Currently, the development of new combat regulations for the Russian Armed Forces is in full swing. In this regard, I would like to bring up for discussion a rather interesting document that fell into my hands during a business trip to the Chechen Republic. This is a letter from a mercenary who fought in Chechnya. He does not address anyone, but the general of the Russian Army. Of course, some of the thoughts expressed by a former member of illegal armed groups can be called into question. But in general he is right. We do not always take into account the experience of hostilities and continue to suffer losses. It's a pity. Perhaps this letter, while new combat regulations are not yet approved, will help some commanders avoid unnecessary bloodshed. The letter is published almost without editing. Only spelling errors have been corrected.
- Citizen General! I can say that I am a former militant. But above all, I am a former senior SA sergeant who was thrown onto the battlefield in the DRA a few weeks before (as I later learned) the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan.
So, with three broken limbs, ribs, a strong concussion, at the age of 27 I became a gray-haired Muslim. I was "sheltered" by a Khazarian who once lived in the USSR and knew a little Russian. He got me out. When I began to understand Pashto a little, I found out that the war in Afghanistan was over, the USSR was gone, and so on.
Soon I became a member of his family, but it did not last long. With the death of Najib, everything changed. At first, my father-in-law did not return from a trip to Pakistan. By that time we had moved from Kandahar to Kunduz. And when I returned with spare parts to my house at night, the neighbor boy told me in confidence that they asked and were looking for me. Two days later, the Taliban took me too. So I became a "volunteer" militant mercenary.
There was a war in Chechnya - the first. People like me, Arab Chechens, were being trained for jihad in Chechnya. Prepared in camps near Mazar-i-Sharif, then sent to Kandahar. There were Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, many Jordanians among us, and so on.
After preparation, the last instruction was given by NATO instructors. They transferred us to Turkey, where there are camps for the transfer, rest and treatment of "Chechens". It was said that highly qualified doctors were also from former Soviet citizens.
We were transported across the state border by rail. They drove us through all of Georgia without stopping. There we were given Russian passports. In Georgia, we were treated like heroes. We went through acclimatization, but then the first war in Chechnya ended.
We continued to prepare. Combat training began in the camp - mountain training. Then they transported weapons to Chechnya - through Azerbaijan, Dagestan, the Argun Gorge, the Pankisi Gorge and through Ingushetia.
Soon they started talking about a new war. Europe and the USA gave the go-ahead, political support was guaranteed. The Chechens should have started. The Ingush were ready to support them. The final preparations began - the study of the region, access to it, bases, warehouses (many of which we did ourselves), issued uniforms, satellite phones. The Chechen-NATO command wanted to forestall events. They were afraid that before the start of hostilities they would close the borders with Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ingushetia and Dagestan. A blow was expected along the Terek. Section of the plains. Destruction by envelopment along the outer ring and the inner stronghold - with a general seizure, a general search of buildings, farmsteads, etc. But no one did this. Then they expected that, having narrowed the outer ring along the Terek with captured crossings, dividing three directions along the ridges, the Russian Federation would move along the gorges to the already tightly closed border. But that didn't happen either. Apparently, our generals, sorry for the freethinking, neither in the DRA nor in Chechnya have ever learned how to fight in the mountains, especially not in open battle, but with gangs that know the area well, are well armed, and most importantly, are aware. Absolutely everyone conducts surveillance and reconnaissance - women, children, who are ready to die for the praise of a Wahhabi - he is a horseman!!!
Even on the way to Chechnya, I decided that at the slightest opportunity I would return home. I took almost all my savings out of Afghanistan and hoped that 11 thousand dollars would be enough for me.
Back in Georgia, I was appointed assistant field commander. With the beginning of the second war, our group was first thrown near Gudermes, then we entered Shali. Many in the gang were local. Received money for the fight and home. You are looking for, and he sits, waiting for a signal, and bargains for the money received in battle from the rear for food - dry rations, stew, and sometimes ammunition "for self-defense from bandits."
I was in battles, but I did not kill. Mostly endured the wounded and the dead. After one battle, they tried to pursue us, and then they slapped the Arab cashier, and before dawn he left through Harami to Shamilka. Then he sailed to Kazakhstan for 250 bucks, then moved to Bishkek. Called himself a refugee. Having worked a little, I got used to it and left for Alma-Ata. My colleagues lived there, and I hoped to find them. I even met Afghans, they helped me.
This is all good, but the main thing about the tactics of actions of both sides:
1. The bandits are well aware of the tactics of the Soviet army, starting with the Bendera. NATO analysts studied it, summarized it and gave us instructions back at the bases. They know and directly say that "the Russians do not study these issues and do not take them into account," which is a pity, very bad.
