In early 2009 he was, by his own admission, personally involved in the re-activation of notorious Riyadus-Salikhin suicide formation, first set-up and led by Basayev between 1999 and 2004; in the next months a string of suicide attacks killed dozens of people (mostly police officers) and critically injured the Ingush president Yunus-bek Yevkurov, raising fears of a new campaign of attacks directed against Russian civilians. In a July 2009 interview with Prague Watchdog, when asked if people should expect a repetition of events like the Moscow hostage crisis, Umarov responded: "If that is the will of Allah. Shamil [Basayev] did not have the opportunities I have right now. […] As far as possible we will try to avoid civilian targets, but for me there are no civilians in Russia. Why? Because a genocide of our people is being carried out with their tacit consent." In December 2009, the Caucasus Emirate (via Kavkaz Center) took responsibility for the derailment of Nevsky Express, an "act of sabotage" which claimed the lives of 28 people (including government officials and Russian business executives), reportedly ordered by him personally.