Was Shamil Basayev a career intelligence officer of the GRU? Shamil Basayev. Biography

Basaev Shamil Salmanovich
Born: January 14, 1965
Died: July 10, 2006 (age 41)

Biography

Shamil Salmanovich Basayev is a Chechen terrorist, an active participant in the terrorist struggle for the secession of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria from Russian Federation and military operations in Chechnya in 1991-2006, one of the leaders of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI). He had the rank of General of the Army of the ChRI (posthumously awarded the title of Generalissimo of the ChRI). Organized a number of high-profile terrorist attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation. He was included in the lists of terrorists of the UN, the US State Department and the European Union. He comes from the Belgatoy teip. Killed on the night of July 10, 2006 near the village. Ekazhevo.

early years

Basayev was born in the village of Dyshne-Vedeno, Vedeno district, Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Until 1970 he lived in Dyshne-Vedeno, then in the village of Ermolovskaya. In 1982 he graduated high school, and since 1983, for about four years (with interruptions) he worked as a laborer at the Aksaysky state farm in the Volgograd region. In 1983-1985 he served in military service Soviet army(ground support units of the Air Force - in the airfield service fire brigade). After completing his service, he tried three times to enter the law faculty of Moscow State University, but did not pass the competitive exams. In 1987 he entered the Moscow Institute of Land Management Engineers, but in 1988 he was expelled for academic failure in mathematics (according to other sources - for absenteeism.

During his stay in Moscow he worked as a controller in public transport and a security guard at a diner. From 1988 to August 1991, he worked at the Vostok-Alfa company as head of the computer sales department and lived with the owner of the company, Supyan Taramov, who later fought on the side of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and his brother. He went in for sports and received 1st category in football. It was reported that he also studied at the Islamic Institute in Istanbul from 1989 to 1991. On August 19-21, 1991, he participated in the defense of the Government House of the RSFSR (“White House”) during the GKChP putsch. In an interview with the newspaper “Moskovskaya Pravda” on January 27, 1996, Basayev said: “I knew that if the State Emergency Committee wins, the independence of Chechnya can be put to rest...”.

After the defeat, the State Emergency Committee returned to Chechnya. According to some reports, the return was due to the fact that he owed a large sum of money.

Becoming

In the summer of 1991, he became part of the armed formation created under the National Congress of the Chechen People (OCCHN). According to Basayev himself, from that moment on he independently studied the theory of military affairs “using Russian textbooks.” In an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta on March 12, 1996, Basayev talked about it this way: “I started studying because I had a goal. There were about thirty of us guys, we understood that Russia would not just let go of Chechnya, that freedom was an expensive thing and one had to pay for it in blood. That’s why we prepared hard.” In June-July 1991 he created the armed group “Vedeno”. The group was engaged in the protection of buildings in which congresses of the Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus (CNK) and OKCHN were held. The group included residents of the settlements of Benoy, Vedeno, Dyshne-Vedeno, Bamut and some other mountain villages.

In October 1991, he nominated himself for the presidency of Chechnya. After winning the elections, Dzhokhar Dudayev formed a sabotage and reconnaissance group based in the 12th town of Grozny. The group was created with the aim of protecting “the freedom and interests of the Chechen Republic of Ichryssia and its president.” On November 9, 1991, as a sign of protest against the attempt to introduce a state of emergency in Checheno-Ingushetia, together with friends Said-Ali Satuev and Lom-Ali Chachaev (according to some sources, in 1995 they also participated in a terrorist attack in the city of Budennovsk), he committed a hijacking passenger plane Tu-154 from the city airport Mineral water to Turkey (the plane was supposed to fly to Yekaterinburg). Upon arrival in Turkey, the invaders surrendered to the authorities and, after negotiations, were sent to Chechnya. There were 178 hostages on board, none of them were injured - this was Basayev’s most bloodless action.

In 1992, he served as company commander, special forces battalion of the National Guard Dzhokhar Dudayev. Due to differences in views on what an independent Chechnya should be like, Basayev at that time took a neutral position towards Dudayev and his circle.

Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh

At the end of 1991 - beginning of 1992, Basayev took part in the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh on the side of Azerbaijan. It turned out that the militants who fought against the Armenians in Karabakh were part of the group that defended Grozny. Fought in besieged Shusha. According to some reports, Basayev’s detachment also participated in the coup of Suret Huseynov and the overthrow of Elchibey, contributing to the rise to power of Heydar Aliyev in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani Colonel Azer Rustamov, who fought in Karabakh, assesses the role of Basayev and Raduev in the battles of the summer of 1992 as “invaluable,” noting that they left the battlefield after heavy losses. According to him, the number of Chechen volunteers was about 100 people. But according to the former chief of staff of the Yerkrapah Union of Armenian Volunteers, Deputy Minister for emergency situations Armenia to Major General Astvatsatur Petrosyan, in the summer of 1992, about 400 Chechen militants under the leadership of Basayev fought on the side of the Azerbaijanis. On July 3, 1992, during the operation to liberate the village of Karmravan, many of them were killed, and 120 were captured, after which Shamil Basayev never returned to Karabakh.

In August 1992, Basayev headed a detachment of Chechen volunteers to Abkhazia to participate in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict on the Abkhaz side. Officially, a detachment of volunteers from North Caucasus participated in hostilities as an armed unit of the Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus (CNC). In Abkhazia, Basayev performed well during battles with Georgian units, and was appointed commander of the Gagra Front, commander of the KNK troops corps, deputy minister of defense of Abkhazia, and advisor to the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Abkhazia. Basayev's detachment was in the vanguard of the Abkhaz troops during the assault on the city of Gagra. Received the rank of lieutenant colonel of the KNK troops. For special services, the President of Abkhazia, Vladislav Ardzinba, awarded Basayev the “Hero of Abkhazia” medal. Gennady Troshev in the book “My War. Chechen diary trench general" described Basayev’s activities in the vicinity of Gagra and the village of Leselidze:

Basayev’s “janissaries” (and there were 5 thousand of them) were distinguished by senseless cruelty in that war. In the fall of 1993, in the vicinity of Gagra and the village of Leselidze, the “commander” himself personally led a punitive action to exterminate refugees. Several thousand Georgians were shot, hundreds of Armenian, Russian and Greek families were massacred. According to the stories of eyewitnesses who miraculously escaped, the bandits gladly recorded scenes of abuse and rape on videotape.