2. The bandits know that the RF Army is not prepared for night operations. Neither soldiers nor officers are trained to act at night, and there is no material support. In the first war, entire gangs of 200-300 people passed through the battle formations. They know that the RF Army does not have PSNR (ground reconnaissance radars), there are no night vision devices, silent shooting devices. And if so, the bandits carry out all sorties and prepare at night - the Russians are sleeping. During the day, bandits conduct sorties only when they are well prepared and for sure, but in this case they serve time, rest, collect information, I have already said, children and women, especially from among the "victims", that is, who have already killed their husband, brother, son and etc.
The most intensive indoctrination of these children is carried out, after which they can even go to self-sacrifice (jihad, ghazavat). And ambushes come out at dawn. At the appointed time or on a signal - from the cache of weapons and forward. They put up "beacons" - they stand on the road or on a high-rise, from where everything is visible. As our troops appeared - left - this is a signal. Almost all field commanders have satellite radio stations. Satellite data received from NATO bases in Turkey is immediately transmitted to the field workers, and they know when which column went where, what is being done in the places of deployment. They indicate the direction of exit from the battle, etc. All movements are controlled. As the instructors said, the Russians do not carry out radio monitoring and direction finding, and Yeltsin "helped" them in this, destroying the KGB.
3. Why the huge losses of our troops on the march? Because you carry living corpses in a car, that is, under an awning. Remove awnings from vehicles in combat areas. Deploy the fighters to face the enemy. Have people sit facing the board with benches in the middle. Weapons at the ready, not like firewood, randomly. The tactics of the bandits is an ambush with an arrangement in two echelons: the 1st echelon opens fire first. In
2nd are snipers. Having killed the airborne, they blocked the exit, and no one will get out from under the awning, but if they try, they finish off the 1st echelon. Under the awning, people, as if in a bag, do not see who is shooting and from where. And they can't shoot themselves. By the time we've turned around, we're ready.
Further: they shoot the first echelon through one: one shoots, the second reloads - continuous fire and the effect of "many bandits" are created, etc. As a rule, this sows fear and panic. As soon as the ammunition, 2-3 magazines, is used up, the 1st echelon withdraws, takes out the dead and wounded, and the 2nd finishes off and covers the retreat. Therefore, it seems that there were many militants, and they did not have time to come to their senses, as there were no bandits, and if there were, then at 70-100 meters, and not a single corpse on the battlefield.
In each echelon, carriers are appointed, who do not so much shoot as follow the battle and immediately pull out the wounded and the dead. Appoint strong men. And if the gang had been pursued after the battle, then there would have been corpses, and the gang would not have left. But sometimes there is no one to pursue. Everything in the body rests under the awning. That's the whole tactic.
4. Capture of hostages and prisoners. There are instructions for this too. It says to watch out for "wet chicken." That's what they call lovers of bazaars. Since the rear does not work - take a negligent, careless slob with a weapon "by the back" - and back to the market, get lost in the crowd. And they were. It was the same in Afghanistan. Here is your experience, father commanders.
5. Mistake of command - and the bandits were afraid of this. It is necessary to immediately conduct a census with the "cleansing" of the population. They came to the village - they copied in each house how many people where, and along the way, through the remains of documents in the administrations and through neighbors, it would be necessary to clarify the actual situation in each yard. Control - they came from the police or the same troops to the village and checked - there were no peasants. Here is a list of the finished gang. New ones have come - who are you, "brothers", and where will you be from? Their inspection and search in the house - where did you hide the gun?!
Any departure and arrival - through registration at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He went to the gang - atu him! Wait - came - slapped. To do this, it was necessary to assign settlements to each unit and establish control over any movement, especially at night with night vision devices, and systematic shooting of bandits coming out to collect. No one else will come out at night, no one will come from the gang.
At this expense, half of the bandits feed at home, so there are fewer problems with food. The rest is decided by our rear, selling products on the sly. And if there was a zone of responsibility, the army commander, explosives and an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs would control the situation by mutual efforts, and the appearance of any new one would be his (look for Khattab, Basayev and others at their wives, they are there in winter).
And again, don't disperse the gangs. It is you who plant them like seedlings in a vegetable garden. Example: in the gang where I was, we were once told to urgently go out and destroy the convoy. But the informants gave inaccurate information (the observer had a walkie-talkie about the exit of the first cars, he reported and left, the rest apparently lingered). So the battalion hit the gang, "scattered" and "won". Yeah! Each subgroup always has the task of retreating to where the common gathering area of ​​the gang is. And if they chased us - almost "0" ammunition - they fired. You need to drag two wounded and a dead one. They would not have gone far - of course, they would have abandoned everyone and then, maybe, they would have left.
And so in Ingushetia, in a former sanatorium, the wounded were treated - and again in service. Here is the result of "scattering" - sowing - after 1 month the gang, rested, is assembled. That is why the living and elusive field commanders remain alive for so long. There would be rapid reaction teams, with dogs, by helicopter, and urgently to the area of ​​​​collision with the support of the "beaten" - that is, who was fired upon, and in pursuit. There are none.

