions of the criminals from the outside looked like an open weakness of the Russian leadership and would undoubtedly undermine its international authority. This could not be allowed, so the buyback option was immediately rejected.

Funeral

The farewell ceremony for General Gennady Shpigun stretched out into 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 republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as representatives from their native region. The body of the deceased was brought to Moscow and in June 2000 was buried at

Awards and memory

Major General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Gennady Nikolaevich Shpigun always did his job conscientiously. According to some witnesses, after being captured, he made attempts to escape. And this is with serious injuries. And death, according to the medical examination, came from hypothermia. The leadership of the Russian Federation could not fail to take into account all the merits of this person to the country. General Gennady Shpigun was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, two degrees at once. They did not forget him in their native Babayurt, the main street of the city was named in honor of the hero.

conclusions

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

There is practically no doubt that the body found is the body of Shpigun. This was indicated, in particular, by the data of the genetic examination, which showed a 90% match, and the fact that the general was identified by his brother. This was also evidenced by the testimony of the captured militant, who said that Shpigun died of a heart attack during one of the transitions - from Shatoi to Itum-Kali.

At the same time, on paper, Shpigun remained alive for a long time: the Ministry of Internal Affairs simply concealed the results of the examination. In addition, the then deputy head of the department, Valery Rushailo, reported on the progress of the case information that did not correspond to reality, saying, for example, that specialists from the Rostov Central Laboratory were studying the body. However, the journalists found out that this information does not correspond to reality - there was only one center in the region capable of conducting DNA research, but the body did not arrive there.

However, it is likely that both the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General's Office were simply reinsured. According to Kommersant, in early 2000, the president was just about to form a new government, and the then Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Rushailo was awaiting his appointment. The resonance around the Shpigun case reduced the chances of the official who was in charge of the department, whose representatives more than once promised to save the general. And as for the head of the Prosecutor General's Office, Vladimir Ustinov, he, in turn, had to get rid of the prefix acting, so he was afraid of reputational costs.

However, these oddities are just the tip of the iceberg. Until now, it is impossible to unequivocally name those responsible for the abduction of Shpigun and say what was the motive - money or revenge.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs, in particular, argued that Shamil Basayev personally stood behind the crime, who, since the First Chechen War, could have had a grudge against the general. Allegedly, it was on his order that Shpigun was taken prisoner by separatists from the gang of Abdul-Malik Mezhidov. According to another version, among the organizers of the abduction were Chechen separatists Baudi Bakuev, Arbi Baraev and the Akhmadov brothers.

According to another assumption, the head of the border and customs services of Ichkeria, Magomed Khatuyev, and the deputy minister of internal affairs of Ichkeria, Nasrudi Bazhiev, could have been involved in the abduction. Their participation could be due to the fact that the leadership of the republic initially opposed the appointment of Shpigun to the post of representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. Allegedly, the president of Ichkeria, Aslan Maskhadov, even personally notified the leadership of the department about the undesirability of the general's presence in the region.

The oligarch Boris Berezovsky was also accused of involvement in the crime. It was suspected that Shpigun knew about his financial contacts with Chechen gangs, and this could become the reason for the kidnapping. However, later Stepashin, in an interview with journalist Alexander Khinshtein, admitted that Berezovsky's role in this case was completely different: the oligarch, it turns out, paid the bandits seven million dollars, but not for the kidnapping, but for the fact that they would not extradite the general. According to the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this fact was later confirmed by Maskhadov.

Berezovsky's intervention really explains a lot: the sluggishness of the security forces, and the death in the full sense of the word of a precious hostage, and even some confusion after the discovery of his body. However, this is just a version. And apparently, it is now unlikely that it will be possible to confirm or deny it: many participants in those events are already dead and they will never be able to answer the questions of the investigator.