Basayev and the GRU

According to some allegations, during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, Chechen volunteers were trained with the participation of Russian military specialists. Former officer of Special Forces "B" Federal service counterintelligence Konstantin Nikitin claims that Basayev was trained in sabotage by GRU officers on the basis of the 345th airborne regiment(according to statements by the then Georgian parliament - at the Maikop GRU base). The former head of the FSB Public Relations Center, Alexander Mikhailov, stated that “Russian military experts and advisers who worked on the Abkhaz side made a great contribution to the formation of Basayev as a military specialist and professional saboteur.” The Chairman of the People's Assembly of Chechnya, Duk-Vakha Abdurakhmanov, claimed that Basayev was a career GRU officer; similar statements were also made by Ruslan Aushev and Alexander Lebed. Retired Major General of the KGB of the USSR Yu. I. Drozdov noted that Basayev was one of the leaders of the unit special purpose, involved in the military.

In an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta on March 12, 1996, Basayev denied the information that he was trained on the basis of the Russian 345th Airborne Regiment: “Not a single Chechen studied there, because they were not accepted.” Representatives of Chechen separatists have always rejected allegations of Basayev's cooperation with Russian intelligence services, calling them a deliberate attempt to discredit Basayev in the eyes of his supporters.

Return and anti-Dudaev opposition

At the beginning of 1993, he returned to Grozny and formed a separate combat detachment of Chechens who took part in hostilities on the territory of Abkhazia (later became known as the “Abkhaz battalion”). During the political struggle between President Dudayev and the opposition, he acted as a mediator in negotiations. In early 1994, he traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan as official representative CRI. In April-June, I tried to organize the sending of soldiers from my squad to Afghanistan to undergo special training. military training, but, according to Basayev, this was not possible (out of the entire group, only 12 people reached Afghanistan, who immediately fell ill with malaria).

After the armed uprising of the formations of Umar Avturkhanov and Ruslan Labazanov in the summer of 1994, Basayev joined fighting on the side of Dzhokhar Dudayev. The “Abkhaz battalion” became Dudayev’s main force during the storming of R. Labazanov’s headquarters in Grozny (July 1994) and the defeat of Labazanov’s group in Argun (September 1994). Basayev’s fighters also took part in attacks on the residence of Ruslan Khasbulatov in Tolstoy-Yurt and the base of Bislan Gantamirov in Urus-Martan.

First Chechen War

On November 26, 1994, Basayev’s “Abkhaz battalion” formed the backbone of Dudayev’s armed formations when repelling the assault on Grozny by the joint forces of Russian tank units and anti-Dudaev opposition formations.

From November 1994 to March 1995, he was one of the leaders of the defense of Grozny. Despite the withdrawal of the main forces of the militants at the end of January, Basayev’s detachment held the defense in the village. Chernorechye (southern suburb of Grozny) until early March. On February 13, 1995, he took part in negotiations with representatives of the Russian command in the village of Sleptsovskaya (Ingushetia).

In 1995, he served as commander of a reconnaissance and sabotage battalion and commander of the Southern Front. He supervised the creation of a defense system near the settlement of Nozhai-Yurt.

On May 9, 1995, he stated that he was focusing on sabotage and subversive activities, since only through such tactics could they force the Russian leadership to sit down at the negotiating table.

On June 14-19, 1995, together with Aslanbek Abdulkhadzhiev and Aslanbek Ismailov, Basayev organized and led a raid by a detachment of Chechen militants on the territory of the Stavropol Territory, which ended with the seizure of a hospital in the city of Budennovsk, Stavropol Territory. After returning to Chechnya, he served as commander of the Eastern Front.

On July 21, 1995, “for special services to the Fatherland, showing courage and dedication in repelling Russian aggression,” by order of Dzhokhar Dudayev, Basayev was prematurely awarded the rank of brigadier general of the ChRI.

In April 1996 (after the death of Dudayev), Shamil Basayev became one of the leaders of the State Defense Committee and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the ChRI. He stated that to end the war, the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya is not enough, since “Russia must pay us compensation for the damage caused.” He called for the secession of all Muslim republics of the North Caucasus from the Russian Federation and their unification into a single state.

In the summer of 1996, Basayev served as commander of the Central Front and was one of the organizers and leaders of Operation Jihad (August 6, 1996), during which Chechen militants captured most of Grozny and blocked groups of Russian troops in Argun and Gudermes.

Interwar period

In September 1996, he was appointed chairman of the customs committee in the coalition government of the ChRI formed by Zelimkhan Yandarbiev. In November 1996, he refused the post of Deputy Prime Minister offered to him.

In November 1996, he nominated himself for the post of president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. He ran in tandem with Vakha Ibragimov (adviser to Yandarbiev on foreign policy issues). According to the results of the elections on January 27, 1997, he received 23.5% of the votes and took second place.

In February 1997, he participated in the organization of the Marshonan Toba party (Chechen “Freedom Party”) and was elected its honorary chairman at the founding congress.

On April 1, 1997, he was appointed first deputy prime minister of the ChRI government, supervised industry and replaced the chairman of the government (Aslan Maskhadov) during his absence.

On July 10, 1997, he resigned from the post of first deputy chairman of the ChRI government “for health reasons” (the resignation was not accepted).

On January 12, 1998, he was appointed acting chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the ChRI. On February 12, the composition of the government proposed by Basayev was unanimously approved by the CRI parliament.

On April 26, 1998, he was elected chairman of the Congress of the Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan (KNID), convened on that day in Grozny on the initiative of the Islamic Nation Congress (headed by Movladi Udugov). The purpose of creating the congress was declared to be “the liberation of the Muslim Caucasus from the Russian imperial yoke.”

In 1998, he headed the Football Federation of the ChRI and worked on the development of sports in the republic. In addition, he himself played for football club Terek (Grozny).

On July 3, 1998, he submitted his resignation from the post of Prime Minister to Maskhadov. The reason for the resignation of the government was cited as the failure of the cabinet of ministers to implement the program of economic reforms, but it is possible that one of the reasons was disagreement with Maskhadov’s personnel policy (in June 1998, other people were appointed instead of several ministers represented by Basayev) and the authorities’ drastic actions to disarm the formations opposition.

On July 4, 1998, together with Khattab, he conducted demonstration exercises of the Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade ( military unit KNID).

In 1999, together with Khattab and a number of commanders opposed to the ChRI government, he formed the Supreme Military Majlisul Shura (HSMS) and was elected its leader (amir).

During the interwar period, Basayev became close to the Wahhabis. He spoke publicly about the possibility of using weapons against Russia mass destruction, called for the creation of a “caliphate” from the Caspian to the Black Sea. In an interview with the BBC in 1998, he said: “Personally, I would not like Russia to recognize the independence of Chechnya today, because if this happens, then we will have to recognize Russia - that is, the colonial empire - within its current borders. I would not like to confirm their right to rule Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria or Tataria.”