On Tuesday, a regular session of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Chechnya on the case of citizens of Ukraine was held in Grozny Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh. They are accused of killing two or more people during the fighting in Chechnya. The persons killed by the indicated citizens of the neighboring state were servicemen of the Russian army. Citizens of Ukraine participated in the hostilities as part of the UNA-UNSO units and were subordinate to Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basaeva.

Yatsenyuk in the tank

The defendants are not the only citizens of Ukraine accused in Russia of participating in Chechen gangs. Not so long ago, a long list of those accused of hostilities against federal forces in Chechnya was added to Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

It was first announced in the 1990s head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin in September of this year. So, according to him, Yatsenyuk was directly involved in the events of December 1993 - February 1994 in Grozny. He is also suspected of torturing and shooting Russian servicemen. “According to our information, Yatsenyuk, among other active members of UNA-UNSO, was awarded the highest award in December 1995 Dzhokhar Dudayev“Honor of the nation” for the destruction of Russian military personnel,” said the head of the TFR.

The main evidence against the Ukrainian prime minister was the testimony of the late radical nationalist at the disposal of the Investigative Committee Alexandra Muzychko(better known as Sashko Bily), under whose command Yatsenyuk allegedly fought in Chechnya. Naturally, the politician's press service immediately denied all accusations, and a wave of jokes and demotivators appeared on the Web depicting Yatsenyuk on a tank or with a beard typical of Islamists. Other evidence, as well as evidence of Yatsenyuk's non-involvement in the events described, has not yet appeared. According to the official biography of the politician, during the war in Chechnya, he lived in Chernivtsi, where he organized a certain company that dealt with "privatization issues." Yatsenyuk has the military rank of captain of the reserve with a specialty "artillery reconnaissance."

We will leave the details of the involvement of the Ukrainian prime minister in the hostilities in Chechnya to the investigation.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Photo: Reuters

Strong Chechen-Ukrainian friendship

To date, there is a lot of evidence that Ukrainian nationalists really fought in Chechnya on the side of Dudayev's militants against Russian government troops. It was a troubled time, many people wanted to earn money, and the neo-Banderists did not miss the opportunity to shoot at the “Muscovites”. It is known for certain that the organization UNA-UNSO (Ukrainian National Assembly - Ukrainian People's Self-Defense) was engaged in recruiting Ukrainian fighters for the war in the Caucasus mountains. This group is recognized as extremist, and its activities are prohibited on the territory of Russia.

According to some information, the fighters were supposed to receive a monetary reward of $2-3 thousand per month. They brought them to Chechnya through Georgia. There is evidence that during the Chechen campaign, the militants underwent treatment and rehabilitation on the territory of Ukraine. Here they closely cooperated with the UNA-UNSO, created their own cells and agreed on the supply of weapons. So close friendly ties between Chechen terrorists and Ukrainian nationalists have been established for a long time. It is this that can explain the fact that in the war in the Donbass, people from Chechnya turned out to be in the ranks of the punitive battalions of neo-Banderists.

