Shamil Basayev Shamil Salmanovich Basayev ( ; 14 January 1965 – 10 July 2006 ) was a Chechen militant Islamist and a leader of the Chechen rebel movement . Starting as a field commander in the Transcaucasus , Basayev led guerrilla campaigns against Russian forces for years , as well as launching mass - hostage takings of civilians , with his goal being the withdrawal of Russian soldiers from Chechnya . Beginning in 2003 , Basayev used the " nom de guerre " and title of Emir Abdallah Shamil Abu - Idris . In 1997 – 1998 he also served as vice - Prime minister of Chechnya in Maskhadov ' s government . Basayev was considered by some to be the undisputed leader of the radical wing of the Chechen insurgency . He was responsible for numerous guerrilla attacks on security forces in and around Chechnya and the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis . ABC News described him as " one of the most - wanted terrorists in the world . " Basayev was killed by an explosion on 10 July 2006 . Controversy still surrounds who is responsible for his death , with Russian authorities claiming he was killed in an assassination by the FSB and the Chechen separatists claiming he died in an accidental explosion . Early life . Shamil Basayev was born in the village of Dyshne - Vedeno , near Vedeno , in south - eastern Chechnya , on 1965 to Chechen parents from the Benoy teip . According to Gennady Troshev , he has some distant Russian ancestry . He was named after Imam Shamil , the third imam of Dagestan and Chechnya and the last leader of anti - Russian Avar - Chechen forces in the Caucasian War . His family is said to have had a long history of involvement in Chechen resistance to Russian rule . His grandfather fought for the abortive attempt to create a breakaway North Caucasian Emirate after the Russian Revolution . The Basayevs , along with most of the rest of the Chechen population , had been deported to Kazakhstan during World War II on the orders of the NKVD leader Lavrenti Beria as a means of cutting off support to the 1940 - 1944 Chechnya insurgency . They were only allowed to return when the deportation order was lifted by Nikita Khrushchev in 1957 . Basayev , an avid football player , graduated from school in Dyshne - Vedeno in 1982 , aged 17 , and spent the next two years in the Soviet military serving as a firefighter ( Chechens were usually kept away from the combat units ) . For the next four years , he worked at the Aksaiisky state farm in the Volgograd region of southern Russia before moving to Moscow . He reportedly attempted to enroll in the law school of the Moscow State University but failed , and instead entered the Moscow Engineering Institute of Land Management in 1987 . However , he was expelled for poor grades in 1988 . He subsequently worked as a computer salesman in Moscow , in partnership with a local Chechen businessman , Supyan Taramov . Ironically , the two men ended up on opposite sides in the Chechen wars , during which Taramov sponsored a pro - Russian Chechen militia ( Sobaka magazine ' s dossier on Basayev reported that Taramov apparently equipped or " outfitted " this group of pro - Russian Chechens ; they were also known as " Shamil Hunters " ) . In later interviews , Taramov would claim he hired Basayev as a favor for a family friend , and that the latter was an ineffectual worker who would spend whole nights playing video games , sleep during the day , and had an obsession with Che Guevara . Basayev ' s early militant activities . When some hardline members of Soviet government attempted to stage a coup d ' état in August 1991 , Basayev allegedly joined supporters of Russian President Boris Yeltsin on the barricades around the Russian White House in central Moscow , armed with hand grenades . A few months later , in November 1991 , the Chechen nationalist leader Dzhokhar Dudayev unilaterally declared independence from the newly formed Russian Federation . In response , Yeltsin announced a state of emergency and dispatched troops to the border of Chechnya . It was then that Basayev began his long and notorious career as an insurgent — seeking to draw international attention to the crisis . Basayev , Lom - Ali Chachayev , and the group ' s leader , Said - Ali Satuyev , a former airline pilot suffering from schizophrenia , hijacked an Aeroflot Tu - 154 plane , en route from Mineralnye Vody in Russia to Ankara on November 9 , 1991 , and threatened to blow up the aircraft unless the state of emergency was lifted . The hijacking was resolved peacefully in Turkey , with the plane and passengers being allowed to return safely and the hijackers given safe passage back to Chechnya . Basayev and several