In August and September 1999, together with Khattab, he led the Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade and joint detachments of field commanders during raids on the territory of Dagestan.

Second Chechen War

At the end of 1999 - beginning of 2000, together with Aslan Maskhadov, he led the defense of Grozny against federal troops. In early February 2000, he commanded the exit of the main forces of militants from Grozny. At the same time, the militants suffered big losses, and Basayev himself was blown up by a mine and was seriously injured right leg, which later had to be amputated in military field conditions. Despite the injury, he continued to exercise military leadership over the actions of the militants. According to federal forces, Basayev’s base until the spring of 2001 was located in the village of Duisi, Akhmeta region of Georgia. With a high probability, in October-December 2000 he was undergoing treatment in the USA.

In mid-summer 2002, together with Maskhadov, he organized the Great Majlis (meeting) in the mountains of Chechnya, which brought together a large number of field commanders. At the Majlis, amendments to the constitution of the ChRI, approved in 1992, were adopted. The State Defense Committee was also formed - Majlisul Shura of the ChRI, into which the VVMSH led by Basayev was integrated. Basayev took the position of head of the military committee of the State Defense Committee-Majlisul Shura. Basayev was appointed to the post of Deputy Commander-in-Chief and became Maskhadov's naib (deputy).

In the early autumn of 2002, he formed the sabotage and terrorist detachment Riyadus-Salihiin. After Movsar Barayev’s group carried out a massive hostage-taking in Moscow, he resigned from all his posts in the official leadership of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and called on the Chechen people to rally around Maskhadov. As journalists noted, during the military operations in Chechnya, and especially after the death of Khattab in 2002, there was a rapprochement between Basayev and Maskhadov: Basayev became more loyal to the president of the ChRI. He was the only Chechen in the Majlisul Shura, who was involved in the distribution of finances between militant groups (all the rest were Arabs). Financial issues became one of the reasons for disagreements between Basayev and Maskhadov - the first had autonomous sources, and the second faced a serious lack of funds when a number of Western countries blocked the financial flows of terrorists after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States.

Since 2003, he often moved around the territory of the North Caucasus, presumably spending most of his time outside Chechnya. One of the places where Basayev illegally crossed the Russian state border was the inaugural opening of the Nizhny Zaramag checkpoint in December 2002. From July to the end of August 2003, with his wife Maryam and two guards (one of whom, Khamid Basayev, was his nephew), he was hiding in a private household in the town of Baksan in Kabardino-Balkaria. At the end of August, the special services received information about Basayev’s whereabouts, and on the night of August 24, special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB surrounded the house and attempted an assault. But Basayev, his wife, one of the guards and a guest managed to fight their way out of the encirclement (Basayev himself was wounded in the leg). Khamid Basayev was seriously wounded and remained in the house. When a policeman approached him, he blew himself up with a grenade. It is alleged that Shamil Basayev climbed into the Tyzyl Gorge and then left Kabardino-Balkaria.

On August 23, 2005, by decree of the President of the ChRI, Abdul-Halim Sadulayev, he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the ChRI (supervisor of the power bloc) and head of the military committee of the GKO-Majlisul Shura (“military amir of the Mujahideen of Ichkeria”).

On June 27, 2006, by decree of the President of the ChRI, Dokki Umarov was appointed vice-president of the ChRI. At the same time, Basayev’s famous letter to Putin was made public.

On July 10, 2006, on the separatist website “Kavkaz Center”, with reference to the so-called Military Committee of Ichkeria, a message appeared that Shamil Basayev died in the village of Ekazhevo, Nazran district of Ingushetia, as a result of an accidental spontaneous explosion of a truck with explosives. According to the separatist Military Committee, no special operation was carried out against Basayev.

According to the official version, which subsequently received numerous confirmations, the liquidation of Basayev is the result of a special operation carried out Russian intelligence services during the preparation of militants led by Basayev for a terrorist attack in Ingushetia. According to the same version, the FSB special operation, which resulted in the liquidation of Basayev and other militants, was prepared ahead of time, even at the stage of manufacturing weapons sold to the militants.

Death

Reports of the death of Shamil Basayev, as in the case of many other militant leaders, appeared repeatedly (the first time back in 1995). In particular, messages appeared in May 2000, February 3, 2005, October 13, 2005. Each time, Russian special services stated that Basayev was killed as a result of a special operation.

According to the FSB, Shamil Basayev was liquidated on the night of July 10, 2006 in the area of ​​the village. Ekazhevo (Nazran district of Ingushetia) after the explosion of the KamAZ truck he was accompanying with weapons and ammunition. From the message of the FSB of the Russian Federation it became known that Denis Usmanov fired the control and only shot in the head of Shamil Basayev, after which Basayev died. Along with Basayev, the commander of the Ingush sector of the Caucasian Front, Isa Kushtov, and three other militants (Tarkhan Ganizhev, Mustafa Tagirov and Salambek Umadov), as well as the owner of the site, Alikhan Tsechoev, died.

A few hours after the Ingush police discovered and examined the explosion site, FSB director Nikolai Patrushev officially announced that Basayev, along with other militants, was killed as a result of a secret special operation, and the planned explosion was connected with the upcoming G8 summit.

The exploded truck was carrying a large number of unguided rockets, grenade launchers and ammunition of various calibers. Based on this, a version arose in the press that FSB agents added some special explosive device to the shipment of weapons during transportation, which detonated at a certain moment.

Sources associated with the Chechen separatists tend to argue about accidents and careless handling of explosives.

It was possible to finally identify Basayev’s body only six months later, after a molecular genetic examination.

“Basayev’s death has left a gaping hole in Chechnya that no living militant leader has been able to fill,” the BBC noted on July 13, 2006.

In 2011 it was shown on Channel One documentary“Plan “Caucasus-2”: Metastases”, in which an audio recording of Doku Umarov was heard, where he stated that Basayev was blown up by either Georgian or Russian special services.

Act of terrorism

On June 14, 1995, together with Aslanbek Abdulkhadzhiev and Aslanbek Ismailov, Basayev organized and led a raid of a gang of 200 militants into the territory of the Stavropol Territory, during which they captured the city of Budyonnovsk. When large forces approached the city Russian army, the militants took about 1,500 hostage local residents, seized the city hospital and demanded an end to hostilities in Chechnya and the start of negotiations between the Russian government and Dzhokhar Dudayev. On June 17, special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB made several unsuccessful attempts to storm the hospital. On June 18, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin personally held negotiations with Basayev, during which he partially agreed to the militants’ conditions. On June 19, Basayev’s detachment freed most of the hostages and returned to the mountainous part of Chechnya by bus. More than 130 local residents died during the attack. According to Basayev, the militants planned to reach Moscow, but were forced to begin hostilities in Budyonnovsk due to their discovery by local traffic police officers.

