MOSCOW. June 13 (Interfax) - Two members of the Basayev group involved in an attack on and the killing of 15 servicemen in Chechnya in 1999 have been arrested in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, the Russian Investigative Committee said on Thursday.
"Murtazali Alimgireyev and Alimkhan Kadrashov have been detained with assistance from the Russian Federal Security Service and the northern special operations unit of the Russian National Guard's branch for the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District. They have been charged with the commission of crimes envisaged by Article 279, Part 2 of Article 209, [and] Article 317 of the Russian Criminal Code (armed mutiny, participation in a militant group and attempts on the lives of servicemen). The court has taken the accused into custody due to the special gravity of the crimes," the committee said.
According to the investigators' information, the detainees voluntarily joined the group under the general leadership of Shamil Basayev and Khattab and took an active part in an armed attack on Russian Defense Ministry servicemen in 1999. Following the general command of Khattab, the militants waited for the servicemen to arrive and attacked them in the village of Chervlyonnaya, in the Shelkovskoi district of Chechnya, in the early hours of October 4, 1999. Fifteen servicemen were killed and 28 were wounded.
"Urgent investigative and other procedural measures are now being conducted with the accused to determine their role and the actions committed in the armed attack on the servicemen. Their involvement in the commission of other crimes not associated with the criminal case under investigation is [also] being investigated," the committee said.
The criminal investigation is ongoing.