Initially led the militants general in exile Isa Munaev, who received political asylum in Denmark after the end of the Chechen campaign. And now, years later, the hour of retribution has come for him. In 2014, he already calmly held press conferences for the Ukrainian media, during which he praised the fighters of the Ukrainian battalions fighting against the Donbass militias. In February 2015, General Munaev was killed during the battles for Debaltseve.

combat experience

In fact, the experience of the Chechen war in the conflict in the Donbass was brought not only by the leaders of the Chechen gangs of the 90s. There are also Ukrainians who, having gained experience in the Caucasus mountains, took up arms again in 2014, but already on the territory of their country. Someone even went into big politics.

We are talking about such well-known members of UNA-UNSO as Dmitry Korchinsky(journalist and public figure, ex-presidential candidate of Ukraine), Andrew and Oleg Tyagniboki(deputies of the Verkhovna Rada), Dmitry Yarosh(Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, adviser to the head of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, leader of the Right Sector and the right-wing radical nationalist organization Trident), etc. All the listed citizens of Ukraine in 1994-1995 took part in hostilities in Chechnya under the command of the aforementioned Alexander Muzychko.

March UNA-UNSO in Kyiv. Photo: www.russianlook.com

“During the investigation of a criminal case on a clash between illegal armed groups led by Shamil Basayev and Khattab with servicemen of the 76th Pskov Airborne Division on the territory of the Chechen Republic, information was obtained about the organization of a gang of UNA-UNSO members and their participation in hostilities against federal forces on side of the Chechen separatists in the period 1994-1995,” the official statement of the TFR said.

Maybe they were slandered? Let's see. Korchinsky is actually the founder of UNA-UNSO. In the 1990s, he personally negotiated cooperation with Maskhadov. During the conflict in Donbas, he publicly called for the creation of filtration camps for the Russian-speaking residents of Lugansk and Donetsk.

Oleg Tyagnibok is a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of several convocations, a candidate for the presidency of Ukraine, known for his loud Russophobic and anti-Semitic statements.

About the now deceased Sashko Bily (who, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, shot himself during a special operation), everyone is already quite aware, he managed to “distinguish himself” in the war in the Donbass. We can only mention that he also managed to prove himself in Chechnya. Possessing a Slavic appearance, he carried out subversive work among Russian military personnel, led them into Chechen ambushes and generally showed himself to be a true follower Stepan Bandera. According to some reports, Muzychko was directly involved in organizing the hostage-taking in Budyonnovsk, conducting reconnaissance on the ground and helping the terrorists in drawing up a plan of action.

But back to our premieres. More recently, politician Yatsenyuk spoke out categorically against his involvement in Ukrainian neo-fascists, although he had attended their events for a long time, eyewitnesses testify to this. But already in 2015, it was he who became the author of the bill “On the legal status and memory of the participants in the struggle for the independence of Ukraine in the 20th century”, according to which members of the OUN and soldiers of the UPA are given the status of “fighters for the independence of Ukraine”.

It's a common practice that the degree of "heroism" of Ukrainian nationalists is usually assessed by the number of Russians killed - during the Second World War, in Chechnya, now - in the Donbass. So it is not at all surprising that today the younger generation of Ukrainian nationalists takes the side of the IS militants in the Syrian conflict, diligently exposing Russian pilots and applauding the victories of terrorists, and in Lviv there is still a street named after Dzhokhar Dudayev.

* Organizations recognized as extremist and banned in Russia.

05.10.2004 - 09:52

Where does the lad's Caucasian sadness come from? Our reference: UNA - UNSO (Ukrainian National Assembly - Ukrainian National Self-Defense). The militants of this extremist organization of Ukrainian radicals participated (or at least declared their participation) in almost all armed conflicts in the CIS. They fought in Transnistria, in the Georgian-Abkhaz war, in both Chechen companies, participated in the attack on Dagestan, were in the Gelaev detachment, defeated in the fall of 2001. in the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia. DEBUT

The UNS started at home, in Ukraine, as an ultra-radical wing of the Ukrainian nationalists-independence. In the early 1990s, they were fairly integrated into the social life of Ukraine, working closely with the "People's Rukh". The organization's first steps were the pogroms of Orthodox churches in Western Ukraine. Even then, the militants drew attention to themselves by the cruelty with which they beat the clergy and parishioners.