The kidnapping of American Kenneth Gluck, a representative of the humanitarian mission Doctors Without Borders in Chechnya, on January 9, 2001. On January 27, Basayev wrote a letter to Gluck apologizing for the kidnapping, claiming that it was “an initiative of some of our mujahideen” who considered Gluck a spy. On February 3, Gluck was released. It was assumed that he was kidnapped by militants from the detachment of field commander Rizvan Akhmadov.

Hostage taking at the Dubrovka Theater Center in Moscow on October 23, 2002, which resulted in the death of 129 hostages. Basayev, in a special statement, took responsibility for organizing the seizure, in which he claimed that the group was supposed to seize the buildings of the State Duma and the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.

The explosion of a truck with explosives near the Government House in Grozny on December 27, 2002, as a result of which 72 people were killed (Chechen government employees and military personnel) and the building itself collapsed. On February 10, 2003, Basayev claimed responsibility for the bombing on behalf of the Riyadus-Salihiin detachment, and on February 24, in a separate statement, he described the details of the attack and provided video footage of the explosion of the building. According to Basayev, the truck was driven by a Chechen family (father, daughter and son), part of which died during the fighting.

A series of terrorist attacks using suicide bombers in 2003: July 5 - at the Wings rock festival in Tushino (Moscow), December 5 - on an electric train in Essentuki, December 9 - explosion near the National Hotel (Moscow). For all these terrorist attacks, Basayev took responsibility on behalf of the amir (commander) of the Riyadus-Salihiin detachment. But later it was established that all these explosions were carried out by the autonomous group “Jamaat Mujahideen of Karachay”.

On February 23, 2004, Basayev reported that on February 18, saboteurs from the Riyadus-Salihiin detachment in the vicinity of Moscow exploded 60 grenade launcher shells and a certain amount of plastic, with the help of which two main gas pipelines were disabled (one of them in the Ramensky district of the Moscow region) and the Moscow water heating power plant. Three high-voltage power transmission lines that powered the water heating station were also blown up. According to Basayev, the purpose of the operation was to disable the Moscow heating system, which could lead to freezing of communications. The Russian leadership, according to Basayev, managed to avoid freezing of the system by sending gas to Moscow during repair work, intended for supplies to other countries (in particular, the interruption in gas supplies to Belarus was 4 days). On April 8, a video recording of militants preparing to carry out explosions was presented. As a result of damage to the gas pipeline, the supply of gas to individual houses in nearby villages, towns and villages was temporarily stopped. Nikolai Tulaev, a member of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Security, said that Basayev’s statement is “propaganda hype.”

On March 15, 2004, several power line poles were blown up in the Moscow region. As a result of the explosions, three power transmission towers collapsed, and shaped charges from shots fired at an under-barrel grenade launcher were discovered at the fourth tower. A representative of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate for the Moscow Region stated that the explosions of power line supports were carried out by the same group that blew up the gas pipeline on February 18.

The explosion on May 9, 2004 at the Dynamo stadium in Grozny, as a result of which the President of the Chechen Republic Akhmat Kadyrov and the Chairman of the State Council of the Chechen Republic Khusein Isaev were killed, and the commander of the United Group of Forces in the North Caucasus, Colonel General Valery Baranov, was seriously wounded (he was torn off leg). On May 16, Basayev took responsibility for this terrorist attack. On June 15, 2006, a video was uploaded to the Kavkaz-Center website about Basayev’s meeting with Dokka Umarov, during which Basayev confirmed his involvement in the assassination attempt on Kadyrov. According to this statement, the perpetrators of the bombing were paid 50 thousand dollars.

In September 2004, Basayev, on behalf of Riyadus-Salihiin, took responsibility for terrorist attacks in Moscow - an explosion on the Kashirskoye Highway on August 24 and a suicide bombing near the entrance to the Rizhskaya metro station on August 31. It was later established that these and some other terrorist attacks were carried out by the autonomous group “Jamaat Mujahideen of Karachay”.

Explosions of two Russian passenger airliners Tu-134 and Tu-154 on August 24, 2004. According to Basayev, the terrorists he sent did not blow up the planes, but only hijacked them. In an interview with Andrei Babitsky, Basayev claimed that the planes were shot down by missiles Russian air defense, since the Russian leadership feared that the planes would be directed at some targets in Moscow or St. Petersburg (similar to the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the USA).

The seizure of school No. 1 in Beslan (North Ossetia) on September 1-3, 2004, which resulted in the death of over 333 people (186 of them children). Basayev claimed responsibility for organizing the attack in a statement published two weeks after the capture. He later made another statement on this matter.

On May 27, 2005, Basayev stated that the power outage in Moscow, the Moscow region and some other areas occurred as a result of explosions carried out by a special sabotage group of militants on May 24-25. On May 28, Basayev said that the burned-out Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater was also set on fire sabotage group, which “is tasked with the destruction of economic, political, administrative and cultural-propaganda centers in the cities of Rusnia and especially in Moscow.” Representatives of the Russian authorities have always denied Basayev's involvement in the energy crisis and the fire in the theater.

Major combat operations

The assault on the city of Grozny by Chechen militants on August 6, 1996. Basayev was one of the organizers of the operation and personally commanded the main forces of the militants. After three weeks of continuous fighting, the Russian government reached an agreement with the separatists and soon began withdrawing troops from Chechnya.

Invasion of militants into the territory of Dagestan in August-September 1999. Basayev led joint detachments of militants together with Khattab and, according to him, personally carried out preliminary reconnaissance activities.

On the night of June 22, 2004, militants led by Basayev carried out a raid on Ingushetia, seizing or blocking a number of large administrative and military facilities in Ingushetia for several hours. According to official data, 97 people were killed during the attack, including 28 civilians. The militants' losses were, according to them, 6 people killed and several wounded (in total, 570 members of local and Chechen groups were involved in the operation armed forces). On July 26, a video was distributed showing Basayev at the warehouse of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia on the night of the attack.

Attack on the city of Nalchik (Kabardino-Balkaria) on October 13, 2005, as a result of which, according to official data, 12 civilians and 26 law enforcement officers were killed. In total, over 100 militants attacked the city. Of these, approximately 70 were killed, 27 were arrested. Later, a video recording of a meeting of militant commanders that took place on the eve of the attack on Nalchik was distributed. In August 2007, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office for the Southern Federal District officially announced that Basayev was one of the leaders of the attack.