hundred other Chechens have been accused of training in Al - Qaeda camps in Afghanistan or Pakistan . Rohan Gunaratna , has made allegations that Basayev , along other leading militants such as Ibn Al - Khattab and Walid have all had close relations with Osama bin Laden , and they have , in turn , set up terrorist camps in Chechnya . Rohan has still yet failed to put forward any concrete evidence in support of these claims , and has been in the past questioned over his linking multiple persons to Al - Qaeda without having any real expertise in the topic . Nagorno - Karabakh conflict . According to some sources , Basayev moved to Azerbaijan in 1992 , where he aided Azerbaijani forces in their unsuccessful war against Armenia n fighters in the enclave of Nagorno - Karabakh . He was said to have led a battalion - strength Chechen contingent . According to Azeri Colonel Azer Rustamov , in 1992 , " " hundreds of Chechen volunteers rendered us invaluable help in these battles led by Shamil Basayev and Salman Raduyev " " . Basayev was said to be one of the last fighters to leave Shusha ( see Capture of Shusha ) . Basayev later said during his career , he and his battalion had only lost once , and that defeat came in Karabakh in fighting against the " Dashnak battalion " . He later said he pulled his " mujahideen " out of the conflict when the war seemed to be more for nationalism than for " jihad " . During the conflict , Basayev was first introduced to the pan - Islamic revolutionary Ibn al - Khattab . Georgian - Abkhaz conflict . Later in 1992 , Basayev traveled to Abkhazia , a breakaway region of Georgia , to assist the local separatist movement against the Georgian government ' s attempts to regain control of the region — a conflict in which , ultimately , a minority of 93 , 000 Abkhaz were successful in ethnically purging a majority of Georgians ( numbering some 250 , 000 ) from the region . Basayev became the commander - in - chief of the forces of the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus ( a volunteer unit of pan - Caucasian nationalists , composed mainly of Chechens and other Muslim people from the Caucasus ) . Their involvement was crucial in the Abkhazian war and in October 1993 the Georgian government suffered a decisive military defeat , after which most of the ethnic Georgian population of the region was driven out by ethnic cleansing . It was rumored that the volunteers were trained and supplied by some part of the Russian army ' s GRU military intelligence service . According to The Independent journalist Patrick Cockburn , " " cooperation between Mr Basayev and the Russian army is not so surprising as it sounds . " In 1992 – 93 he is widely believed to have received assistance from the GRU when he and his brother Shirvani fought in Abkhazia , a breakaway part of Georgia . " No specific evidence was given . The Russian government newspaper " Rossiyskaya Gazeta " reported that Basayev was an agent of GRU , and another publication by journalist Boris Kagarlitsky said that " It is maintained , for example , that Shamil Basayev and his brother Shirvani are long - standing GRU agents , and that all their activities were agreed , not with the radical Islamists , but with the generals sitting in the military intelligence offices . All the details of the attack by Basayev ' s detachments were supposedly worked out in the summer of 1999 in a villa in the south of France with the participation of Basayev and the Head of the Presidential administration , Aleksandr Voloshin . Furthermore , it is alleged that the explosive materials used were not supplied from secret bases in Chechnya but from GRU stockpiles near Moscow . " The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta stated that the Basayev brothers " both recruited as agents by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff ( GRU ) in 1991 – 92 . " The Russian newspaper " Versiya " published the GRU file on Basayev and his brother , which revealed that " both Chechen terrorists were named as regular agents of the military intelligence organization . " Russian special forces joined with the Chechens under Basayev to attack Georgia . A GRU agent , Anton Surikov , had extensive connections with Basayev . Russian military intelligence had ordered Basayev to support the Abkhaz . Basayev received direct military training from the GRU since the Abkhaz were backed by Russia . Other Chechens also were trained by the GRU in warfare , many of these Chechens who fought for the Russians in Abkhazia against Georgia had fought for Azerbaijan against Armenia in the Nagorno - Karabakh war . The Russians allowed Basayev to travel between Russia