Blowing Up Russia by Alexander Litvinenko
Authors: Alexander Litvinenko
Tags: General, Social Science, Espionage, History, True Crime, Europe, Political Science, Murder, Violence in Society, Terrorism, World, Intelligence & Espionage, Russian & Former Soviet Union, Russia & the Former Soviet Union
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military units, institutions, and organizations of the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of the Chechen Republic. On July 7, Yeltsin signed a second decree detailing the procedure for implementing the first.
After the seizure of the hostages at Budyonnovsk the Kremlin bureaucrats added Shamil Basaev s name to Dudaev s in their list of undesirable witnesses. They decided to eliminate him with the assistance of a specially established combat operations unit, commanded by the head of the Third Section (Intelligence) of the Military Counterintelligence Department of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Major-General Yury Ivanovich Yarovenko.
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At the same time, a combat operations group was set up under the command of Khokholkov (in Chechnya, he worked under the pseudonym Denisov) in order to eliminate Dudaev. The group included a captain, first rank, Alexander Kamyshnikov (the future deputy head of URPO), and a number of other officers. It was stationed at the military base in Khankala. Chechen nationals were also brought into the group, such as Umar Pasha, who had previously served in Dagestan, and following Dudaev s elimination was promoted and transferred to Moscow. Also used in the operation was the air arm of the GRU, which had two planes for targeting rockets on beacons in radiotelephones. Dudaev s ordinary phone was successfully switched for one with such a beacon.
On April 22, 1996, Dudaev, his wife Alla, and several companions set out from the settlement of Gekhi-Chu in the Urus-Martansk district of western Chechnya, where they had spent the night, and made their way into the woods. Dudaev always moved out of settled areas when he needed to make phone calls, because it was harder to get a fix on his position away from centers of population. There was no unbroken forest cover in that area, only scrub with occasional trees. Alla began preparing a meal, while the men stood off to one side. Dudaev didn t allow them to come close to him when he was talking on the phone, since there had already been one case of an air-strike against him while he was making calls, but on that occasion the rocket had missed.
This time, however, Dudaev spoke on the phone for longer than usual (they say he was talking with the well-known Russian businessman and politician, Konstantin Borovoi, who stayed on the line to Dudaev until he was cut off). A guided missile from a Russian SU-24 assault plane, targeted on the signal from Dudaev s satellite phone, exploded close to Dudaev, and his face was burned a yellowish-orange color. The car was brought up, they put Dudaev on the back seat, and his wife sat beside him. Dudaev was unconscious, and he had a wound behind his right ear. He died without regaining consciousness. The State Defense Committee of Chechnya entrusted the arrangements for his funeral to Lecha Dudaev, the Chechen president s nephew. Dudaev s burial place can only have been known to a very narrow circle of individuals, including Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, who succeeded Dudaev as the chairman of the State Defense Committee and acting president of the Chechen Republic until the election of 1997, when Aslan Maskhadov was elected as president. According to Chechen sources, when Alla, the president s widow, and Musa Idigov, the president s personal bodyguard, were arrested at the airport in the town of Nalgik, Dudaev s remains were hurriedly reburied at a new site. Since Lecha Dudaev was killed during the second Chechen war, there have been no official sources which can say where Djokhar Dudaev is buried.
The elimination of Dudaev was probably the most successful operation carried out by Khokholkov and his group. Khokholkov himself was nominated for the order of Hero of Russia for successfully completing his mission, but he preferred the post of head of the newly founded UPP, with the rank of major-general.
In the summer of 1996, after the Korzhakov-Barsukov-Soskovets group had fallen from power and General Lebed
After the seizure of the hostages at Budyonnovsk the Kremlin bureaucrats added Shamil Basaev s name to Dudaev s in their list of undesirable witnesses. They decided to eliminate him with the assistance of a specially established combat operations unit, commanded by the head of the Third Section (Intelligence) of the Military Counterintelligence Department of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Major-General Yury Ivanovich Yarovenko.
28
29
At the same time, a combat operations group was set up under the command of Khokholkov (in Chechnya, he worked under the pseudonym Denisov) in order to eliminate Dudaev. The group included a captain, first rank, Alexander Kamyshnikov (the future deputy head of URPO), and a number of other officers. It was stationed at the military base in Khankala. Chechen nationals were also brought into the group, such as Umar Pasha, who had previously served in Dagestan, and following Dudaev s elimination was promoted and transferred to Moscow. Also used in the operation was the air arm of the GRU, which had two planes for targeting rockets on beacons in radiotelephones. Dudaev s ordinary phone was successfully switched for one with such a beacon.
On April 22, 1996, Dudaev, his wife Alla, and several companions set out from the settlement of Gekhi-Chu in the Urus-Martansk district of western Chechnya, where they had spent the night, and made their way into the woods. Dudaev always moved out of settled areas when he needed to make phone calls, because it was harder to get a fix on his position away from centers of population. There was no unbroken forest cover in that area, only scrub with occasional trees. Alla began preparing a meal, while the men stood off to one side. Dudaev didn t allow them to come close to him when he was talking on the phone, since there had already been one case of an air-strike against him while he was making calls, but on that occasion the rocket had missed.
This time, however, Dudaev spoke on the phone for longer than usual (they say he was talking with the well-known Russian businessman and politician, Konstantin Borovoi, who stayed on the line to Dudaev until he was cut off). A guided missile from a Russian SU-24 assault plane, targeted on the signal from Dudaev s satellite phone, exploded close to Dudaev, and his face was burned a yellowish-orange color. The car was brought up, they put Dudaev on the back seat, and his wife sat beside him. Dudaev was unconscious, and he had a wound behind his right ear. He died without regaining consciousness. The State Defense Committee of Chechnya entrusted the arrangements for his funeral to Lecha Dudaev, the Chechen president s nephew. Dudaev s burial place can only have been known to a very narrow circle of individuals, including Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, who succeeded Dudaev as the chairman of the State Defense Committee and acting president of the Chechen Republic until the election of 1997, when Aslan Maskhadov was elected as president. According to Chechen sources, when Alla, the president s widow, and Musa Idigov, the president s personal bodyguard, were arrested at the airport in the town of Nalgik, Dudaev s remains were hurriedly reburied at a new site. Since Lecha Dudaev was killed during the second Chechen war, there have been no official sources which can say where Djokhar Dudaev is buried.
The elimination of Dudaev was probably the most successful operation carried out by Khokholkov and his group. Khokholkov himself was nominated for the order of Hero of Russia for successfully completing his mission, but he preferred the post of head of the newly founded UPP, with the rank of major-general.
In the summer of 1996, after the Korzhakov-Barsukov-Soskovets group had fallen from power and General Lebed
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