The next step was actions in the Crimea, where they tried to push the Crimean Tatars to "cleanse" the peninsula from the Russian speakers. It was not possible to unleash hostilities, but working contacts with the Tatar nationalists were established. In 95g. UNSO instructors in secret military camps located in the Crimean mountains taught Tatar youth. In 1992 Unsovites went to the warring Transnistria, hoping to turn the unrecognized republic into the main base of the UNA-UNSO. But, no matter how the full-time propagandists later extolled the numerous exploits of the "self-defenders" on the banks of the Dniester, their real contribution was more than modest. Many did not even notice several dozen militants with chevrons decorated with the "Jerusalem cross" and a trident, against the backdrop of thousands of Cossacks and volunteers from Russia. In the same year, hot lads appeared in the Caucasus. One of the leaders of the organization Anatoly Lupinos, a criminal who spent 25 years in the camps, through his prison "sidekick" Jaba Ioseliani, the leader of the Georgian armed formations "Mkhedrioni", organized the dispatch of militants for the war against Abkhazia. Moreover, all the expenses for the transfer, armament and payment of mercenaries, Jaba took upon himself. From the unsovtsy, the Argo detachment was formed, which was headed by Valery Bobrovich, the head of the Ivano-Frankivsk UNSO, a former sailor of the merchant fleet, decommissioned for drunkenness and speculation, but posing as an officer, a participant in the Vietnam War. Abkhazian sources claim that the detachment decided mainly propaganda tasks, demonstrating to the Georgian army that "foreigners will help us". Nevertheless, the "Argonauts" managed to light up their participation in the massacres of the civilian population. Fourteen of the mercenaries received the Order of Vakhtang Gorgasal, Georgia's highest award. In gratitude, they received one of the Mkhedrioni bases in the Kakheti mountains.

UNSO IN CHECHNYA

The organization's first contacts with Chechen rebels date back to 1993, when Lupinos handed over to Dzhokhar Dudayev instructions developed by "scientific circles close to the UNSO" on organizing terrorist attacks against civilians. Contacts were continued when a number of UNSO leaders, led by its then head Dmitry Korchinsky, arrived in Grozny. And although it was not possible to meet with Dudayev, meetings were held with Zelimkhan Yandarbiev and Aslan Maskhadov. With the latter, Korchinsky agreed that the UNSO would recruit air defense and air force specialists in Ukraine. Ukrainian mercenaries were supposed to receive three thousand dollars a month. To start recruiting, the Chechens transferred hard currency to the account of the Unsov Center "Eurasia", which was headed by the current leader of the organization Andrei Shkil. But the outbreak of the war mixed up plans: the rebel aircraft were destroyed at the airfields, and there was no need to talk about any air defense system either. It is known that at the time of the storming of Grozny by the opposition on November 24, 1994. Korchinsky was there, and subsequently took part in the interrogations of Russian tankmen taken prisoner by the militants.

After the outbreak of hostilities, a detachment "Prometheus" was sent to Chechnya at the expense of "Eurasia", the backbone of which was made up of militants trained in Kakheti. According to the information of the Russian special services, the bulk of Ukrainian mercenaries in the rebellious republic were by no means "ideological" party extremists, but outcasts, a criminal element recruited to participate in hostilities by special structures of the UNSO. But even this contingent is undergoing a process of political training.

As a rule, the combat value of these "soldiers of fortune" left much to be desired, and Chechen employers did not stand on ceremony with them too much. So during the assault on Novogroznensky by federal troops in 1996, five Ukrainian mercenaries were shot by order of Raduev. According to the testimony of the captured militants, it was possible to recreate the picture of the death of the unlucky "Landsknechts". When the federals put the rebels under pressure, the mercenaries "suddenly remembered" that their contract had expired and came to Raduev for a paycheck. He said that first you need to hand over machine guns and ammunition. When the Ukrainians were disarmed, he ordered his nukers to take them out.