and Sukhumi to battle the Georgians . War Crimes . Paul J . Murphy : Russian military intelligence turned a blind eye to the 1991 terrorist arrest warrant against Basayev to train him and his detachment in Abkhazia , and the Russians even helped direct Basayev ' s combat operations . Long after the war , Basayev praised the professionalism and courage of his Russian trainers in Abkhazia — praise that led some of his enemies in Grozny , even President Maskhadov , to later call him a " longtime GRU agent " In 1993 , Basayev lead the KNK corps , this unit under Basayev carried out war crimes in Georgia , decapitating Georgian civilians and " some victors even played football with their captives ' severed heads . " and that " Basayev himself beheaded dozens of Georgian captives , most of them civilians , in the Sukhumi sports stadium . " The GRU had recruited Basayev when they saw him and the Chechens of Moscow stand for and defend Boris Yeltsin from the Communists , with Basayev and his Chechens attacking the Communists . In 1991 , Basayev was directed by GRU agents , and he praised the Russian GRU ' s " professionalism " and " courage " , during his war against the Georgians . The Russians ignored Basayev ' s atrocities and allowed him to commit them without retribution . Former US counterterrorism official Paul J . Murphy wrote that " One hundred Georgian soldiers were herded into the central stadium in Gagra where they were beheaded and their heads used as footballs in a soccer match . " Rumour had it that Basayev drank the blood of Georgian troops , and " invented a new form of execution - - the " Chechen tongue , " in which the victim ' s tongue is pulled out through a slit throat . " After Abkhazia . Few authoritative accounts of Basayev ' s life after Abkhazia exist . Some sources claim that after Abkhazia , Basayev moved to Chechnya and became a successful entrepreneur in the Chechen mafia , organizing train - car theft and drug dealing networks . Pro - Chechen sources claim that such allegations about Basayev ' s criminal activity were disseminated by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation ( FSB ) and were untrue . According to Basayev himself , millions of dollars were donated to him by unnamed foreign businessmen from the Chechen diaspora . Basayev ' s role in the First Chechen War . The First Chechen War began when Russian forces invaded Chechnya on 11 December 1994 , to depose the government of Dzhokhar Dudayev . With the outbreak of war , Dudayev made Basayev one of the front - line commanders . Basayev took an active role in the resistance , successfully commanding his " Abkhaz Battalion . " The unit inflicted major losses on Russian forces in the Battle of Grozny , Chechnya ' s capital , which lasted from December 1994 to February 1995 . Basayev ' s men were among the last rebels to abandon the city . After capturing Grozny , the momentum changed in favor of the Russian forces , and by April Chechen forces had been pushed into the mountains with most of their equipment destroyed . Basayev ' s " Abkhaz Battalion " suffered many casualties , particularly during battles around Vedeno in May and their ranks sank to as low as 200 men , critically low on supplies . At this time , Basayev also suffered a personal tragedy . On 3 June 1995 , during a Russian air raid on Basayev ' s hometown of Dyshne - Vedeno , two bombs landed on the home of Basayev ' s uncle , and six children , four women , and the uncle were killed . Basayev ' s wife and child were among the dead , as was his sister Zinaida . Twelve members of Basayev ' s family were injured in the attack . One of his brothers was also killed in fighting near Vedeno . In an attempt to force a stop to the Russian advance , some Chechen forces resorted to a series of terrorist attacks directed against civilian targets outside the area that they claimed . Basayev led the most famous such attack , the Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis on 14 June 1995 , less than two weeks after he lost his family in the air raids . Shamil ' s large band seized the Budyonnovsk hospital in southern Russia and the 1 , 600 people inside for a period of several days . At least 129 civilians died and 415 were wounded during the crisis as the Russian special forces repeatedly attempted to free the hostages by force . Although Basayev failed in his principal demand for the removal of Russian forces from Chechnya , he did successfully negotiate a stop to the Russian advance and an initiation of peace talks with the Russian government , saving the Chechen resistance by giving them time to regroup and recover . Basayev and his fighters then returned to