Awards

Shamil Basayev was awarded the highest awards of the self-proclaimed ChRI “Koman siy” (Chechen: “Honor of the Nation”) and “Koman Turpal” (Cheche: “Hero of the Nation”). For special services, the President of Abkhazia, Vladislav Ardzinba, awarded Basayev the “Hero of Abkhazia” medal. He was posthumously awarded the title of “Generalissimo” by Doku Umarov, the president of the self-proclaimed “Chechen Republic of Ichkeria”.

Literary creativity

IN different time wrote poems in Russian and Chechen, which he signed with pseudonyms.

In 2004, Basayev wrote a book (a collection of instructions) called “The Book of the Mujahid.” The book is based on the work of Paolo Coelho “The Book of the Warrior of Light”, which Basayev revised, “removing some excesses, and strengthened it all with verses, hadiths and stories from the life of the ashabs...”.

Epistolary heritage of Basayev

During his life, Shamil Basayev wrote a significant number of letters, the text of most of which became known during his lifetime.

Letter from Basayev to Vladimir Putin

Letter from Shamil Basayev to Vladimir Putin is the journalistic title of the document and the most famous letter, excerpts from which were distributed in June 2006 nearby Russian media; in 2010 it was published in full by Dmitry Rogozin in his book. The message was conveyed through the ex-president of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev and the head North Ossetia Alexandra Dzasokhova; According to Yuri Felshtinsky, it was not initially an “open letter.” Excerpts from Basayev's note were announced by prosecutor Maria Semisynova at the 53rd meeting trial over the terrorist Nurpashi Kulaev on January 19, 2006, selective quotation of the text of the letter by the state prosecutor, representatives of some public organizations, for example, “Mothers of Beslan,” was associated with the bias of the prosecutor’s office.

The letter is based on an accusation of Russia’s expansion into the Caucasus, highlighting the theme of Russianism, begun by Dzhokhar Dudayev in the early 90s, as the basis of Russian ideology:

“Your Great Russian dream, sitting up to your neck in shit, is to drag everyone else there. This is Russianism.”
- Letter from Basayev to Putin

According to RIA Novosti columnist Dmitry Babich, who previously interviewed Shamil Basayev, the essence of the letter boiled down to the formula “security in exchange for territory,” but due to Basayev’s mental state, his inability to control his coreligionists and therefore speak for “all Muslims of Russia,” and the main thing is his lack of understanding of the situation after the tragedy in Beslan, the content of this letter should be defined as “idiotic” in meaning (“From the servant of Allah Shamil Basayev to President Putin. Vladimir Putin, you didn’t start this war. But you can end it if you have the courage and de Gaulle’s confidence..."), and mediocre in style. Daily Journal columnist Leonid Ruzov, admitting, in general, that Basayev’s letter in style “resembles a bizarre example of Islamic rhetoric mixed with post-Soviet bureaucracy” and that Basayev himself did not have sufficient authority, noted, in the journalist’s opinion, the main thing is that the letter proves innocence to the organization of the terrorist attack in Beslan by Aslan Maskhadov.

Basayev’s letter to Putin itself is not included in the list of extremist materials, but some publications based on materials from this document are recognized as extremist.

Basayev’s letter of appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin was presented at thematic exhibitions as an exhibit. In addition to this letter, there were other, less well-known letters from Basayev to Putin.

Open letter from Basayev

In September 2004, an open letter from Shamil Basayev was posted on the Kavkaz Center website, in which he took responsibility for the terrorist attack in Beslan. Russian authorities and the world community expressed the hope that “Basayev will appear before justice as quickly as possible”:

Basayev's letter caused condemnation from the American State Department. Speaking at a press conference in Warsaw, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said: “He shows his inhumanity without any doubt. Anyone who uses innocent people for political purposes does not deserve to live in the society that we consider normal,” said the American diplomat.

Other letters

Basayev's open letter, distributed through Chechen separatist websites in 2004, included a description of all possible forms of revenge for the murder of Zelimkhan Yandarbiev in Qatar, former president self-proclaimed republic of Ichkeria.

A letter from Shamil Basayev was handed over to Doctors Without Borders employee Kenneth Gluck apologizing for his abduction.

In 2002, Basayev sent a letter to NATO leaders asking them to influence Russia to promptly withdraw troops from Chechnya.

In 2000, Shamil Basayev wrote an open letter to the Palestinians accusing them of hypocrisy on the Chechen issue.

During anti-terrorist operations, it turned out that Basayev communicated with field commanders through letters in which he discussed political structure Chechnya and the world as a whole.

Family

Father - Salman Basayev, mother - Nura Basayeva (Chechens by nationality; Magomed Khambiev’s statement that Shamil Basayev’s father was an Avar was refuted by Salman Basayev himself). Basayev had two brothers (Shirvani and Islam) and a sister, Zinaida. Thanks to his father, Khattab became his sworn brother.

On June 3, 1995, the house of Shamil Basayev's uncle Khasmagomed Basayev in Vedeno was destroyed by a missile and bomb attack, as a result of which 12 relatives of Basayev were killed, including his cousin, sister Zinaida (born 1964) and her seven children.

The younger brother, Islam, was poisoned in 1999. Another brother, Shirvani Basayev, also took part in hostilities against Russia: during the First Chechen War, he was the commandant of the village of Bamut and took part in Russian-Chechen negotiations. In the winter of 1999-2000. actively participated in the defense of Grozny. In December 2000, a message was circulated about his fatal wound in a battle with Russian troops, but it was later refuted. According to some reports, after being seriously wounded and treated in Turkey, he is living in another country.

Father (Salman Basayev) was killed on January 12, 2002 in a clash with Russian troops in the village of Akhkinchu-Borzoi, Kurchaloevsky district of Chechnya. During the First Chechen War, in the summer of 1996, in the village of Vedeno, federal forces deliberately blew up the house of Shamil Basayev’s father as a punitive measure. At the same time, it was officially stated that an unexploded bomb fell in the area, which was impossible to transport or defuse on site. After the start of the Second Chechen War, Salman Basayev hid from federal forces near distant relatives. According to the testimony of relatives, despite elderly age, he repeatedly stated that “he would not surrender to the Russians alive” and always carried two F-1 grenades with him.

Personal life

Information about marriages, wives and children is very contradictory.

After his death, there were three wives (one of whom was Russian), two sons (born in 1990 and 1992) and three daughters. Not a single child of Basayev bears his father’s surname. According to other sources (see below), there were five wives.

Wives and children

He married for the first time in 1988 to a native of Abkhazia from the village of Duripsh, Gudauta region, who, before the second Chechen campaign, left with two children, a boy and a girl, either to Azerbaijan or to Turkey, where their traces were lost; According to unverified data, he lives in Holland. According to another version, the first wife and his son lived in Abkhazia until recently.

