Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov announced in his Telegram Channel that the bandit underground grouping on the territory of the republic had been finally liquidated. He published a corresponding message after the elimination of Aslan Byutukaev's group.
"The underground bandit group in the Chechen Republic is completely eliminated! Soldiers of the special-purpose police regiment of the Interior Ministry of the Chechen Republic named after the first Chechen president, the hero of Russia Akhmat-Haji Kadyrov carried out a successful special operation on the outskirts of the village of Katar-Yurt, which resulted in the destruction of Aslan Byutkayev's gang," he wrote.
According to Kadyrov, the special operation had long been planned and he personally participated in the preparation of the plan. The Chechen leader noted that the gang managed to evade pursuit and combat twice, and "the third time they failed to escape".
In the course of the operation, all six fighters were killed. Three of them, including the leader of the gang, were identified. All members of the group were on the federal wanted list.
He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin was aware of the operation from the very beginning, "personally made corrections and gave orders to carry out the operation in the most professional manner, without any loss".
The Kremlin reports that after the operation the President called Kadyrov and congratulated him on the annihilation of the gang. Putin also ordered that all participants of the operation should receive state awards.
Aslan Byutkayev was considered as the leader of an underground bandit group on the territory of Russia after the liquidation of Doku Umarov. In addition, he was among the organizers of the terrorist attack at Domodedovo airport in January 2011 and was responsible for the preparation of suicide bombers. In 2015, on behalf of the entire Islamist underground in Chechnya, he swore an oath to the leader of ISIS (banned in the Russian Federation) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Elena Afonina / TASS
Based on materials from RIA Novosti