Strictly speaking, two categories of Ukrainian "volunteers" in Chechnya can be distinguished. First, these are UNSO activists, such as the Prometheus fighters, they mainly solved the tasks of propaganda, showing "the solidarity of the Ukrainian people with the fighting Ichkeria."

PR people

Along with direct participation in hostilities, members of the UNSO provided powerful propaganda support to the Chechen rebels. On the basis of local organizations of the UNSO, committees "in support of Chechnya" and "Chechen-Press" information centers were created in major cities of Ukraine. Most of these structures later became the legal "roofs" of the Chechen criminal communities.

In 1998 Dmitry Korchinsky organized the "Caucasus Institute", the purpose of which was proclaimed "to create a broad anti-Russian front" in this region. There is evidence that Magomed Tagaev's notorious book "Our Struggle, or the Rebel Army of Islam" was written by specialists from this "institute". Wahhabi literature published by this organization is still also delivered to the regions of the Volga region, where a significant part of the population is Muslim, distributed among the diasporas of Moscow and St. Petersburg, delivered to Central Asia.

The "Caucasus Institute" and the "Eurasia" center closely cooperate with the "Caucasus" center of Movladi Udugov and the "Vainakh Congress" of Ruslan Akaev, which controls the activities of Chechen communities in Europe.

THEIR LINKS

To this day, the UNSO has considerable weight in the Ukrainian establishment. For example, a member of UNA was Leonid Kuchma's adviser on social protection of military personnel, chairman of the All-Ukrainian Association "Fatherland", Major General Vilen Martirosyan. The organization is greatly supported by the Ukrainian self-confessed "patriarch" Filaret, who achieved registration of the UNA - UNSO, from which it was removed for extremism. The UNS members also had serious connections in the apparatus of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. For a long time, the Human Rights Commission of the Verkhovna Rada was headed by former UNA leader Oleg Vitovich. Unsovites are looking for contacts with extremist organizations in Russia.

The attempt to "make friends" with the RNE failed - the Barkashovites refused any "consultations" with the UNSO. On the other hand, they managed to establish cooperation with a certain Alexander Ivanov-Sukharevsky, a failed film director and leader of the "People's National Party" (whose emblem is also the "Jerusalem" cross). According to media reports, a couple of years ago, on the idea of ​​Korchinsky and Udugov, Sukharevsky was going to head the "Russian Liberation Army" (ROA-!?) in Chechnya, which should be made up of Slavs fighting on the side of the rebels.

In addition, UNA-UNSO is trying to create its own cells in the Stavropol Territory, in the Kuban, in the Rostov Region. Through the underground Greek Catholic order, the UNSO interacts with the intelligence agencies of the Vatican, contacts with the leader of the Italian "Red Brigades" Pietro Danutsoo, and also (according to Korchinsky) with the "P-2" Masonic lodge. Since the mid-90s, contacts have been established with Algerian fundamentalists, the IRA, American and German neo-Nazis, and the South African Iron Guard. Interviews with the leaders of these organizations, analysis of their activities, "exchange of experience" filled the pages of UNS newspapers and magazines. It is curious that almost simultaneously the UNSO established contacts with the PKK and the Turkish Gray Wolves.

Through the Turks, they reached out to the Afghan Mujahideen of Hekmatyar, and even suggested that they create an "International of the Offended", which was supposed to include terrorist organizations from all over the world, but they did not meet with "understanding". There is evidence that through Udugov and Yandarbiev, contact was once established with the Taliban movement.

WHAT NOT TO TALK ABOUT

Thus, the Russian special services have information that the participation of UNSO militants in the riots organized by the Belarusian opposition in Minsk was paid from a special fund created by Western "sponsors" to overthrow Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. But these contacts, oddly enough, are not advertised.

09:45 28.04.2015

American mercenaries have made their mark in the North Caucasus. Now they are "monitored" in Ukraine. During both military campaigns in Chechnya, the United States supported illegal armed groups with both material and human resources.