He brought his second wife, named Indira Dzhenia from the Abkhaz village of Lykhny (or, according to other sources, from the village of Mgudzyrkhua), home after his participation in the 1992-1993 war; at the beginning of the second Chechen campaign, Basayev sent her home; It is unknown whether she is alive, but according to some reports, she lives in Holland. According to other sources, the second wife's name was Angela Genia, and they got married either in 1993 or in the spring of 1994. Basayev has a daughter from this marriage.

Basayev married for the third time on December 9, 2000.
On February 23, 2005, Basayev married a Kuban Cossack woman from Krasnodar region(to the sister of one of the militants).

On November 29, 2005, he married 25-year-old resident of Grozny Elina Ersenoyeva, who was subsequently kidnapped by unknown persons.

Mentions in culture

The Chechen bard Timur Mutsuraev dedicated several of his songs to him.
The repertoire of the group “Cast Iron Skorokhod” includes the song “Shamil Basayev”.

Shamil Salmanovich Basayev (1965-2006) - one of the most odious figures in post-Soviet history, one of the leaders of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI), a terrorist included in the lists of international terrorists of the UN, the US State Department and European Union, organizer of a number of high-profile terrorist attacks in Russian cities.

And at the same time, Shamil Basayev, like most public and political figures modern Russia- a native of the USSR. And it is with the Soviet Union that the upbringing, education and development of this person is connected. They even say that Basayev was a career GRU officer.

Origin

Shamil Basayev was born in the village of Dyshne-Vedeno, Vedeno district, Checheno-Ingush Republic. He graduated from school in 1982, after which he worked for four years as a laborer on a state farm in the Volgograd region. From 1983 to 1985 he served in the army, in the airfield service fire brigade. Three times I tried to enter the law faculty of Moscow State University and failed three times.

Education

In 1987 he entered the Moscow Institute of Land Management Engineers, but was expelled a year later. According to some certificates - for academic failure, according to others - for chronic absenteeism. He did not return to his homeland, he worked in Moscow as a controller on a bus, as a watchman in a diner, and then at the Vostok-Alfa company as the head of the computer sales department. He went in for sports, achieved 1st category in football. There is information that from 1989 to 1991 he studied at the Islamic Institute in Istanbul.

Protecting the White House

During the putsch of the State Emergency Committee on August 19-21, 1991, Shamil Basayev was among those who defended the Government House of the RSFSR (“ The White house"). In his interview with the newspaper “Moskovskaya Pravda”, published in the issue of the newspaper on January 27, 1996, Basayev explained this impulse as follows: “I knew that if the Emergency Committee won, it would be possible to give up on the independence of Chechnya.” They say that Basayev supervised the creation of barricades near the White House and expressed his readiness to knock out all the tanks stationed near the Government House.

Soon after the defeat of the putschists, Basayev returned to his homeland. According to some reports, he was forced to flee Moscow because he owed a large sum of money here.

"Basayev's Janissaries"

Since the beginning of the 90s, Basayev has not missed a single conflict in the Caucasus. He fought on the side of Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani Colonel Azer Rustamov characterizes Basayev’s role in the battles of the summer of 1992 as follows: “the invaluable role of Basayev and Raduev.” According to his information, the number of Chechen volunteers in Karabakh was about 100 people. However, according to Armenian estimates, about 400 Chechens fought under Basayev. On July 3, 1992, in an operation in the village of Karmravan, this Chechen detachment was defeated, after which Basayev never returned to Karabakh.

In August 1992, Chechen volunteers under the command of Basayev went to the theater of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. Here they fought on the side of Abkhazia against Georgia. Here Basayev also showed himself well and was appointed commander of the Gagra Front, Deputy Minister of Defense of Abkhazia, and Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Abkhazia. For special merits Basayev was awarded a medal"Hero of Abkhazia".

However, the activities of Shamil Basayev in that war were also of a very odious nature. Gennady Troshev in the book “My War. The Chechen Diary of a Trench General” wrote about Basayev’s activities in the vicinity of Gagra: “Basayev’s “janissaries” (and there were 5 thousand of them) were distinguished by senseless cruelty in that war. In the fall of 1993, in the vicinity of Gagra and the village of Leselidze, the “commander” himself personally led a punitive action to exterminate refugees. Several thousand Georgians were shot, hundreds of Armenian, Russian and Greek families were massacred. According to the stories of eyewitnesses who miraculously escaped, the bandits gladly recorded scenes of abuse and rape on videotape.”

Basayev - poet and chess player

And finally, to complete the portrait of this man, it’s worth mentioning one more thing. After Basayev was eliminated as a result of a complex special operation carried out by Russian special services, the archives of the separatist leader fell into the hands of the FSB. So, there, along with business papers and secret videos, a stack of chess magazines from the Soviet period and a school certificate for chess success were kept. Basayev valued this letter and these magazines so much that he carried them through all his wars. Shamil Basayev's school teachers say that he was indeed a good boy and student, and was interested not only in chess, but also in poetry. Yes, Shamil Basayev wrote poetry!

However, not only poetry, but also prose. Shamil Basayev is the author of a number of well-known open letters, including the “Letter to Putin.” These letters are certainly interesting, as documents of the era, but they are written in extremely mediocre language, in which Islamist vocabulary is mixed with post-Soviet “clericalism.”

Among the most famous literary works Basayev refers to “The Book of the Mujahid,” which is nothing more than a reworking of the very fashionable at one time “Kig of the Warrior of Light” by Paulo Coelho.

Basayev himself wrote in the preface to this work: “I had two free weeks when Paulo Coelho’s book “The Book of the Warrior of Light” and a computer were at hand at the same time. I wanted to extract benefit from this book for the Mujahideen, and so I rewrote most of it, removing some of the excesses, and strengthened it all with verses, hadiths and stories from the life of the ashabs.”

This book also contains poems by Shamil Basayev himself. Here is one of the samples: “One mujahid is a warrior in the field / Contrary to all Russian tales / And live and die free / Allah bless you!” The poems, in general, are so-so.

Is Basayev a GRU agent?

There are allegations that it was precisely in 1991, when the Chechen detachment began to train Russian officers for the war against Georgia, Basayev began working in the interests of the GRU. Then the militants were assigned military ranks, and Basayev himself became a senior lieutenant. Such statements were made by former officer of the special unit “B” of the FSK K. Nikitin, former boss Center for Public Relations of the FSB A. Mikhailov, Chairman of the People's Assembly of Chechnya Duk-Vakha Abdurakhmanov, as well as Ruslan Aushev and Alexander Lebed, retired KGB Major General Yu. I. Drozdov. The same point of view was voiced by television journalist Andrei Karaulov and his guests in the program “Moment of Truth” dated March 14, 2016.