Chechnya under cover of the human shields . The media coverage surrounding the hostage - taking and his safe retreat propelled the then mostly unknown Basayev into the international spotlight , and made him Chechnya ' s most famed national hero overnight . On 23 November , Basayev announced on the Russian NTV television channel , that four cases of radioactive material had been hidden around Moscow . Russian emergency teams roamed the city with Geiger counters , and located several canisters of Caesium , which had been stolen from the Budennovsk hospital by the Chechen militants . The incident has been called " the most important sub - state use of radiological material . " By 1996 Basayev had been promoted to the rank of General and Commander of the Chechen Armed Forces . In July 1996 he was implicated in the death of the rogue Chechen warlord Ruslan Labazanov . In August 1996 , he led a successful operation to retake the Chechen capital Grozny , defeating the Russian garrison of the city . Yeltsin ' s government finally moved for peace , bringing in former Soviet - Afghan War General Aleksandr Lebed as a negotiator . A peace agreement was concluded between the Chechens and Russians , under which the Chechens acquired " de facto " independence from Russia . Interwar period . Basayev stepped down from his military position in December 1996 to run for president in Chechnya ' s second ( and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria ' s first and only ever internationally - monitored ) presidential elections . Basayev came in second place to Aslan Maskhadov , obtaining 23 . 5 % of the votes . Allegedly Basayev found the defeat very painful . In early 1997 he was appointed vice - Prime Minister of Chechnya by Maskhadov . In January 1998 he became the acting head of the Chechen government for a six - month term , after which he resigned . Basayev ' s appointment was symbolic because it took place on the eve of the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of his renowned namesake . Basayev subsequently reduced the government ' s administrative departments and abolished several ministries . However , the collection of taxes and the Chechen National Bank ' s reserves shrunk , and theft of petroleum products increased seriously . Maskhadov worked with Basayev until 1998 , when Basayev established a network of military officers , who soon became rival warlords . As Chechnya collapsed into chaos , Basayev ' s reputation began to plummet as he and others were accused of corruption and involvement in kidnapping ; his alliance with Arab jihadi Ibn al - Khattab also alienated many of the Chechens . By early 1998 Basayev emerged as the main political opponent of the Chechen president , who in his opinion was " pushing the republic back to the Russian Federation . " On March 31 , 1998 , Basayev called for the termination of talks with Russia ; on July 7 , 1998 , he sent a letter of resignation from the post of the Chechen Prime Minister . During these years he wrote " Book of a Mujahiddeen " , an Islamic guerilla manual . Invasion of Dagestan . In December 1997 , after Movladi Udugov ' s Islamic Nation party had called for Chechnya to annex territories in neighbouring Dagestan , Basayev promised to " liberate " neighbouring Dagestan from its status as " a Russian colony . " According to Alexander Litvinenko ' s book " Death of a Dissident " , Kremlin - critic Boris Berezovsky said that he had a conversation with the Chechen Islamist leader Movladi Udugov in 1999 , six months before the beginning of fighting in Dagestan . A transcript of the phone conversation between Berezovsky and Udugov was leaked to one of Moscow tabloids on 10 September 1999 . Udugov proposed to start the Dagestan war to provoke the Russian response , topple the Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov and establish new Islamic republic of Basayev - Udugov that would be friendly to Russia . Berezovsky asserted that he refused the offer , but " Udugov and Basayev conspired with Stepashin and Putin to provoke a war to topple Maskhadov . . . but the agreement was for the Russian army to stop at the Terek River . However , Putin double - crossed the Chechens and started an all - out war . " However , Litvinenko and Berezovsky provided little evidence for their claims . Researcher Henry Plater - Zyberk has described Litvinenko as " a one man disinformation bureau " who was hungry for attention and provided little , if any , evidence for his claims . It was also alleged that Alexander Voloshin , a key figure in the Yeltsin administration , paid Basayev to stage the Dagestan incursion , and that Basayev was working for the Russian GRU