Mercenary blood trail During the two Chechen wars, mercenaries from 52 foreign countries and almost all regions of the world operated on the territory of the North Caucasus. This was stated in 2005, after the end of the active phase of hostilities, by FSB Major General Ilya Shabalkin, who at that time held the position of Deputy Head of the Regional Operational Headquarters (the structure that coordinated the actions of all Russian security forces in the North Caucasus). operational information," the general said at the time. At the same time, the United States was named among the countries whose "messengers" most actively showed themselves in battles on the side of the gangs. Also, according to the deputy head of the Regional Headquarters, mercenaries with passports of Canada, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and also people who lived in Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, France, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia left their bloody trail in Chechnya ... According to Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Assistant to the President of Russia (in 2000-2008), by the beginning of the counterterrorist operation in the North Caucasus, the number of mercenaries from the countries of the near and far abroad reached, according to various estimates, 800 people. As Yastrzhembsky noted, the connection between the separatists and international Islamic terrorists was clearly established, which, according to the assistant to the head of state, became "one of the main factors influencing the destabilization of the situation in the North Caucasus and in the Chechen Republic in particular." Accomplices: how US intelligence agencies collaborated with militants The fact that there were direct contacts between the militants from the North Caucasus and the US intelligence services was told in the documentary film “President”, released this Sunday on the Russia 1 channel, Vladimir Putin. Such connections, according to the head of state, were established by Russian special services. “They really just helped even with transport.” Vladimir Putin added that he informed the then acting American president about this, who “promised to look into it.” However, after a while, Washington made it clear that not only would it not punish those responsible for what had happened, but that it would encourage such support for the militants with all its might. “Ten days later, our subordinates, the leaders of the FSB, received a letter from their colleagues from Washington: “We have maintained and will continue to maintain relations with all opposition forces in Russia. And we believe that we have the right to do this and will continue to do so,” the President of Russia said. Treaties still in force According to media reports, more than 100 foreign firms (including banking groups), most of which had offices in the US and Europe, took part in providing material, financial and other assistance to terrorists in the North Caucasus. In the United States alone, about fifty organizations were involved in raising funds for North Caucasian extremists. Among them are the American Muslim Bar Association, the American Islamic Center, the American Muslim Council, the Voice of Chechnya Islamic Charitable Organization, the Islamic American Zakat Foundation, the Islamic World Aid, the Benevolence International Foundation. In January 2003, the head fund, Enaam Arnaut, an American of Eastern origin, admitted during the investigation that his structure finances militants in Chechnya. Interestingly, before that, in October 2002, US Attorney General Ashcroft charged Arnaut with financing Osama bin Laden, but when the head of the fund said that the money was not going to bin Laden, but to Chechen terrorists, all charges were dropped. Targeted propaganda and political activities in the interests of Chechen separatists in the United States were carried out by Amina Network, Human Assistance Development International, Islamic Information Server. And such an organization as Advantage Associates, inc., still has an agreement concluded by Aslan Maskhadov with the "Ambassador of Ichkeria to the United States" Lema Osmurov, according to which the organization pledged to "put pressure on the US government in order to support the efforts of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria to gaining independence and secession from Russia.” There is also information about direct contacts between representatives of the American leadership and Chechen separatists. So, according to some reports, Benjamin Gilman, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the House of Representatives of the Congress, met with the so-called "Foreign Minister of the Republic of Ichkeria" Akhmadov. Made in USA In 2005, former school system official Keefa Jayousi was arrested in Detroit. He was charged with assisting terrorists, conspiring to commit murders and kidnappings outside the United States, and recruiting Islamic militants to fight in Chechnya, Kosovo, Bosnia and Somalia. As the American intelligence services themselves established, the funds collected by Jayousi in the United States through the charitable Islamic society Global Relief Foundation were transferred to militants in Chechnya. In 1995 and 1996, Jayousi recruited at least two people for militant groups in Chechnya, and also organized field commanders. By the way, back in the 1990s, Shamil Basayev and his gangsters received US Army uniforms, as well as night vision binoculars and satellite phones marked “made in USA”. This property was brought to the militants