However, Basayev himself, in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta, published on March 12, 1996, denied this information. He claimed that the Chechens did not study at the GRU base because they were not accepted there. Subsequently, Chechen separatists have repeatedly asserted that Basayev’s cooperation with the Russian special services is a myth, invented to discredit the hero of Chechnya in the eyes of his comrades.

There are many rumors about Shamil Basayev regarding his life and activities. Some of them create confusion about the origins of the warlord. According to one version, the fighter for the independence of Chechnya had Russian roots.

Who "resurrected"

Shamil Basayev is perhaps the most famous leader Chechen militants who participated in the war with federal forces for the independence of the unrecognized republic of Ichkeria. He became the only Chechen field commander to be awarded the title of Generalissimo (posthumously). As the organizer of high-profile terrorist attacks on Russian territory, he was included in the lists of the most dangerous terrorists not only by the Russian government, but also by the UN, the US State Department and the European Union.

Despite the pathological hatred of everything Russian, which Basayev elevated to the rank life credo, many who knew the field commander personally call his ancestors the descendants of ethnic Russians who were accepted into “Chechendom,” or more precisely, into the Belgatoy teip - one of the largest Chechen teips, part of the Nokhchmakhkahoy tukhum.

It is curious that the legend about the origin of Belgata tells that representatives of this teip died out in a not so distant time due to the outbreak of an epidemic, but then restored their numbers, largely at the expense of newcomers. The legend is confirmed by the etymology of the name: “bel” - “to die”, “gatto” - “to be resurrected”.

Basayev’s life seems to confirm the fate of his native teip: several times he was counted among the dead, but he miraculously “resurrected.” However, according to other sources, Basayev’s ancestors joined the Benoi teip.

With a "Russian tail"

Shamil Basayev was born on January 14, 1965 in the village of Dyshne-Vedeno on the banks of the Khulkhulau River. It is noteworthy that Basayev was born in a place that does not indicate clan affiliation, like Benoy-Vedeno, and in a village bearing the name “Nokhchiin Orsash” - “Chechen Russians”.

According to the writer Yuri Gavryuchenkov, this farm was once a settlement of Russian defectors, who in the 40s XIX century They built defensive fortifications for the leader of the mountaineers during the Caucasian Wars, Imam Shamil, as well as a residential building, in which he later settled. There is a hypothesis that one of Shamil Basayev’s ancestors was a naib - an assistant and authorized representative of Imam Shamil.

The RIA Novosti agency, in an article dated October 13, 2005, citing its sources, writes that on the territory of Chechnya, field commander Basayev had the nickname “Chechen with a Russian tail,” which hinted at his roots. According to these data, the founder of the Basayev family was a Russian soldier who deserted from active army and went over to the side of the rebel highlanders.

Common surname

However, even if we assume that there were Russians in Basayev’s family, then by the time of his birth there was not much Russian blood left. The surname Basayev is quite common not only among Chechens, but also, for example, among the Ingush and Ossetians. For some, this gives reasons to classify the field commander among other Caucasian nationalities.

There is an opinion that Shamil Basayev was born from the marriage of a Chechen and an Avar woman, which gives rise to all sorts of speculation, including about “purity of blood.” For Caucasians, “purity of blood” is an important component of the pedigree; it largely determines what the fate of the highlander who embarks on the path of life will be.

Magomed Khambiev, a former division general and minister of defense of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, on the contrary, said that Basayev’s father was an Avar. Considering that for all the peoples of the Caucasus, nationality is determined by the father, Basayev’s nationality is obvious. However, Shamil Basayev himself put everything in its place in one of his interviews. The field commander stated that his father, Salman Basayev, and mother, Nura Basayeva, are Chechens by nationality.

What does the Cossack woman have to do with it?

Despite Basayev’s statement, many versions of his origin surfaced in the future. These include the most exotic one, who calls the mother of the future terrorist a native Cossack village. However, perhaps this version was confused with a persistent rumor that spread in 2005, according to which Basayev’s third wife was a Kuban Cossack woman.

The marriage allegedly took place in one of the remote villages of Kuban, where Basayev was recovering his health, and the celebrations themselves took place on St. Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2005. The press even provided details: the bride was said to be a hereditary Kuban Cossack, the sister of one “Russian Mujahideen.” The list of guests present at the wedding was replete with eminent and influential Muslim residents of Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia, Rostov region, Krasnodar and Stavropol territories.

Correspondent " Komsomolskaya Pravda“Alexander Kots tried to clarify this issue by contacting representatives of three Cossack organizations in Krasnodar. “This cannot happen, this is a vile provocation that sets the goal of disrupting holiday season“, the capital’s journalist was assured.

A member of the Cossack association, Mikhail Zarubin, according to Alexander Kots, convinced him that under no circumstances could a hereditary Cossack woman marry a Chechen terrorist. Such women are very rare today; not only will they not be able to woo a Muslim, but even a Russian groom from another region.

Shirvani Basayev is one of the most famous field commanders of Chechen militants.

Together with his brother, he took an active part in military operations against the troops of the Russian Federation. Gained popularity as a result of brutal raids on the territory of Dagestan and battles on the territory of the Chechen Republic. The Basayev family was respected by Islamist militants. Almost all of its members took part in the war.

Shirvani Basayev: biography

Born in the Vedeno region in the early sixties. Data about exact date births are very contradictory. At all, most of Shirvani's biography is shrouded in darkness. He graduated from high school and worked in the Vedeno region. Father and mother came from different Islamic traditions and were supporters of primordial nationalism. In addition to Shirvani, the Basayevs had two more children - Zinaida and Islam.

Presumably, in the eighties, Shirvani moved with his brother to Moscow. There they do various part-time jobs. In particular, they worked in the business field. In the nineties, the first participation in political life countries. The Soviet state ceased to exist, and separatist sentiments began to rise in Chechnya. Future President In Russia, Boris Yeltsin was popular with such radicals. He promised "as much independence as you can get." That is why, during the State Emergency Committee’s attempt to save the country, the Basayevs came out in support of the new government.

Preparing for war

Shirvani Basayev returns to Chechnya, where at this time a new government is already beginning to form. The first armed units were created back in the ninety-first year. They were trained by former Armed Forces officers Soviet Union, Chechens by origin. The Basayevs immediately joined these formations and took an active part. In one of the interviews, Shamil states that he and his brother studied military affairs using Russian textbooks.

First war

But they gained their first combat experience in By the ninety-first year, relations between Azerbaijanis and Armenians reached the peak of their instability. Ethnically populated by Armenians, Karabakh declared its independence. In response to this, the Azerbaijani authorities started a war. Due to the fierce resistance of the Karabakh population, the government turned to Islamist organizations for support. Chechen militants arrived in Azerbaijan under the leadership of Basayev.