at the time . According to the BBC , conspiracy theories are part of the staple diet of Moscow politics . In August 1999 , Basayev and Khattab led a 1 , 400 - strong army of Islamist fighters in unsuccessful attempt to aid Dagestani Wahhabists to take over the neighboring Republic of Dagestan and establish a new Chechen - Dagestan Islamic republic . By the end of the month , Russian forces had managed to repel the invasion . In early September , a series of bombings of Russian apartment blocks took place , killing 293 people . The attacks were blamed on terrorists with Chechen links . Basayev , Ibn Al - Khattab and Achemez Gochiyaev were named by Russia as key suspects . Gochiyaev ' s group was trained at Chechen rebel bases in the towns of Serzhen - Yurt and Urus - Martan , where the explosives were prepared . The group ' s " technical instructors " were two Arab field commanders , Abu Umar and Abu Djafar , and Al - Khattab was the bombings ' brainchild . Two members of Gochiyayev ' s group that carried out the attacks , Adam Dekkushev and Yusuf Crymshamhalov , have been sentenced to life term each in a special - regime colony . According to FSB , Basayev and Al - Khattab masterminded the attacks . Al - Khattab has been killed , but Gochiyaev remains a fugitive . Although Basayev and Khattab denied responsibility , the Russian government blamed the Chechen government for allowing Basayev to use Chechnya as a base . Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov denied any involvement in the attacks , and offered a crackdown on the renegade warlords , which Russia refused . Commenting on the attacks , Shamil Basayev said : " The latest blast in Moscow is not our work , but the work of the Dagestanis . Russia has been openly terrorizing Dagestan , it encircled three villages in the centre of Dagestan , did not allow women and children to leave . " Al - Khattab , who is reportedly close with Basayev , said the attacks were a response to what the Russians had done in Karamakhi and Chabanmakhi , two Dagestani villages where followers of the Wahhabi sect were living until the Russian army bombed them out . A group called the Liberation army of Dagestan claimed responsibility for the apartment bombings . The new Russian Prime Minister , Vladimir Putin , famously promised a harsh crackdown on " Chechen terrorists " : " " We ' ll get them anywhere . If we find terrorists in the shithouse , then we ' ll waste them in the shithouse . That ' s all there is to it . " " By the end of September the Second Chechen War was underway . Second Chechen War . Michael Radu of the " Foreign Policy Research Institute " said " Basayev managed to radically change the world ’ s perception of the Chechen cause , from that of a small nation resisting victimization by Russian imperialism into another outpost of the global jihad . In the process , he also significantly modified the very nature of Islam in Chechnya and Northern Caucasus , from a traditional mix of syncretism and Sufism into one strongly influenced by Wahhabism and Salafism — especially among the youth . With Wahhabism came expansionism . " Basayev stayed in Grozny for the duration of the siege of the city . His threats of " kamikaze " attacks in Russia were widely dismissed as a bluff . During the rebel withdrawal from Grozny in January 2000 Basayev lost a foot after stepping on a land mine while leading his men through a minefield . The operation to amputate his foot and part of his leg was videotaped by Adam Tepsurgayev and later televised by Russia ' s NTV network and Reuters , showing his foot being removed by Khassan Baiev using a local anaesthetic while Basayev watched impassively . Despite this injury , Basayev eluded Russian capture together with other rebels by hiding in forests and mountains . He welcomed assistance from foreign fighters from Afghanistan and other Islamic countries , encouraging them to join the Chechen cause . He also ordered the execution of nine Russian OMON prisoners on April 4 , 2000 ; the men were killed because the Russians had refused to swap them for Yuri Budanov , an arrested army officer accused of raping and killing an 18 - year - old Chechen girl . On August 27 , Basayev challenged Vladimir Putin to a personal duel , saying " The choice of weapon we leave to you . I am not the best sportsman and you are not invalid . So do agree . It will be more useful and more economical to both our peoples , and for the rest of mankind . " There was no official response from Putin . In December , Basayev married his third wife . Among his wedding presents were reportedly three Russian POWs . According to the US State Department , Basayev trained in