Wolf Shamil: 20 years ago, Russia's most brutal terrorist was eliminated

Exactly 20 years ago, on the night of July 10, 2006, the FSB's special operation in the Ingush village of Ekazhevo put an end to the biography of Shamil Basayev. The elimination of the organizer of the hostage-taking in Budennovsk, the Dubrovka terror attack, and the Beslan tragedy remains one of the most closed operations of the Russian special services. Let's remember how the native of a Chechen village became the number one terrorist, why his elusiveness became a legend, and what decided the fate of the \"wolf\" on a summer night in 2006.

The Hour of Reckoning: How a KamAZ became the grave of a terrorist

A hot, moonless night in Ekazhevo. Three cars — two Zhiguli and a dusty KamAZ — were hidden in the shadows of trees near an unfinished house. Men with weapons stood by the truck. Hissing, they were waiting for the main event.

Out of the darkness, limping, came Basayev. With gray in his long beard, a sunken face, but the same eyes — predatory, with a glint of glee. He headed towards the KamAZ. This cargo — uncontrolled rocket shells, explosives — was to be the main weapon in a new terror attack that Basayev timed to the G8 summit.

The terrorist wanted to personally inspect the batch. The bed was lifted. Basayev peered into the body, shining a flashlight. Piles of boxes, the dim sheen of metal. He nodded approvingly. He didn't know that radio-controlled explosive devices had already been installed in the bodies of the machines and boxes. They had been tracked for a long time through thermal imagers.

At 2:03 a.m., the silence was shattered by an explosion. Basayev died instantly. His body and the remains of 12 militants were collected from around the area. Thus ended the 11-year hunt for the man who was called the number one terrorist.

From the Pioneer Scarf to Aircraft Hijacker

Shamil Basayev was born in January 1965 in the Chechen village of Dышне-Ведено. He was named after the legendary imam Shamil. In school, he wore a pioneer scarf, engaged in sports, and dreamed of becoming a lawyer.

He served in the army in a fire brigade at an airport. After his service, he moved to Moscow, but failed the entrance exams for the law faculty of MGU three times. He worked as a guard, sold computers, and played football.

In August 1991, Basayev found himself at the White House, supporting Yeltsin. He believed that the victory of the GKChP would put an end to the independence of Chechnya. That summer, he supported Dzhokhar Dudayev and gathered his first detachment \"Vedeno\". But fame came to him in November 1991, when he hijacked a passenger Tu-154 from Mineralnye Vody to Turkey. There were 178 hostages on board. In Ankara, he released everyone, but he managed to speak to the press. This was the only bloodless terror attack in his career.

Bloodstained Glory: From Budennovsk to Beslan

Basayev did not become the president of Chechnya — he lost to Dudayev. He created a diversionary detachment that fought in Nagorno-Karabakh and Abkhazia. It was there that his fighters became famous for their terrible cruelty: they slaughtered entire families, recorded executions on camera.

In 1995, Basayev declared: \"We are ready to do anything for independence. Methods do not matter.\" And he kept his word.

• Budennovsk. 1995. Basayev's detachment stormed the city, seized more than a thousand hostages in a hospital. The special forces' storm failed. The government went to negotiations and gave the militants a corridor for withdrawal. The victims of the terror attack were 129 people.
• Daghestan. 1999. Basayev and Khattab invaded the republic to create an Islamic state. But the local people did not support them. Federal troops and militiamen drove out the bandits. This began the second Chechen war.
• \"Nord-Ost\". 2002. A group of suicide bombers seized the Dubrovka theater center. 912 people became hostages. The special forces used gas, killed all 40 terrorists, but 130 spectators died.
• Aircraft. 2004. Two suicide bombers blew up Tu-134 and Tu-154 flying from Moscow. 89 people died.
• Beslan. September 1-3, 2004. Militants stormed school No. 1 during the opening ceremony. 1128 hostages — mainly children and their parents. For three days, they were without water and food in a mined sports hall. The victims were 334 people, including 186 children. This attack made Basayev a personal enemy of millions of Russians.
• Nalchik. 2005. 200 militants attacked the city's law enforcement agencies. The special forces suppressed the attack, but this was an attempt to repeat the scenario of Budennovsk.

Basayev also took responsibility for the assassination of Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrov in May 2004. An explosion at a stadium in Grozny took the life of the father of the current head of the republic.

The Hunt for the \"Uncatchable\"

Russian special services had been tracking Basayev since 1994. A bounty of 300 million rubles was put on his head. The West included him in the list of Al-Qaeda terrorists.

In early 2000, the special operation \"Hunt for Wolves\" almost put an end to the hunt. During the storming of Grozny, the militants were left a false corridor, mined with mines. Dozens of bandits blew themselves up. Basayev had his leg blown off, but his comrades carried him on their shoulders. Snow and painkillers saved him, which he was given in huge doses.

After the injury, the terrorist became more cautious. He refused to use large detachments and satellite communication, constantly changed his place of residence and appearance. He used deaf couriers and notes. He hid in ordinary houses, posing as a cripple. The network of informants was everywhere.

But the FSB patiently waited. And waited.

Retribution: How a KamAZ became a grave

In the summer of 2006, Basayev was preparing a huge terror attack in Nazran for the G8 summit. He wanted to blow up the Interior Ministry complex in Ingushetia and cause a massacre. For this, he needed weapons.

The FSB intercepted the supply channel. An undercover agent gave the militants a KamAZ, packed not only with shells but also with explosives and a detonator. More than 100 kilograms of TNT equivalent were waiting for their moment. When Basayev arrived at the car and peered into the body, the special services pressed the button.

The explosion was so strong that the body of the terrorist was identified only by a prosthetic limb and DNA.

Reaction and Consequences

FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev reported to President Putin. Vladimir Putin called the elimination of the terrorist a justified revenge for Beslan and other terror attacks. The head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, who considered Basayev a mortal enemy, said: \"He was a wolf, and he died like a wolf.\"

After his death, the centralized resistance of the militants in the North Caucasus effectively ceased. Funding dried up, organized groups broke up. Basayev was the last charismatic leader capable of uniting bandits.

Twenty years after the elimination of the \"number one terrorist,\" his name remains a synonym for cruelty, and the FSB operation is an example of how patience and professionalism of the special services put an end to even the longest and bloodiest stories.
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