Shirvani Basayev also became known for his participation in the Abkhaz War. In this conflict, the Chechens fought against the Georgian army. Shamil Salmanovich Basayev was nominated for several Abkhaz awards. Reportedly various sources, at that moment he was supervised by the Russian General Intelligence Directorate. Many Chechen fighters said that Shamil underwent training in Russia before being sent to Ossetia.

First Chechen

When, after several years of de facto independence of Chechnya, the leadership of the Russian Federation announced the start of a counter-terrorist operation, the Basayev family actively became involved in the war. Shirvani Basayev received a position in the so-called “army of the Chechen Republic”. He became the commandant of the village of Bamut.

It is located in the Achkhoy-Martan region. In advance, the militants began to prepare the defense of the settlement. All adjacent mountains were carefully studied. Ambush detachments were positioned in the forests. All approaches to Bamut were carefully mined. The line of defense also included concrete blocks, which reliably sheltered the militants from shelling. The Battle of Bamut was widely covered in the media. Federal troops stormed several times locality in ninety-five, but they were never able to take possession of it. The Chechens moved quickly and ambushed the advancing columns.

As a result, they managed to take the village, but only in the spring next year and after seventeen attacks. Shamil Basayev's brother distinguished himself in these battles as a skilled commander.

Battle of Grozny

During the second Basayev Shirvani Salmanovich took an active part in the defense of the capital of Ichkeria - Grozny.

In the winter of ninety-nine, Federal troops launched an attack on Gudermes. After negotiations, the city came under the jurisdiction of Russia. The siege of Grozny began. Several armies surrounded the settlement, leaving only a humanitarian corridor for the civilian population to escape.

At this time, Chechen militants were actively fortifying areas of the city. Many areas were mined. Ambushes were being prepared. Active production of grenade launchers and anti-aircraft installations. Which, however, had low productivity due to inept manufacturing. Such means as grenades on small parachutes were also used.

Federal troops regularly fired at the militants with artillery and aircraft. By February the city was taken.

The leader of the militants, Shamil Salmanovich Basayev, fled Grozny with his brother.

The end of the Basayevs

In December 2000, the possible death of Shirvani Basayev was announced. However, later many authoritative sources denied this information. The fate of the older brother is still unknown. According to some reports, he moved to Turkey. From there, after treatment, to another Islamic country. The more famous brother, Shamil Basayev, was killed on July 10, two thousand and six. He is responsible for dozens of bloody terrorist acts.

Until 1970 he lived in the village of Dyshne-Vedeno, then in the village of Ermolovskaya Chechnya. Since 1983 he worked as a laborer.

From 1989 to 1991 he studied in Istanbul at the Islamic Institute.

Shamil Basayev’s group was founded in June-July 1991 under the name “Vedeno” to protect the buildings where the congresses of the Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus and the National Congress of the Chechen People were held. The group included residents of the villages of Benoy, Vedeno, Dyshne Vedeno, Bamut and other mountain villages.

In the summer of 1994, Basayev entered into hostilities against the opposition on the side of Dudayev. In July, in Grozny, the “Abkhaz battalion” fought with Labazanov’s group. Basayev's formation also played a role during the unsuccessful attempt to storm Grozny by the opposition. Basayev was considered one of the closest associates of the Chechen president. The personnel of the “Abkhaz battalion” provided security for Dudayev.

By the beginning of hostilities with federal troops, there were about 2 thousand people under the command of Sh. Basayev. After the defeat in Vedeno, 200-300 people remained in the battalion. On June 3, 1995, the house of Basayev’s uncle Khasmagomed Basayev was destroyed by a missile and bomb attack, as a result of which 12 relatives of Sh. Basayev were killed, including Native sister- Zinaida, born in 1964 and seven children.

The militant detachment he led had significant material resources, including infantry fighting vehicles, Grad installations, Strela and Stinger MANPADS.

On July 21, 1995, “for special services to the Fatherland, showing courage and dedication in repelling Russian aggression,” by order of Dudayev, he was awarded the rank of brigadier general (early).

At the beginning of October 1995, Basayev’s detachment of 300 people camped in the forests near the village of Chapaev, Novlaksky district. The head of the district administration asked the militants to leave the district. To this, Basayev stated that this was Chechen land (before the deportation of 1944, Chechens lived in the territory of the current Novolaksky district) and he would stay there as long as he wanted.

In December 1995, he was one of the leaders of the assault on Grozny.

On the 20th of February 1997, at the founding congress of the Freedom Party of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (PS CRI), Shamil Basayev was elected its honorary chairman.

In its first special statement, Sh. Basayev’s party condemned R. Kutaev (National Independence Party) for inviting V. Chernomyrdin, A. Galazov (RNO-A), V. Kokov (KBR) to the celebration of the inauguration of A. Maskhadov, who are accused of involvement in “unleashing a war against the Chechen people.”

According to experts, more than half of both active and potential Chechen militants were under the command of Shamil Basayev and his allies. At the end of 1996 - beginning of 1997, in connection with the development of the peace process, he began to lose support among the militants subordinate to him, who could not do anything other than fight.

Since April 1977, he was the First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the ChRI (Industrial Bloc) and in the absence of the Prime Minister, whose duties are performed by the President of the ChRI, had to replace him.

Since the beginning of 1997, Sh. Basayev’s serious health problems have become worse. On July 10, 1997, he resigned from the post of First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the ChRI “for health reasons.”

On August 23, 2005, by decree of the President of the ChRI, Abdul-Halim Sadulayev, he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the ChRI (curator of the security bloc). Also appointed head of the military committee of the GKO-Majlisul Shura (“military amir of the Mujahideen of Ichkeria”).

Reports of the death of Shamil Basayev, as in the case of many other militant leaders, appeared repeatedly (the first time back in 1995). In particular, messages appeared in May 2000], February 3, 2005, October 13, 2005.

Personal
Wounded eight times, shell-shocked seven times. suffered diabetes mellitus. By nature he is balanced, calm, and cautious. Conducted by him combat operations were distinguished by their insolence.
Owned an oil refinery in Benoy. According to Sh. Basayev, it is known that in 1997 he earned $2 million USA, of which he gave 90%, and bought a house with the rest.
He considered himself a true Muslim: he respected the laws of Sharia, and performed namaz (prayer) five times a day. He wrote poetry in Russian and Chechen languages. Candidate for Master of Sports in all-around and chess. He considered Che Guevara, Garibaldi, Charles de Gaulle, and F. Roosevelt his idols.