Al - Qaida ' s terrorist camps in Afghanistan in 2001 . The US also alleges that Basayev and Khattab sent Chechens to serve in Al - Qaeda ' s " 055 " brigade , fighting alongside the Taleban against the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan . On June 2 , 2001 , it was reported General Gennady Troshev , then - commander - in - chief of Russian forces in Chechnya , had offered a bounty of one million dollars to anyone who would bring him the head of Basayev . In August , Basayev commanded a large - scale raid on the Vedensky District . A deputy commander of Russian forces in Chechnya claimed Basayev was wounded in a firefight . In January 2002 , Basayev ' s father , Salman , was reputedly killed by Russian forces . This has not been independently confirmed . Shamil ' s younger brother , Shirvani , was reported killed by the Russians in 2000 , but is , according to numerous accounts , actually living in exile in Turkey where he is involved in coordination of the activities of the diaspora . In May , the Russian side declared Basayev " dead " . The Russian military had also made several claims about Basayev ' s alleged death in the past . Around November 2 , 2002 , Basayev claimed on a rebel website that he was responsible for the Moscow theater hostage crisis ( although the siege was led by Movsar Barayev ) in which 50 Chechen rebels held about 800 people hostage ; Russian forces later stormed the building using gas , killing the rebels and more than 100 hostages . Basayev also tendered his resignation from all posts in Maskhadov ' s government apart from the reconnaissance and sabotage battalion . He defended the operation but asked Maskhadov for forgiveness for not informing him of it . The answer to who was behind the hostage taking , however , is a not so clear – some dissidents claim , including Alexander Litvinenko , claim that the FSB was behind the Moscow theater incident . On December 27 , 2002 , Chechen suicide bombers rammed vehicles into the republic ' s government headquarters in Grozny , bringing down the four - story building and killing about 80 people . Basayev claimed responsibility , published the video of the attack , and said he personally triggered the bombs by remote control . On May 12 , 2003 , suicide bombers rammed a truck loaded with explosives into a Russian government compound in Znamenskoye , northern Chechnya , killing 59 people . Two days later a woman got within six feet of Akhmad Kadyrov , the head of the Moscow - appointed Chechen administration , and blew herself up killing herself and 14 people ; Kadyrov was unhurt . Basayev claimed responsibility for both attacks ; Maskhadov denounced them . From June until August 2003 Basayev lived in the town of Baksan in nearby Kabardino - Balkaria . Eventually , a skirmish took place between the rebels and policemen from Baksan , who came to check what turned out to be Basayev ' s safehouse . Basayev escaped , killing a local police official . On August 8 , 2003 , Secretary of State Colin Powell designated Shamil Basayev a threat to U . S . security and citizens . In late 2003 , Basayev claimed responsibility for terrorist bombings in both Moscow and Yessentuki in Stavropol Krai . He said both attacks were carried out by the group operating under his command . On May 9 , 2004 , the pro - Russian Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov was killed in Grozny in a bomb attack for which Basayev later claimed responsibility . That explosion killed at least six people and wounded nearly 60 , including the top Russian military commander in Chechnya , who lost his leg ; Basayev called it a " small but important victory " . Basayev was accused of commanding the June 21 raid on Nazran in the Russian republic of Ingushetia . In fact , he was shown in a video made of the raid , in which he led a large group of militants . Around 90 people died in this attack , mostly local servicemen and officials of the Russian security forces including the republic ' s acting Interior Minister . The Ministry building was burned down . In September 2004 Basayev claimed responsibility for the Beslan school siege in which over 350 people , most of them children , were killed and hundreds more injured . The Russian government put up a bounty of 300m rubles ( $ 10m ) for information leading to his capture . Basayev himself did not participate in the seizure of the school , but claimed to have organized and financed the attack , boasting that the whole operation cost only 8 , 000 euros . On September 17 , 2004 , Basayev issued a statement claiming responsibility for the school siege , saying his Riyadus - Salihiin " Martyr Battalion " had carried