of the Ichkerian army by caravans from Turkey through the south of Chechnya and Dagestan. The Global Relief Foundation also transferred money and medical devices to the militants. Volunteers were also recruited through the website of this structure. The Foundation took upon itself the execution of Russian entry documents and accommodation on the territory of Ingushetia, neighboring Chechnya. By the way, according to the fund's website, in 2000-2001 alone, it spent over $1.3 million to service its "Caucasian" projects. Khattab and his American past The most notorious international terrorist who operated in Chechnya in the 1990-2000s also had a dark past associated with being in the United States. Khattab, aka Amir ibn al-Khattab, aka Samer Saleh al-Suwaylem, aka Habib Abd al-Rahman. On the conscience of this bandit are dozens of bloody terrorist attacks and hundreds of ruined lives of Russian military personnel, law enforcement officers and civilians. It is known that in 1987 relatives from Jordan sent him to study in New York. He was supposed to go to college, but during his stay in the US, Khattab was infected with completely different ideas. He went to Afghanistan, where he took an active part in the hostilities against the Soviet troops. He fought in Jalalabad, in Kabul, was seriously wounded. Then the bloody trail of Khattab was seen in Nagorno-Karabakh, Iraq, and Tajikistan. A half-educated American college student participated in attacks on Russian border guards, including the 12th outpost of the Moscow border detachment, when 25 Russian servicemen were killed. Since January 1995 - in the North Caucasus. He is a trained terrorist, owns a mine-explosive "craft" and all types of small arms. By the way, his sister lived in the United States at that time, who, according to the commander of the Joint Group of Russian Forces in the North Caucasus, Colonel-General Gennady Troshev, owned a weapons store. Khattab personally trained militants, created camps, and arranged for their foreign funding. In August and September 1999, together with Basayev, he organized and led raids into Dagestan. And all this time it was Khattab who acted as a link between the militants in Chechnya and international terrorist structures. In April 2002, he was killed, and the poison was given to him by his own assistant, who was later also killed by militants. "Crazy American" no longer kills Russian soldiers Under the leadership of Khattab fought in Chechnya and US citizen Aukai Collins (Aukai Collins). As a child, he participated in street gangs, and while serving time in San Diego, he converted to Islam. He fought in Chechnya in 1995-1996 and 1999, during one of the bandit attacks he lost his leg. It is interesting that Collins made his first trip to the North Caucasus under the guise of an employee of the American humanitarian fund: the same “Islamic humanitarians” issued documents for him in the States. The mercenary got to Chechnya through Azerbaijan along with a load of body armor and night vision devices. He was called the “crazy American”: even Chechen fighters were frightened by his aggressiveness. A US citizen fought on Russian soil evil and cruelly, personally killed Russian soldiers, which he later wrote in the book “My Jihad”, where he described many of his atrocities in detail. Russian law enforcement agencies are seeking the extradition of this thug, but all requests remain inconclusive. According to some reports, Collins is a staff informant for the US intelligence services, collaborated with the CIA and the FBI. He also wrote about this in his book, however, he left reviews about his “curators” mostly in a derogatory tone. Today, the former gunman lives in Baltimore with his wife and four-year-old son. He is a quiet American: he does not drink or smoke, as the Koran prescribes ... Where does the "boy" have New York sadness? .."Wild Geese" - this is how mercenaries are called all over the world. The places of their "nesting" are areas of armed conflicts all over the planet. Recently, a representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Donetsk People's Republic, Eduard Basurin, said that up to 70 mercenaries from the American private military company Academi (previously this armed formation was called Blackwater) could be located near the village of Volnovakha. As you know, Volnovakha is controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There is information from other sources that the Americans are participating in the hostilities on the side of Kyiv. So the German political scientist Michael Lueders confirmed the information about the presence of mercenaries from the private American army Academi in the conflict area in the South-East of Ukraine, however, he estimates their number is no less than 500 “bayonets”. According to Lueders, the presence of American mercenaries in the conflict zone is “a dangerous development of the situation, which does not exclude the possibility of escalation.” In December last year, Academi announced its readiness to begin preparing a battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for urban battles. And on the fact of participation in the Ukrainian conflict of mercenaries from the United States from another private military company - Greystone - even the Russian Foreign Ministry was forced to make a statement. By the way, the Greystone website states that "they can provide the best military from around the world" who are able to "conduct their activities anywhere." At the same time, the White House denies information about the presence of American mercenaries in Ukraine.