out this and other attacks . In his message , Basayev described the Beslan massacre as a " terrible tragedy " and blamed it on Russian President Vladimir Putin . Basayev also claimed responsibility for the attacks against civilians during the previous week , in which a metro station in Moscow was bombed ( killing 10 people ) , and two airliners were blown up by suicide bomber s ( killing 89 people ) . Basayev dubbed these attacks " Operation Boomerang " . He also said that during the Beslan crisis he offered Putin " independence in exchange for security " . On February 3 , 2005 , UK ' s Channel 4 announced that it would air Basayev ' s interview . In response , the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the broadcast could aid terrorists in achieving their goals and demanded that the Government of the United Kingdom call off the broadcast . The British Foreign Office replied that it could not intervene in the affairs of a private TV channel and the interview was aired as scheduled . The same day , Russian media reported that Shamil Basayev had been killed ; it was the sixth such report about Basayev ' s demise since 1999 . In May 2005 , Basayev reportedly claimed responsibility for the power outage in Moscow . The BBC reported that the claim for responsibility was made on a web site connected to Basayev , but conflicted with official reports that sabotage was not involved . Even though Basayev had a $ 10 million bounty on his head , he gave an interview to Russian journalist Andrei Babitsky in which he described himself as " " a bad guy , a bandit , a terrorist . . . but what would you call them ? " " , referring to his enemies . Basayev stated each Russian had to feel war ' s impact before the Chechen war would stop . Basayev asked " " Officially , over 40 , 000 of our children have been killed and tens of thousands mutilated . Is anyone saying anything about that ? . . . responsibility is with the whole Russian nation , which through its silent approval gives a ' yes ' . " " This interview was broadcast on U . S . television network ABC ' s Nightline program , to the protest of the Russian government ; on August 2 , 2005 , Moscow banned journalists of the ABC network from working in Russia . On August 23 , 2005 , Basayev rejoined the Chechen separatist government , taking the post of first deputy chairman . Later this year Basayev claimed responsibility for a raid on Nalchik , the capital of the Russian republic of Kabardino - Balkaria . The raid occurred on October 13 , 2005 ; Basayev said that he and his " main units " were only in the city for two hours and then left . There were reports that he had died during the raid , but this was contradicted when the separatist website , Kavkaz Center , posted a letter from him . In March 2006 , Prime Minister of Chechen Republic , Ramzan Kadyrov , claimed that upwards of 3 , 000 police officers were hunting for Basayev in the southern mountains . On June 15 , 2006 , Basayev repeated his claim of responsibility for the bombing that killed Akhmad Kadyrov , saying he had paid $ 50 , 000 to those who carried out the assassination . He also said he had put a $ 25 , 000 bounty on the head of Ramzan , mocking the young Kadyrov in offering the smaller bounty . On June 27 , 2006 , Shamil Basayev was made Ichkeria ' s Vice - President . On July 10 , 2006 , in his last statement at 1 . 06 pm Moscow time , Kavkaz Center quoted him as thanking the Mujahideen Shura Council for executing the three captured Russian diplomats in Iraq and calling it " " a worthy answer to the murder by Russian terrorists from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation of the Chechen diplomat , ex - president of CRI , Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev " " . Death . In July 2006 , Basayev was killed near the border of North Ossetia in the village of Ali - Yurt , Ingushetia , a republic bordering Chechnya . According to the Interior Ministry and Prosecutor of Ingushetia , a group of three cars and two KAMAZ trucks ( one pulling the other by a rope ) gathered at the spot of an unfinished estate on the outskirts of the village in the early morning hours of 10 July . According to a handful of witnesses , men in black uniforms came in and out from the wooded area adjacent to the estate that runs to the border of North Ossetia ; the men were carrying boxes , shifting them from one vehicle to another , when a massive explosion resulted . It is believed that the partially completed estate , which contained empty new buildings , was being used as an insurgent reception and distribution point for large quantities of weapons purchased from abroad . It is also believed that the most “ anticipated ” part of the incoming shipment was located in the KAMAZ trucks , but because one of them broke down the weaponry had to quickly be transferred into the cars . Basayev is assumed to have been the main recipient of the arms , and thus in charge of distributing them . With the back tailgate of one of the trucks open , Basayev allegedly asked that a mine be placed on the ground for inspection , at which point it exploded . A South Ossetian forensic specialist who examined Basayev ’ s remains stated that , “ The man … died of mine - blast injuries . The explosive device was quite powerful … and the victim was in close proximity to the epicenter . Most likely , the bomb lay on the ground , and the victim was bending over it . ” According to explosives experts , Basayev was most likely a victim of careless handling of the mine , but it is also not out of the question that the FSB could have been involved - as they would claim in the aftermath of the detonation . This could have happened if the shipment of weapons was seized and the smugglers detained ; in forcing the captured smugglers to cooperate , an ordinary - looking anti - personnel mine rigged with an extra - sensitive fuse or radio - controlled detonator could have been inserted amongst the cargo . The device almost certainly would have caused suspicion when discovered in the shipment , which might explain why Basayev stopped to inspect it , at that point triggering the explosion . It was also not ruled out that an unknown FSB operative set off the blast by remote control , but in the event that this was indeed the case , it almost assuredly would not have been a “ targeted ” killing , as identifying Basayev in the dark – even with the aid of night - vision goggles – would have been exceedingly difficult . Thus , experts have concluded that if it was a remote - controlled blast , it was intended to eliminate the weapons shipment and whoever the recipients were , rather than specifically Basayev . Basayev ’ s upper - torso was recovered at the epicenter of the blast , while smaller pieces of his remains were scattered over the distance of a mile . Included among the smaller pieces was Basayev ’ s prosthetic lower right leg , which would lead FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev to confidently assert that Basayev was dead even before positive idenitification . Russian officials stated that the explosion was the result of a special targeted killing operation . According to the official version of Basayev ' s death , the FSB , following him with a drone , spotted his car approach a truck laden with explosives that the FSB had prepared , and by remote control triggered a detonator that the FSB had hidden in the explosives . Interfax , quoting Ingush Deputy Prime Minister Bashir Aushev , reported that the explosion was a result of a truck bomb detonated next to the convoy by Russian agents . According to Russian " Newsweek " edition , Basayev ' s death was a result of an FSB operation , whose primary aim was to prevent a planned terrorist attack in the days before the G8 summit in St Petersburg . The Russian ambassador to the UN , Vitaly Churkin , said : " He is a notorious terrorist , and we have very clearly and publicly announced what is going to happen to notorious terrorists who commit heinous crimes of the type Mr . Basayev has been involved in . " On 29 December 2006 , forensic experts positively identified Basayev ' s remains . On 6 October 2007 , Basayev was promoted to the rank of Generalissimo " post mortem " by Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov . Personal life . Basayev had four wives , a Chechen woman who was killed in the 1990s , an Abkhaz woman he met while fighting as a mercenary leader against Georgia , and a Cossack he was said to have married on Valentine ’ s Day , 2005 . A fourth secret wife , Elina Ersenoyeva , was apparently forced to marry Basayev , and subsequently hid the identity of her husband from her friends and family . Following revelations about the marriage , Elina was abducted , allegedly by the Kadyrovtsy ( pro - Kremlin Chechen forces ) . She has never been found . " Book of a Mujahideen " . Basayev wrote a book after the First Chechen War , " Book of a Mujahideen " . According to the introduction , in March 2003 Basayev obtained a copy of " The Manual of the Warrior of Light " by Paulo Coelho . He wanted to draw benefits to the Mujahideen from this book and decided to " rewrite most of it , remove some excesses and strengthen all of it with verses ( ayats ) , hadiths and stories from the lives of the disciples . " Some sections are specifically about ambush tactics , etc .